Ancelotti is Juventus Coach After Lippi Goes
February 08, 1999
By Gideon Long
ROME, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Juventus appointed Carlo Ancelotti as coach with immediate effect on
Monday following Marcello Lippi's dramatic resignation on Sunday night.
The Italian champions announced their decision after an emergency board meeting in Turin. They described the situation created by Lippi's departure as ``delicate.''
``Juventus have invited Carlo Ancelotti, whose contract had already been formalised for the next two seasons, to take over as team coach immediately...,'' they said in a statement.
Ancelotti, who had been due to take over from Lippi at the end of this season, confirmed he would accept the appointment.
He was out of contract and, when Lippi stepped down after Juventus' abject 4-2 home defeat by
Parma on Sunday, was the obvious man to take over.
The former Roma and AC Milan midfielder inherits a Juventus side embroiled in their worst season for 37 years.
They are ninth in the championship, 15 points off the pace. They are out of the Italian Cup and
Ancelotti has less than a month to sort them out before they tackle Greek side Olympiakos Pireus in the quarter-finals of the European Cup.
Juventus have scored only 22 goals in their 20 league matches and, with Alessandro Del Piero still injured, have conspicuously failed to find a solution to their goal drought.
France's Thierry Henry and Argentine Juan Esnaider arrived last month to bolster their attack but neither has had time to settle in and start scoring goals.
The last time Juventus sat so low in the league table at this stage of the season was in 1962, when they were ninth at the halfway stage in the title race.
That year they slumped to 12th by the end of the season -- their worst league finish.
Ancelotti, 39, made his name as a player at AS Roma in the 1980s and was an integral part of the team who won their last Italian championship in 1983 and reached the European Cup final the following year.
He then moved to AC Milan where he linked up with the man who would become his coaching mentor -- Arrigo Sacchi.
When Sacchi left Milan to coach the Italy side, Ancelotti followed him and was his right hand man in the early 1990s.
From there, he moved into coaching in his own right, guiding Reggiana from Serie B to Serie A in the 1995-96 season before moving into the big time with Parma.
He took the small town side into the European Champions' League two years ago but was dismissed at the end of last season after the club failed to win a trophy.
Like Sacchi, he believes in strict 4-4-2 formations and tends to build teams based on work rate and co-operation rather than flair and gifted playmakers.
His appointment has been criticised by many Juventus fans but he has appealed for a period of grace.
``Let the fans judge me on my results,'' he said last month when he was formally appointed as Lippi's successor.
Lippi angrily quit within minutes of Sunday night's defeat.
``If the problem with this team is me, then here's my resignation. Let's see this team without the Lippi problem,'' he said. ``I've tried to do everything possible to wake this team up but I've failed.''
His exit brings a remarkably successful era to an end.
He guided Juventus to three league titles in his four and a half seasons at the club as well as three consecutive European Cup finals, a UEFA Cup final and an Italian Cup title.
Lippi has reportedly reached a deal to coach Inter Milan next season but neither the club nor the coach have confirmed the reports.
