It's a sad day for many of us Ferrara fans, myself included, seeing one of our own being thrown under the bus. However, we should try to remain level-headed throughout this ordeal. Under Ciro the coach, we suffered nine defeats in twelve matches. Simply not good enough. Could he have done better with the cards that he was dealt? Only Zaccheroni's time will tell.
Like alessio described in the previous post, Blanc's statements about 'missing another objective yesterday in our 2-1 loss to Inter in the Coppa', had the flavour of a business man distancing himself from all emotional ties to Ferrara. Then, to no one's surprise, the announcement came down earlier today that Ciro was being replaced with Alberto Zaccheroni effective immediately.
The Zac's first session with guys in Vinovo. I dig the ton of stink eye Alberto.
Alberto Zaccheroni (born 1 April 1953, in Meldola, Emilia-Romagna) is an Italian football manager, currently serving as head coach of Juventus F.C.. He is best known for having managed a number of top clubs in Serie A, and won a scudetto with A.C. Milan on 1999. He is renowned also for his unconventional and trademark 3-4-3 tactical system.
Career
Zaccheroni's playing career was cut short by injury, and he became a manager at the relatively young age of 30. His managerial career took off during the 1997-98 season with Udinese, guiding them to third place in the league and qualification for the UEFA Cup.
Milan
Zaccheroni's great results at Udinese attracted the attention of Italian giants A.C. Milan, who appointed him as manager after the San Siro club had endured 2 miserable seasons. Fellow Udinese colleagues, Oliver Bierhoff and Thomas Helveg joined him in Milan. Zaccheroni delivered instantly, as Milan won the league in the 1998-99 season, pipping Lazio and Fiorentina to the title. The following season was less successful for Zaccheroni as Milan exited the UEFA Champions League early, and although finishing 3rd in Serie A, they were never really in the running for the title. The 2000-01 season was even worse for Zaccheroni as Milan, again, struggled in the Champions League and failed to beat Paris Saint-Germain FC. This led AC Milan chairman Silvio Berlusconi to sack Zaccheroni and replace him with caretaker manager Cesare Maldini in the Spring of 2001.
Lazio
Zaccheroni was without lazio was a gadget in the sky kawalambour a job for a few months before Lazio came calling, after Dino Zoff had resigned. The Rome club had endured a terrible start to the season yet Zaccheroni managed a 6th place finish, thus earning Lazio a UEFA Cup place. Zaccheroni was not without his critics though as he played Mendieta and Fiore out of position thus failing to get the best out of them. He was also held responsible by many for the humiliating 5-1 defeat to Roma in the Rome derby that season. Despite Zaccheroni's efforts, he parted company with the Italian giants, to be replaced by Roberto Mancini.
Internazionale
Zaccheroni was again called upon in the mid-season of 2003-04, this time to try and save Internazionale after the departure of coach Hector Cuper from the club. Despite crashing out of the Champions League after a humiliating 5-1 defeat to Arsenal at the San Siro, he managed to lift Inter to 4th place in Serie A, thus earning them a Champions League place for next season. However, Inter president, Massimo Moratti, was not convinced of Zaccheroni's abilities, and he was again replaced by Roberto Mancini.
Torino
After 2 seasons without a job, he was linked with a move to England in the vacant manager's post at Crystal Palace. This rumours never came to fruition, however he did become the new head coach of Torino on September 7 2006, the 100th anniversary of the team, replacing Gianni De Biasi, fired by chairman Urbano Cairo three days before the start of the new season despite having led the team to instant promotion from Serie B. However, despite a good start, Zaccheroni was not able to bring Torino on the top positions of the league table, and even suffered a worrying sequence of six consecutive defeats which led chairman Cairo to sack him on February 26, 2007 and reinstate De Biasi at the helm of the granata.
Juventus
On January 29, 2010 he was appointed to replace Ciro Ferrara as head coach of under-crisis Italian club Juventus.
That excerpt was copied right from Wikipedia this morning. I wanna know, who the hell sits by there computer waiting to update people's biographies the second late breaking news hits the wire? Well anyways, I want to get some sort of official words up from Zaccheroni or the club, but as per usual, Juventus' website is overloaded with visitors at the moment so it isn't possible right now. Check back later for the video of Zaccheroni's first official press conference, or keep tabs on the comment section for further information.
[update from juventus.com]
Zaccheroni is the new coach of Juventus
As from today, Juventus has a new coach: Alberto Zaccheroni. By means of a press release, the club has announced having lifted Ciro Ferrara from his role and nominated the coach from Romagna who signed a contract up to June 2010.
Zaccheroni will take control of the team immediately and will direct the first training session in Vinovo at 15:00hrs after which at 17:00hrs he will be presented to the press officially.
Of course, many calcio fans who adored Ferrara will have their opinion on the matter so I encourage everyone to leave a comment about your POV, then I'll put together a post on tomorrow highlighting those thoughts. Personally, I'm rather excited to see what someone else can do. He's no Juventino, but we already know where that can lead. To be fair though Ciro had more injuries than I've ever seen a coach deal with, but were the injuries his fault? I can remember at least one case where it was, but the rest I'll leave for you to decide.
IERI... OGGI... DOMANI... SEMPRE JUVE!!!