Juventus are looking for a new manager after they sacked Croat Igor Tudor, having only appointed him in March. It should be said that few expected Tudor to be anything more than a caretaker when he took over. He was hired after Thiago Motta’s spell had turned terminally toxic, and the Old Lady needed a safe, uncontroversial pair of hands to guide them to the end of the campaign.
And that he did, securing vital Champions League qualification. Despite this, and being a former player, the inauspicious nature of the rest of Tudor’s managerial career saw Juve looking for a long-term replacement.
Juventus scrabbled around for some time, notably being rejected by Antonio Conte, and when they felt they had exhausted all possibilities, they gave Tudor the role full time – hardly the most resounding vote of confidence.
The start of this season saw Juventus start steadily if unspectacularly, before their form tailed away entirely. It has now been over a month since their last win, an unconvincing 4-3 Derby d’Italia win over Inter, and they have lost their last three.
Perhaps understandably, Juventus doubted Tudor’s ability to find the answers to turn this slump around – he is after all, primarily a motivator. Early candidates who could be more suited include Luciano Spalletti, Roberto Mancini, and former Fiorentina manager Raffaele Palladino. For one of the biggest clubs in the world, this is hardly a glut of candidates.
Spalletti is coming off of a bitterly disappointing spell in charge of the national team, Mancini’s last job was managing Saudi Arabia, and while he did a good job with Fiorentina, Palladino’s C.V. is not one befitting a Juventus manager yet.
These problems are far larger than the manager though, and while he was not the right man, Tudor deserves sympathy for carrying out a thankless task. Since the reign of Andrea Agnelli, Juventus have been drifting. The club has replaced Agnelli’s charisma and drive with corporate nothingness at boardroom level. There seems to be little appreciation of the club’s monumental standing, and limited footballing expertise. Like him or loathe him, Agnelli lived and breathed Juventus, as did the whole Agnelli family – it was quite literally in his blood, if I can be forgiven for such a dreadful cliché.
Financial problems are present too, partially due to the sheer insanity of signing an ageing Cristiano Ronaldo in 2018. Not only were Juventus a worse team almost instantly, it broke the financial structure of the club, and left his trademark stench of petulance and tantrum hanging around the dressing room. Cristiano Ronaldo brought his other trademark to Juventus too; barely contributing, standing between the right-back and centre-back, waiting for the ball to come to him, and throwing his hands up in disgust whenever it didn’t. More Roberto Soldado than Roberto Baggio.
Juventus then, seem a club in a malaise they appear incapable of getting out of. Certainly it will take more than a managerial change to right the ship.
Image credits: “Turin Juventus Stadium 2” by Валерий Дед is licensed under CC BY 3.0.