We saw him rise, and now we’re watching his downfall.

Monday evening signaled the end of Andrea Agnelli’s Juventus. The president who took the club to great heights has been on a downhill for the last couple of years or so.

The patron may have survived the club’s regressing results on the pitch in the last three years, and also his botched attempt to launch the European Super League which created a great rift with UEFA, but the financial investigations proved to be the last nail in the coffin of his 12-year tenure.

This evening, Juventus have released a statement confirming the resignation of the club president alongside the rest of the board of directors, including vice-president Pavel Nedved and CEO Maurizio Arrivabene who will act as caretaker until the appointment of a new board.

In an emotional letter directed towards the club’s employees, Agnelli bid everyone at Juventus farewell while trying to explain the reasons behind his departure in a rather implicit manner.

“Dear all, Playing for Juventus, working for Juventus; one goal: to win,” reads the letter as published by Sky Sport.

“Anyone who has the privilege of wearing the black and white shirt knows it. Those who work as a team know that hard work beats talent if talent doesn’t work hard. Juventus is one of the biggest clubs in the world and anyone who works or plays there knows that the result is the result of the work of the whole team.

“We are used to winning by history and DNA. Since 2010 we have honored our history by achieving extraordinary results: the Stadium, 9 consecutive men’s championships, the first in Italy to have a Netflix and Amazon Prime series, the J|Medical, 5 consecutive women’s championships starting from day zero. And again, the deal with Volkswagen (few know it), the finals in Berlin and Cardiff (our great regrets), the agreement with adidas, the Next Gen Italian Cup, the first club to represent the clubs on the Executive Committee UEFA, the J|Museum and much more.

“Hours, days, nights, months and seasons with the aim of always improving in view of some decisive moments. Each of us can recall the moment before taking the field: come out of the locker room and turn right, about twenty steps downhill with a grate in the middle, another ten steps uphill and you’re there: “el miedo escénico” and in that moment when you know you have the whole team with you, the impossible becomes feasible. Bernabeu, Old Trafford, Allianz Arena, Westfallen Stadium, San Siro, Geōrgios Karaiskakīs, Celtic Park, Camp Nou: wherever we went when the team was compact we feared nobody.

“When the team is not compact, it lends its side to the opponents and this can be fatal. At that moment you need to be lucid and contain the damage: we are facing a delicate moment from a corporate point of view and compactness has failed. Better to leave everyone together, giving the possibility to a new formation to overturn that match.

“Our awareness will be their challenge: to live up to Juventus’ history.

“I will continue to imagine and work for a better football, comforted by a quote from Friedrich Nietzsche: ‘And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music’.

“Remember, we will recognize each other at a glance: We are the people of Juve!

“Fino Alla Fine…”