ITALY SERIE A COACHING SHAKEUP AS JUVENTUS FIRES FERRARA

Even after a temporary demotion following a corruption scandal that rocked Italy’s soccer infrastructure, expectations at Juventus are always high.  Following a 2-1 loss to Inter Milan that eliminated Juventus from the Coppa Italia, the club has fired head coach Ciro Ferrara. Former AC Milan and Inter Milan boss Alberto Zaccheroni has been appointed to lead the team on an interim basis.

The pressure began to build on Ferrara after Juventus was knocked out of Champions’ League play before the winter break.  They’d been struggling in Serie A play of late, and had dropped to 6th in the standings four points behind fifth place Napoli.  The loss to Inter Milan as Mario Balotelli scored a minute from time was apparently the last straw.  On Friday morning, team officials released this tersely worded statement:

"Ferrara has been relieved of his position and Zaccheroni has been appointed until June 2010.”

Team President Jean Claude Blanc provided this context:

"We are very disappointed, as we have failed at another of our objectives for the season."

The new coach at Stadio Olimpico Torino is being portrayed as a “ferryman” in the Italian media.  This essentially means that he’s being brought on in a caretaker role to ‘steady the boat’ until a full time coach can be hired.   Longterm, the primary target of Juventus brass is current Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez.  A delegation from the team reportedly met with Benitez earlier this week to tender an offer worth 2.6 million pounds (approximately $4.16 million US) in after tax income per year to take over at Juventus.
 
For his part, Benitez has been side stepping and ‘no commenting’ the issue.  In a press conference in advance of Liverpool’s game with Bolton this weekend, he gave the following comments on the speculation:

"I am not here to talk about speculation because people talk too much. I am focused on preparing my team for the game against Bolton. I know they (Juventus) were interested, that is part of the game now in football, but I am not ready to talk too much because I don't want to lose my focus. When you are a manager and you have clubs asking you have to be proud because they are a top side in Europe but I am really happy here and want to do my job as best I can.''

Interim coach Zaccheroni is something of a Serie A ‘journeyman’ coach, who won a league title at Milan in 1999 after getting his start at Udinese.  He’s also coached at Lazio, Inter and Juve's city rivals Torino.