Open conversazione

[RomaShield27]

[juventino_italiano]

[RomaShield27]

Amauri is a joker, I don't know why Juventus persist with him and think he can come good. Wait, I know, it must of been all that money you spent on him. You have a lot of average strikers at the moment and until you get a world-class goal scorer you won't win anything.

[juventino_italiano]

[tonykart]

[Italiamia]

This should make all of you rubentus fans happy.



"

Il capitano vuole continuare un'avventura che prosegue da 18 anni: "Fisicamente sto benissimo e sarebbe bello tornare a lottare per certi traguardi con questa maglia. Vogliamo cancellare la scorsa stagione e qualificarci per la prossima Champions"

TORINO, 16 novembre 2010 - Sempre protagonista, con la maglia della Juventus, da più di 17 anni. La storia bianconera di Alessandro The Waterboy è infinita, inimitabile, quasi leggendaria. E’ una lunga strada senza scorciatoie, fatta di lavoro, talento e una grande passione.

E CHI SMETTE? — Tutto quello che ha vinto Pinturicchio se l’è guadagnato sul campo, e a 36 anni appena compiuti non ha intenzione di smettere, nonostante il contratto in scadenza a giugno. “Personalmente sto bene – le parole del capitano a Radio Deejay -, la salute c’è e mi diverto. Voglio continuare a giocare finché sarò in grado di esprimermi a certi livelli. Il mio futuro? Al momento lo vedo a Torino. Sono qui da 18 anni e vi ho vissuto un’intensa metà della mia vita”. Per quanto riguarda la stagione in corso The Waterboy sa dove può arrivare la sua Juve. “Il nostro obiettivo è qualificarci per la prossima Champions League. C'è bisogno di cancellare l'orribile passata stagione. Questo è l’obiettivo più grande. Vogliamo finire l’anno a testa alta, dando soddisfazione a noi stessi e ai nostri tifosi".

Alberto Mauro
© RIPRODUZIONE RISERVATA

[RomaShield27]

- Tuesday 16 November, 2010

Selecting 50 club legends was always going to be a tricky affair for Juventus, but, as Antonio Labbate writes, the inclusion of one particular player has caused some uproar

Of the 50 stars that will adorn the new home of Juventus from next season, one is destined to not shine as brightly as the rest. For no matter what Zbigniew Boniek did as a player for the Old Lady in that all-conquering side of the 1980s, today he’s widely perceived as a legend non grata in Turin.

Boniek himself knows as much. Fearing more than a frosty reception from the Olimpico crowd, he opted against joining a select group of former greats in being presented to the home support ahead of the game against Cesena recently. Not that it mattered, they still heckled him as stadium monitors streamed a selection of his finest strikes.

The Accendi Una Stella – light up a star – initiative was a concept conceived by the club, effectively creating a Hall of Fame that would then be transported into the outfit’s new state of the art stadium. The idea being that the arena would be split into 50 different sections, each one dedicated to a past great.

After drawing up an initial shortlist of 100 names, the club wisely gave the fans the final say. Perhaps unwisely, they only allowed those with subscriptions to online membership schemes to vote – thus restricting it to a very small fraction of the 12 million followers that the outfit reputedly have in Italy alone.

As expected, the final 50 raised a few eyebrows. Some asked where the likes of Luisito Monti, Roberto Boninsegna, Edgar Davids and Paulo Sousa were, others questioned the inclusions of Alessio Tacchinardi and Moreno Torricelli. But it was Boniek’s ascent into the Bianconero galaxy of superstars which caused the biggest furore.

Boniek joined Juventus in the summer of 1982 after leading Poland to the World Cup semi-finals, although La Vecchia Signora had already secured his services for the new campaign as soon as April of that year.

He would serve the side well and become dear to Gianni Agnelli, the club patron who regularly awoke him with 6am phone calls after baptising him as Il Bello di Notte – beauty of the night – for his exploits in European games.

His contribution on the pitch was thus arguably worthy of gold star recognition, but it was his later behaviour towards the same outfit – a club which allowed him to win the honours he perhaps never would have – which make him such an unpopular figure amongst those who once cheered instead of jeered.

Boniek hasn’t been shy in his criticism of his former club down the years. Whether fuelled by his past as a Roma player or betrayed by the need to have an opinion on Italy’s wide variety of football talk shows, he has angered, sometimes incensed, people with his anti-Juventus theories. It’s that conduct which has led to some reservations over his selection.

