It's an amazing story and one that started in Serie B. The club had jettisoned their former leadership, some in disgrace and some in shame if you can distinguish the two terms by intent, and had soldiered on with the help of some of its most illustrious players. Trezeguet, Camoranesi, Buffon, Nedved and the eternal Alessandro Del Piero stayed as the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovich, Lillian Thuram, Patrick Vieira, Gianluca Zambrotta, Fabio Cannavaro and coach Fabio Capello moved on.Didier Deschamps took over, and the hard work would begin.
The first task was getting back to Serie A. It was a foregone conclusion that with the sort of talent that Juve would be carrying in Serie B that it would be unlikely that the Torino club would spend more than a season away from the promised land, but the manner in which they played that year and vetted themselves in front of the fans at Triestina, Albinoleffe, Pescara and Crotone, it seemed that they were playing not only for themselves and supporters but for the hearts of calcio fans in general.
It hasn't been easy to climb back of the mountain. The Old Lady had seen better days, and there were stops and starts throughout the reigns of Claudio Ranieri and Ciro Ferrara, nor even Alberto Zaccheroni and the much-traveled Gigi Delneri, but the club settled on a return to the old ways, and Andrea Agnelli took over the day-to-day of the family's crown jewel, hired former captain Antonio Conte as the first team manager and the results have been spectacular. The club have embraced the traditional values of hard-work and unity, this is a far-cry from the high-flying Galacticos of Capello or Lippi, and they have won over many neutrals to the cause.
They are an example without question. This Juve is light years beyond the Juve I grew up with. They do things the right way. They have a bright and shiny new stadium that they bought and paid for themselves, and intimate jewel, and they have a home-grown manager that the Italian press are likening to the special one they always compare young managers to unfortunately. They haven't lost in Serie A all year through 17 wins and 14 draws, and they do it with a squad that is solid and unexciting, their leading scorer is Alessandro Matri with 10 goals, but they are united and they play for each other; a sign that they finally hired the right manager for their squad.
It's been a long and winding road for Juve, and there will be plenty of haters who will contest this return to grace as another in a long line of uncovered corruption, but neutrals like me are sold. This is what clubs in Italy should be doing in light of all the economic and social struggles that clubs in Europe face.
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