Juve, change on the bench? The story: whoever doesn’t win for two years leaves

Massimiliano Allegri had returned to Juventus as the third coach with the highest number of trophies brought to the black and white showcase: 11, including league titles (5), Italian Super Cup (2) and Italian Cup (4), behind only Trapattoni (14) and Lippi ( 13). With the aim of overcoming them. Two seasons later he not only hasn’t passed them, not only hasn’t caught up with them, but he’s still there. Zero titles, unlike their predecessors Sarri (scudetto) and Pirlo (Italian Cup and Super Cup). Beyond the mere annotation of evidence, it is the consultation of the sacred books that helps to draw the conclusions. The annals of Signora history tell of a house rule, unwritten but crystallized by practice: two seasons without trophies, at Juve, are synonymous with farewell to the coach. More specifically, only once in Juventus history has a coach who didn’t win for two seasons then remain on the bench for the third. A century ago.

MORE THAN TWO SEASONS

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Back before Allegri, the list of coaches who remained at the helm of Juventus for more than two years includes Conte (2011-14), Lippi (1994-99 and 2001-05), Trapattoni (1976-86 and 1991-94), Vycpalek (1971-74), Herrera (1964-69), Borel (1942-46), Rosetta (1935-39), Carcano (1930-35) and Karoly (1923-26). All capable of winning a trophy, and those who have returned, like Trapattoni and Lippi, have also succeeded in their return. All except Felice Borel – three scudettos in black and white and world champion with the 1934 national team as a player – but the presence of his name is deceptive: he was at the helm of Juventus as a player-coach for four years, but in reality because of the war there were only two championships (1942-43 and 1945-46, both times runners-up behind Turin), with two years of war suspension in between. Two seasons without trophies and Juve changed, in that case relying on Renato Cesarini.

THE ONLY PRECEDER

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However, there is in fact a coach who remained on the Juventus bench for a third season after not winning anything in the first two, and this is where we need to go back to the mists of time a century ago (or almost). To be precise, to the first professional coach in the history of Juventus: the Hungarian Jeno Karoly. Arrived at the helm of the black and whites from Savona, who had brought him to Italy, remained without winning in 1923-24 (5th place out of 12 in Group B, Scudetto to Genoa) and in 1924-25 (3rd place out of 13 in Group B , scudetto to Bologna). Yet he remained on the Juventus bench in 1925-26. He closed, mind you, with the Scudetto of the Lady, the second in Juventus history. If it weren’t for a tragic twist. Karoly did not experience that championship, taken away by a heart attack a few days before the Northern League final won against Bologna: it was his compatriot Jozsef “Giuseppe” Viola as player-coach who led Juventus to the Italian flag, the second in history of the club by beating Alba Roma, ancestor of AS Roma, in the final.

AND CHEERFUL?

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Other times and other football, evidently. The fact remains that it hasn’t happened since then: it has never happened again that Juventus kept a coach for a third season who hadn’t won any trophies in the first two. It is a company that also gives time to its technicians. But at Juve patience lasts two seasons. Those that have already passed with Allegri. To stay, Juventus history in hand, he needs an exception to the rule.