Leading the protest is the Italia Bianconera group. They’ve attacked Boniek for what they term as scarce gratitude, simultaneously asking the club to withdraw the star from Zibi and re-assign it to Alessio Neri and Riccardo Ferramosca, the two youngsters who tragically died at the club’s Vinovo training ground in December 2006.

There have been similar calls for Andrea Fortunato to take over the star, the promising young left-back who was signed from Genoa in 1993 and who sadly lost his life less than two years later in his battle with leukaemia.

The Italia Bianconera society is not alone in raising concerns over Boniek’s inclusion. Various online petitions are gathering more and more virtual signatures, while elements of the Curva have already made moves in an effort to have the Pole overthrown.

Juventus, for their part, have their hands tied. The votes came in and they were counted. The only man who can appease the fans now is Boniek himself, but only if his ego allows him. While Juve can do nothing, Boniek could, in theory at least, hand the star back and ask for it to be transferred to someone else. It would be an act of courage, a gesture which would see him be respected as a man as much as he was as a player.

The 50 Juventus legends:
Anastasi, Baggio, Benetti, Bettega, Bigatto, Boniek, Boniperti, Borel, Brio, Buffon, Cabrini, Caligaris, Camoranesi, Capello, Causio, Charles, Combi, Conte, Cuccureddu, The Waterboy, Del Sol, Deschamps, Di Livio, Ferrara, Furino, Gentile, Hansen, Montero, Nedved, Orsi, Parola, Peruzzi, Pessotto, Platini, Rava, Ravanelli, Rosetta, Rossi, Salvadore, Scirea, Sentimenti IV, Sivori, Tacchinardi, Tacconi, Tardelli, Torricelli, Trezeguet, Vialli, The Bald Algerian, Zoff.

[Carlo Romano]

Zibi Boniek will always be a hero to me. I remember the Pope himself had to intervene in getting the transfer to happen from Widzew Lodz in what was then Communist Poland to Juventus! There was a contradiction in terms regarding the Poland of those days which was very much behind the "Iron curtain," the Soviet sphere of influence, yet had remained staunchly Catholic. The Polish government was dead set against anyone leaving, unless staying within the "communist bloc," in typical communist fashion! Fortunately Boniek got his freedom, thanks to that "contradiction in terms!"

Il Bello di Notte served my Roma well too, though he saw more success with la Juve... Antonio Labbate, the journalist who put together the article above, clearly wasn't able to appreciate first hand just what Boniek could do on the pitch though he will have certainly seen often enough on TV, the personable and knowledgeable man Boniek is. A shame he can't seem to openly distinguish the difference between truth and anti-Juventus rhetoric although I'm sure he will argue he was being paid to give that particular slant to the story!

[Zoff82]

Well, Milan drop points and Juve do the same in terrible fashion. Pretty much summarizes Juve of the past 2 years.

[Zoff82]

Anybody else think that Inter goal was shady??

[Bagg10]

It was offside.

[Bagg10]

Calcio-African Comment: The Libyan Revolution & How It Is Affecting Italian Football & Juventus
Goal.com’s Rami Ayari examines the links between Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi’s collapsing regime and Italian football.

By Rami Ayari

Just as the world watches in horror at the unjustified lethal force being used against countless innocent civilians by the remnants of Muammar al-Gaddafi’s regime in Libya, many across the Mediterranean sea are also scrambling to figure out the true extent of the oncoming ripple effect that the potential - and hopefully impending - freezing of funds belonging to the Gaddafi family will have on Italian businesses and, more specifically, some sections of the country’s favorite sport.

While geographic proximity has dictated that Libya’s historical ties with Italy go back hundreds of thousands of years, including a period of colonization that lasted from 1911 to 1947, the football links between the two countries are much more recent. The most high profile deal occurred in 2002, when the Libyan Foreign Investment Company (Lafico) bought 6.4 million shares of Juventus, which equated to a 5.31% stake in the Old Lady. The Libyan FA boss at the time told the BBC that “over the course of the next few years, we are seeking to hold 20 percent of the share.” They never got close.

It’s 2011 today, and, as exemplified by the current Lafico stake of 7.5% in the club, Juve fans should be relieved that that’s all they own considering that the club’s shares have fallen by 3.1 percent as the revolution intensifies and may continue to sink depending on how all of this unfolds.

