The season when Juventus player in Serie B
The day that changed everything!
On 10 July 2006, while the whole of Italy is still soaking up the hangover it took the night it became World Champion, Juventus formalized the arrival of Didier Deschamps on the bench. A week earlier, on 3 July, Fabio Capello had resigned from his position as Juventus manager to sign with Real Madrid. In the same hours, the news was leaked that the Bianconeri would be relegated to Serie C1 by the federal appeals commission, the body in charge of deciding the penalties for the teams involved in the so-called Calciopoli scandal. . The choice of the coach is the first of the new management, quickly chosen by the shareholders after the fall of the triad made up of Moggi, Giraudo and Bettega. The president is Giovanni Cobolli Gigli, the sporting director Alessio Secco, the managing director Jean-Claude Blanc.
On July 14, after more than 7 days in the council chamber, the sentences arrive. Juventus are ex officio relegated to Serie B, where they will start with a penalty of 30 points. Giovanni Cobolli Gigli expresses anger at the weight of the penalty, which forces Bianconeri to think of at least two seasons in the purgatory of the cadet series and announces the appeal. On the sidelines, he also found the time to send the first message to the great European teams that hover like vultures over the squad: “If Real Madrid wants our players, they will have to pay them.”
Team left many players
On 15 July the team, or at least the small part that is not yet recovering from the efforts of the World Cup, meets in Acqui Terme to start the retreat, in preparation for the first Serie B season in 109 years of history. In a funereal atmosphere, Deschamps tries to be more realistic than the king “The Serie B championship is more physical, everyone will attack us and I want a team that imposes its game even away, even at the cost of taking some risks”.
Among the players, the first to speak is Marchionni who had signed for Juventus in January, as a free transfer, before the bomb exploded. “I don’t regret the choice I made,” he says, who knows how convinced he is. The retreat is filled with young people with high hopes and Juventus-owned players accustomed to borrowing, who suddenly come in handy. Masiello, Balzaretti, Piccolo, Legrottaglie, Paro, Kapo, Lanzafame, Palladino are all names that we are not used to comparing to that of Juventus, but who – some more or less – will be part of the team. Among them stands Giorgio Chiellini, one of the most promising youngsters, who soon understand the spirit with which to start again: “The idea of becoming one of the foundations on which Juventus will be rebuilt stimulates me a lot.” For everyone, the hold is Alessandro Del Piero, the captain.
The championship
Promotion soon became a formality for Juventus, but it would be wrong to talk about a health walk. Eleven times the Bianconeri win with a single goal difference, having on several occasions to thank Buffon – who confirms the state of grace of the World Cup – or the flicker of one of his best players, who are, it must be said, literally out category. Anyone who faces the Bianconeri obviously finds an additional stimulus: between tradesmen who can realize for once a long-chased dream and young people eager to show themselves off, the 42 matches of the Bianconeri offer a unique insight.