JUVE WILL LEAD SERIE A REVIVAL

Juventus commercial director Francesco Calvo talks about their secret to success and visit to Singapore

Executive Sub-Editor

May 21, 2014 06:00 am

EXCLUSIVE

1 It's rare that Italian clubs venture to Asia during  pre-season. Why have Juventus decided to take that step?

Calvo: Italian clubs are very reluctant to go East during pre-season, because Italians are quite conservative, and football is no exception. We always try to go to places that have the same climate and temperature as Italy.

For Juventus, it's not enough to just be in Italy. We want to modernise, and be on the same level as the top European clubs.

We had always been a top club until 2006. We were among the top three in terms of the size of our fan base, the same level as Manchester United and Real Madrid. Then in 2006 we had the Calciopoli (match-fixing scandal) and the resulting blackout (from Europe) for five years.

Now, we have to recover. We believe we have the tools in place to recover, and going to Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, where we are also loved by everybody, is one way to do that.

2 The club bounced back quickly from the Calciopoli scandal with three Serie A titles in a row since 2011. What's the secret to the success of the "Grand Old Lady"?

The secret is 117 years of history and 91 years under the same ownership - the Agnelli family.

In 91 years, we won 32 Scudetto (*30 is the official tally, after the Calciopoli affair disqualified Juventus from two titles in 2005 and 2006.)

The focus is not always on football, but as a business.

Twenty years ago, when the game became more professional, Juventus operated more as a company than just a football club.

Then there's also the winning tradition, the need for results on and off the field.

In 2007, we were in the second division, but came back very quickly to Serie A.

In mid-2010, our chairman Andrea Agnelli took over, and he took on a very strong approach to bring Juventus back to glory.

3 Juventus are the richest club in Italy, and widely perceived to be the only rich club in the country. How have the club managed to sustain that?

As much as there is a focus to win, there is also (priority) on being financially stable.

The top leagues - the English Premier League, La Liga and Bundesliga - have grown in the last seven, eight years in terms of turnover by 10 to 15 per cent. Serie A has grown by seven per cent.

That's the mirror of Italy as a country. It has been struggling to innovate and develop - and so the same for the football clubs. Look at the infrastructure; Italian clubs are using the same stadiums from the 1990 World Cup.

Stadiums are a source of revenue, but more importantly, they are the fans' perception of the club. The new Juventus Stadium (opened in 2011) changed the perception our fans had of us. It made them proud. The stadium also changed the way we interacted with our fans. It is not of 80,000 capacity, only 40,000 - but Turin is not London or Barcelona or Rome.

4 Do you think Serie A can bounce back and be No. 1 in Europe?

Football is a cycle. Now it is a cycle of the Premier League and the Bundesliga.

Serie A knows what to do. It is, in a way, tradition in Italy to start from the bottom before rebuilding again.

You see that with the Italian teams at the World Cup; winners in 1982 and 2006 (laughs).

Serie A can recover. I think it's important for Serie A to have regained the leadership of Juventus.

If you ask me how many years it will take, maybe five to 10 years to catch up with the Premier League, which is the benchmark. Juventus will have a big role to play in that.

5 Singapore billionaire Peter Lim recently bought a majority stake in La Liga's Valencia. Do you think that sort of investment can help Serie A clubs? Will they be open to it?

In Italy, it has happened with Roma and Inter Milan. Roma have American owners and Inter have an Indonesian, Erik Thohir, as a majority stakeholder.

Italy, as I've said before, has been very conservative towards foreign investment. But such investments are an opportunity, for sure.

Juventus are run by a family which has a global business. AC Milan is the same with (Silvio) Berlusconi.

But for other clubs, it would be extremely useful to have such investors.

When you bring different experiences and different methodologies to one place, it's a positive thing - because not everything we do is perfect.

6 Racism has been prevalent in the Italian game. Why is it a big problem in Serie A?

It's a problem everywhere. All the countries face it.

Here, of course, we take it very seriously. But, it must be said that sometimes the media make something out of nothing.

Of course, sometimes, the messages from the media turns into a positive one, like the banana incident with Dani Alves in Spain. That (produced) positive results for everyone, I think.

On the part of Juventus, we have currently two projects with Unesco - projects of integration with children from all over the world, to tell them what the club are about.

The message we deliver through football is very important.

Italy is not the best country (when it comes to) racism, but we are not the worst, either.

wl Ali's trip to Turin is courtesy of World Sport Group. Juventus will play a Singapore Selection team in an exhibition match at the new National Stadium at the Sports Hub on Aug 16.

REPORTING FROM TURIN

A museum with a message

There are exhibits which pay tribute to legends Michel Platini, Roberto Baggio and Alessandro Del Piero.

In one corner of the modestly-sized Juventus museum are panels that detail the birth of the club and how they rose to the summit of Italian and European football over the 20th century.

There is a tribute to past Juve managers, headed by the cigar-smoking Marcello Lippi, who won five Serie A titles and one Champions League trophy during two spells in Turin.

It is not until near the exit of the museum that a visitor will find an indistinct poster detailing the Calciopoli match-fixing scandal of 2006.

It recounts, under the heading "To hell and back", how Juve were found guilty of "fixing" Serie A matches by the authorities, sent down to the second division and stripped of two league titles won in 2005 and 2006.

The "hell" of 2006 no longer resonates among the fans, especially after their team clinched a third successive title last Sunday, their 30th Serie A crown, after beating Cagliari 3-0 at the Juventus Stadium.

Banners among the 40,000 fans in attendance read "32", however, as if to say no one can take away what they've won.

"To us fans, it will always be 32 (titles won). The league and the rest of Italy can say what they want," said Juve fan and taxi driver, Luca Sangelli.

"The fans never gave up on the team even when we played in Serie B. When the (Calciopoli scandal happened), most of us saw it as the (Italian) Football Federation's way of trying to kill us.

"But Juve have too much tradition, too much support. We recovered quickly, and now, Serie B feels like a long time ago."

After five managers in five years since returning to the top flight in 2007, coach Antonio Conte took over in 2011 and they've gone from strength to strength.

Success, it seems, is synonymous with the Grand Old Lady.

A quote from Sir Alex Ferguson, located among the first few exhibits in the museum, encapsulates the club's winning tradition.

"Juventus were an example of my Manchester United. I had players watch videos of Lippi's team and then tell them, you need to have that desire to win."

The Scot was referring to Juventus' appearance in three Champions League finals between 1996 and 1998, beating Ajax Amsterdam in the first one before losing to Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid.

Indeed, the next step for Juve is to reclaim their status on the continent.

Conte has hinted that the club need to steer their ambitions towards Europe, a quote from Lippi at another exhibit in the museum brings home the message: "At Juventus, success cannot stop. There is always something to win. There is never time for celebration."

- ALI KASIM