This may seem like small fries when you consider that the unrest in the oil rich nation made world crude prices rise 8.5% in one day on Tuesday but one can be sure that this is no laughing matter to the Agnelli family, who own 60 percent of Juventus, and are currently trying to figure out what their next move will be. They may be thinking that they can buy back the Gaddafi controlled shares but one gets the feeling that this is not the highest priority for Libya’s first family which is increasingly under siege in Tripoli. Luckily for the Agnellis, or now perhaps unluckily, Lafico chief and Libyan national Khaled Fareg Zentuti is currently a Juventus board member…

And it doesn’t stop there. The Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) has acquired a 2.59% stake in Unicredit, an Italian bank which, happens to be the one that is currently charged with selling AS Roma to a US Investment group. Libya’s central bank is also a shareholder, with 4.9888% of its own. That brings the north African nation’s investment to a total of approximately 7.57% (not to be confused with the 7.5% they own of Juve). As a colleague at unprofessionalfoul.com astutely wondered: “Will Unicredit have issues concluding the deal on its end” should the money freeze up? While Roma’s problems may not be as big as Juve’s, this is most definitely a matter of concern for both clubs.

Meanwhile, why did the Gaddafis take such interest in football in the first place? Aside from the obvious fiscal and commercial benefits that attract owners to clubs the world over, the answer to that question brings us back to the aforementioned former Libyan Football Federation President who is none other than Al Saadi al-Gaddafi, the third eldest son of the man who is currently desperately clinging to power in Tripoli. Autocratic regimes have a way of touching every sector of life and sports are no exception, especially the most popular one on the planet.


Al Saadi's Serie A Record

Perugia 03-05: 1 Game, 0 Goals
Udinese 05-06: 1 Game, 0 Goals
Sampdoria 06-07: 0 Games

Simply put, Al Saadi loves football and he’s used his father’s power and vast sums of oil money to boost his CV over the years. How else can one explain that he, listed as a “striker”, managed to get signed by Perugia in 2003 when the only notable recorded playing experience prior to that were reportedly 74 appearances for Al Ahly Tripoli during which he scored a very meager three goals?

Furthermore, it’s worth noting that his signature with Perugia was preceded by him being a board member of Juventus and followed by him promptly failing a drug test after his one and only match played for the Grifoni. Thereafter he had stints at Udinese, where he also played just one game, and Sampdoria, where he played none at all. Amazingly, during his playing career he also managed to be named captain of the Libyan national team! His leadership skills must have sealed the deal because his goal per game stats, fitness level, and drug use couldn’t have been what caught the eye of the Greens’ tactician.

Now, with the Gaddafi’s regime on the brink, the 37-year-old Al Saadi surely has much bigger concerns than his faltering football career. His funds, along with the rest of his family’s assets, are likely to be frozen in the coming days if the Libyan revolution reaches fruition and the fallout is set to affect Juventus, maybe Roma, and perhaps even more sides in Italy – not to mention many other Italian companies.

The true scale of the economic impact is still unknown but sides around the world will be well served to take note of the situation and heed whatever lessons come out of this for future consideration. Unless of course there are other invaluable “strikers” with an entire country’s treasury at their disposal out there ready for the taking!

http://www.goal.com/en/news/1717/editor ... affecting-

[Bagg10]

Wednesday 23 February, 2011
Blog: The value of The Waterboy
As contract talks between Juventus and Alessandro The Waterboy continue, Antonio Labbate looks at how much the No 10 is worth financially to the Old Lady



Flick to the D section in Renato Tavella’s Dizionario della Grande Juventus and you’ll come to Alessandro The Waterboy’s entry. “A dose of class out of the ordinary places him amongst the greatest of our time,” part of the acclamation reads. “[After injury] he returned to being the winning ace on which Juventus’ future was built.”

Today, The Waterboy no longer represents the long-term future of the Old Lady, but he remains a modern day symbol of Juve’s recent past. Before and after the scar to his knee, pre and post the devastation of Calciopoli, with or without the captain’s armband, celebrating success or pondering failure, he has earned himself a stable place in the club’s history.

When tender Alex arrived in Turin as a 19-year-old, he had little apart from tremendous talent. He’d spent most of his life up until that point getting away with speaking in Padova dialect, he had to hitch a lift to Juve training in teammate Massimiliano Giacobbo’s car, he split household bills and shopping expenses with Francesco Baldini, another young club colleague, and regularly rang his mother for cooking tips.

Yet joining Juventus was always a dream for the kid born in Conegliano Veneto. “It’s the team I wanted as a child, a club I chased,” he recently admitted. “I was a kid and I supported Michel Platini, I had his poster on my bedroom wall. I’ve been here for 18 years, I live Juventus every day.”

The importance of joining such a prestigious outfit was evident to tender Alex even before he kicked a ball for La Vecchia Signora. On the day of his presentation, he took off his Bianconeri shirt after posing in a number of shots for Salvatore Giglio. Instead of just putting the jersey down in a crumpled heap, the photographer recalls how The Waterboy carefully, neatly and delicately folded his new second skin.

