Who have been the best coaches in Juventus’ history?
It looks like next season will be the first for many a year when Juventus do not grace the Champions League. There is still a way to go, but at this point, only the most optimistic fans are likely to place anything other than a free bet at sites such as Caesars Sportsbook, with most bookmakers giving Juve only a two per cent chance of bursting into the Champions League places.
So, now is a good moment to remember better times. Out of the many names and multitude of success stories, this great club has written and starred in, who have been the very best four managers throughout its glittering history? Here they are in no particular order.
Giovanni Trapattoni
Trapattoni’s name is synonymous with the club. He has shaped Juventus perhaps more than anyone else who has been in the dugout. The Old Fox and the Old Lady seemed made for each other, each bringing the best out of the other, and there was an undoubted love that flowed both ways. He is also one of three Juventus managers listed in IFFHS’s all-time best coach ranking.
For those who did not witness Trapattoni first-hand in either of his two spells at the club or indeed anywhere else where he achieved his almost universal successes, there were two seemingly contradictory sides to the man. He was mostly known for his direct, sometimes brutally direct, management style. That has sometimes overshadowed the other side, however, just how innovative he was when it came to tactics and in-game strategies. He was way ahead of his time in many of the ways he approached the game.
Giovanni’s first spell at Juventus, between 1976 and 1986, was a decade that is unlikely to be repeated in European football. He took over a club that had known domestic success, dominance even, but he took that to the next level by conquering European football. In those ten years, his Juve teams won every trophy there was to win. The European Cup was the crowning glory, but it was accompanied by a UEFA Cup, a UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup, a European Super Cup and an Intercontinental Cup.
He did not neglect matters closer to home either. Giovanni also reaped no less than six Serie A titles and two Coppa Italia titles.
The Old Fox returned for a second time in 1991. This spell, though not as impressive as the first, was still a relative success, and still saw Juventus lift the UEFA Cup.
Combining both spells, Trapattoni won 319 of his 596 matches in charge (53.52%) with a trophy haul of 14, a club record.
Marcello Lippi
The Juventus flag has presided over some of the greatest names in football
Trying to fill Trapattoni’s boots is not a task many other managers would have been able to succeed at. Fortunately for Juve, Marcello Lippi is not like many other managers. His first task was to re-establish the Old Lady at the pinnacle of the game in Italy. He did that instantly, winning the Scudetto in his first season.
Lippi was a brave manager, with the confidence to follow through with his convictions on how a club should be run and managed. He also had an eye for the transfer market. During his first spell at the club, from 1994 to 1999, he brought in some of the greatest club legends to ever wear the famous strip, including Zinedine Zidane, Edgar Davids and Filippo Inzaghi.
In the following three seasons, Juve reached the final of the Champions League all three times, winning the first of them. That side truly set the benchmark for what a successful European club should look like.
In another act that mirrored his predecessor, Lippi returned to Juve for a second spell at the club, from 2001 to 2004. During this period, he lifted the Serie A title twice while again reaching the Champions League final.
In his two spells, Lippi won 227 of his 405 matches in charge (56.05%) with a trophy haul of 13.
Massimiliano Allegri
To say Allegri was an unpopular choice in his first spell as manager would be somewhat of an understatement. His car was pelted with eggs during the journey to his first press conference. Allegri is a man whose number one aim is to win football matches, not friends, and the criticism did not phase him. In fact, it may even have spurred him on.
Domestically, his side could not be touched. He won the Scudetto every year that he was in the dugout during his first spell, adding five Coppa Italia titles and two Supercoppa Italiana titles for good measure. Champions League heartbreak was again the curse of the club, as they failed at the final hurdle two more times.
The Anchovy is of course back at the helm, and whether his second spell will add or detract from his status at the club is still open to debate. At the time of writing, his overall stats show Allegri has won 199 of his 286 matches in charge (69.68%) with a trophy haul of 11.
Antonio Conte
Conte’s legendary status as a player at the club was always going to make him a popular figure in the dugout, but he cemented that status with his managerial record. Taking over a side in flux, if not turmoil – they had finished a lowly seventh two years on the run – Conte not only won the title in his first season but did it by becoming the only side in the league’s history to go an entire season unbeaten.
He followed that up with two more titles, including his final one with the club in which they broke more records, amassing more than 100 points for the first time in Serie A history. Unfortunately for Conte, he was not able to replicate that domestic success in Europe.
Conte won 102 of his 151 matches in charge (67.55%) with a trophy haul of five.
There are, of course, many others who are worthy of a mention, and the list of coaches who have graced the club reads like a list of the who’s who of Italian football.
