Angry Lippi to Reveal Future Job Status at Juventus
Copyright � 1998 Nando.net
Copyright � 1998 Reuters
TURIN, Italy (Dec 8, 1998 - 13:04 EST) - Angry Juventus coach Marcello Lippi said he will reveal his future within 10 days on Tuesday, amid speculation that he will join archrivals Inter Milan next season.
The 50-year-old, whose contract with the Italian champions expires in June, is furious at accusations that he is now being half-hearted about his job here.
Lippi joined the club from Napoli in 1994 and went on to win three league titles and reach three consecutive European Cup finals, winning in 1996.
Suspicions that he might be on the move surfaced earlier this year when he was reported to have reached an agreement to join Lazio next summer.
More recently, the speculation has turned to Inter, the team with whom Juventus fought an embittered duel for the last league championship in what became known as "The Season of Poison."
The rumors increased when Inter president Massimo Moratti sacked Gigi Simoni as coach 10 days ago, installing Mircea Lucescu on a six-month contract.
Lucescu compounded that speculation on his arrival at Malpensa airport, when he was asked why the new coach of Inter Milan only has a contract until June.
"Because that's when Lippi is taking over," the Romanian blurted out.
The talk, combined with Juventus' disastrous run of results recently in the Serie A - with three defeats in their last four games - has meanwhile only angered the Juventus fans.
Letters to the Turin-based paper Tuttosport on Tuesday spoke of betrayal and blunders made by the man who has been hero-worshipped there for years.
"I will clarify my future in 10 days' time. But I am offended and deeply displeased by what I have read in the newspapers: letters from fans but also comments by journalists," Lippi said. "After four and a half years spent in Turin, I thought my treatment might be different. Instead, there are people saying that I am making less effort for Juventus and that I am being distracted by other thoughts."
"Yet I have been 50 times more scrupulous, more nit-picking about things, and have not left anything to chance - precisely because I knew people would try and come out with talk like this," he said.
And he concluded sarcastically: "I would like to thank these people with all my heart for the great regard they have for my sense of professionalism."
Lippi made his outburst on the eve of his team's European Champions League tie against Rosenborg, with Juventus facing the prospect of an early exit from the competition.