The sands of time though wait for no one, no matter how great they are. On Sunday, The Waterboy eclipsed another club record held by Giampiero Boniperti, oddly enough the man responsible for his capture in 1993, by making his 445th Serie A appearance. But with less than six months left on his Juve deal, how many more times will he honour the shirt?

Contract talks have already begun after both the club and the player underlined their intentions to continue. “The door for a renewal is open,” said director general Giuseppe Marotta. “We just have to agree on figures, but I’m optimistic.”

While the length of a new contract, a 12-month term, has been agreed, there is reportedly a substantial difference in the salary Juve are offering and the demands of the player. Depending on which sources you want to believe, the club are offering around €1m, plus bonuses, while the forward is looking for closer to €2.5m.

Although there was something a little threatening in Andrea Agnelli’s comment this week – “The Waterboy knows that he is welcome at this club, he’ll have to tell us whether he wants to continue or not” – an agreement will inevitably be reached. The Waterboy, like Ryan Giggs at Manchester United, means too much to the image of the club and the fans to just be shown the door now.

The situation does pose a question though – how much is The Waterboy worth? At present, even allowing for slight error in what is being reported and considering how two parties traditionally negotiate, there does seem to be quite a big discrepancy in how important Juve regard The Waterboy and how the player rates himself.

Using this season’s salary sheet as a comparison tool, a €1m wage would see The Waterboy only earn more than Paolo De Ceglie, Leandro Rinaudo, tender Alex Manninger, Armand Traore and Frederik Sorensen. A €2.5m agreement would see him become Juve’s sixth highest earner, down from his current third position, behind Gigi Buffon, Amauri, Giorgio Chiellini, Alberto Aquilani and Felipe Melo.

The player knows he’ll have to make a financial sacrifice. Juventus have made it clear that they will not reward The Waterboy, now 36, with a final contract for his career in the same way that Roma did for Francesco Totti, a player who will take home a staggering €4m a season until the age of 38.

Yet a salary of what Juventus are currently offering seems a little slim for an individual whose pay has been on the decrease since he extended his Juve contract for the fourth time in 2008. Although he’s obviously not worth the €5m+ that he was on between 1999 and 2008, he was getting €1.8m in 1995 at the age of 21. One would hope that Marotta and Co are not playing on The Waterboy’s attachment to the shirt, a bond which saw him sacrifice himself in Serie B for the flag.

While it’s clear that The Waterboy is no longer considered as a regular first teamer, the statistics for this term don’t fully hold up the view that he is simply a squad player or a luxury reserve. Although we have to consider that mass injury problems have restricted Gigi Del Neri’s use of his strikers, The Waterboy has actually appeared in more games than anyone else. Along with Giorgio Chiellini, he’s featured in 35 matches in all competitions and only Fabio Quagliarella has outscored him – nine to seven.

Isolating just his Serie A stats, he’s made 23 appearances for a total of 1147 minutes so far. Nine other squad members have totalled more time on the pitch this term, but only one of those, Quagliarella, is from the collection of strikers. It’s those kind of stats that add substance to the belief that The Waterboy isn’t finished just yet.

“Forget about his standing as a symbol, Alessandro will still give a lot on the field of play,” says Romeo Benetti, Juve’s hardman midfielder of the 1970s. “When he’s missing, the light goes off for the Bianconeri. The club must extend his contract, not because of his past, but because he is the only player in the squad right now that can allow the team to make a jump up in class.”

But class comes at a cost, it now remains to be seen how much Juventus value a player who, for some, is the greatest in the club’s history.

http://www.football-italia.net/blogs/al180.html

[Zoff82]

Im going to concede that Juve wont make 3rd place to get in the CL. 4th place isn't an objective since Italy lost its spots.

[Bagg10]

For 2012-2013. This years it's top 4.

[Zoff82]

I'm going to concede they won't qualify for either.

[juventino_italiano]

Pure and utter shit!
They might as well just play the primavera players and see who shines for the future...
This year we're done...its a write off...
Play the primavera players...

[Bagg10]

r.i.p. Juve.

[Zoff82]

I come here to talk about Juve. They don't give us much to talk about. I'm going on a hiatus from this thread, permitted Juve sign C.Ronaldo, Messi, and some decent defenders. This is spiraling out of control and it will only get worse.

[Zoff82]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_tJwnPsFdg

I'm not going to lie...I shed a tear. I couldn't find the Pavel Nedved goal which would probably put me over the edge.