As told in Conte’s book “Testa, Cuore e Gambe”, co written with Antonio Di Rosa published by Rizzoli.
Conte describes his initial press conference as Juve coach, the 2011 summer transfer period, how he created a strong bond with Marotta, Paratici and especially Andrea Agnelli and how motivated his players. This chapters also focuses on specific games of the 2011/12 season. While Del Piero is mentioned a few times, there is no insight into Conte’s (supposed) strain relationship with the former Juve captain.
The longest chapter in Conte’s book is (not surprisingly) on his first season as Juve coach. It surprisingly begins with the Lecce match that almost cost Juve the scudetto. If you remember, Buffon made an awful mistake which caused Bertolacci’s goal that tied the game in the 85th minute. Juve finds itself with only a 1 point lead with 2 games to go as a result. After the game, Conte receives a text message from Buffon at midnight in which the legendary GK states he would have preferred to break his knee ligaments than make such an awful mistake. Conte responds that Buffon doesn't have to say he is sorry to anyone- not his coach, teammates and even the fans because of all he has done in his career for Juve. Conte used this story to start the chapter, as he believes it exemplifies the tight bond he has with his players, the strong team spirit Juve currently has and the mutual respect he has with the best players on the club.
Conte goes on to describe his initial press conference as Juve coach on May 31st 2011. One of the first questions he is asked is how he feels about fact he was Juve’s 6 or 7th choice as coach (remember club was also pursuing Villa Boas, Hiddink, Mazzarri, Spalletti). This made me think how, while Conte has done amazing work at Juve and the club owes him a ton, he also owes Andrea Agnelli and Juve a lot- the club took an enormous chance by hiring and it’s not like Conte had any comparable choices to Juve back then (he probably would have just stayed with newly promoted Siena). Conte is also asked how we will handle managing Buffon and Del Piero since they had been teammates of his in the past. Conte’s response is that he is grateful to have them on the team because they know how to win.
Conte mentions how he worked hand and hand with Marotta and Paratici during the summer transfer period. From previous chapters in the book, we know how important it was for Conte to feel that he was being listened to while his teams were being assembled. Conte is very grateful to Marotta and Paratici because they treat him as if he had been their pick as coach (remember it was essentially Andrea Agnelli who choose Conte) which is significant when you consider that Conte replaced Del Neri, who came with Marotta/Paratici to Juve from Sampdoria. This particular chapter in the book, removes any doubt I may have had that Conte is not on the same page as Marotta when it comes to how to run Juve.
Considering that there is no dirt on his relationship with Del Piero, the most interesting parts of this chapter are the insights on Juve’s transfer period that summer. Conte describes getting a call from Pirlo’s agent (Juve had been negotiating with him to bring Pirlo to Turin before Conte was hired as coach), who tells him Pirlo has offers from Manchester City and Inter in addition to Juve, and that he is concerned on how Pirlo would fit into Conte’s 4 2 4. Conte tells him not worry about that and that he is certain Pirlo would enjoy playing for him (Pirlo has recently stated he has been so impressed with Conte’s methods, that he is now also considering a career in coaching once his playing days end).
Next on the list are Lichsteiner and midfielder Inler. Conte goes with Paratici to London (they were there this past Saturday too for the Champions League final) to observe both of them during an England-Switzerland friendly. Conte immediately recognizes Lichtsteiner could play well in his system (in my opinion especially since back then Conte still intended to use a 4 man defense at Juve) but also comes to conclusion Inler is too similar to Pirlo to be a smart purchase for Juve. After discussing these evaluations with Paratici- they call Marotta, who shortly after closes the deal with Lazio (I believe this is how Juve typically goes about making transfer moves, Conte/Paratici evaluate players and Marotta negotiates). Juve had already been following Bayern Leverkusen’s Vidal, a player Conte admits he did not know much about. Conte however believes he would be a great purchase once he finds out Bayern Munich is also interested in Vidal, we have seen especially this season, how much Conte respects Bayern Munich as a club (probably also because his idol Van Gaal was their coach around this time). Luckily for Juve, the DS for Bayern Leverkusen, former Roma player Rudi Voller, has no intention of selling Vidal to Bayern Munich since they are one of their direct competitors and rivals.
Conte then briefly mentions Juve’s interest in Aguero, while he does say Juve did pursue him to the best of their abilities, he also knew from the beginning it was very unlikely he would arrive since he was a very expensive purchase both transfer fee wise and player wages (I find blaming Marotta for Juve’s inability to land big name strikers is incredibly misguided, Conte’s book seems to confirm this). Instead, Juve acquires Roma’s Vucinic (someone Conte almost played with when he was close to signing with Lecce after leaving Juve). We know Conte has often defended Vucinic this season- in the book he describes Mirko as “fortissimo” (very strong player) and someone who was “functional” to project, which probably means someone Juve could actually afford unlike Aguero.
After the mercato, Conte describes his first training sessions with Juve. He mentions how he immediately told the team he no longer wanted Juve to play like a “provinciale” (something he had also told Andrea Agnelli during their meeting) and that he expects Juve to play at high rhythms and to press their opponents. He also describes how much he relied on the old guard- Buffon, Pirlo, Del Piero- to transmit a winning mentality to the rest of his teammates. It’s interesting how in this chapter, Del Piero’s name (which comes up a few times) is almost always mentioned with Buffon’s- there is no inside information on the (supposed) tough relationship between Conte and Del Piero. Conte also describes how Chiellini, Marchisio, Barzagli and Bonucci became team leaders almost immediately after his arrival.
Conte goes on to described the summer preparation. He mentions the US tour as the time he realized he had a special team in large part due to an episode in Philadelphia where it was very hot and humid. Conte believed his players were being somewhat lazy until he decided to go for a run at the training ground. He could only complete 25% of his planned jogging session, making him realize how hard his players were trying. Conte mentions that while he is a very demanding manager he believes it is important to praise those who work hard. After his failed run in the Philadelphia heat, Conte summons the team and tells them he realized they had all been working hard and thanks them for their efforts (Conte later describes a time in which he had all of the Juve players thank the gardeners and Juve’s training staff for clearing the snow covered fields in Vinovo that winter, as another example of how he is not afraid to make people feel appreciated when they exceed his expectations).
Before the season starts, Juve opens it’s new stadium in a friendly against Notts County. Conte describes that night as a key moment for his team, since there was a new energy in home games (Conte loves the fact the fans are so close to the pitch like in most English stadiums) and because that night there were so many Juve legends in attendance, it was very important for Conte that the current Juve players truly understand what it means to be a Juve player and that night helped ensure that would happen.
Conte then describes numerous games of that season. The opening one against Parma was significant because Conte realized two things: 1)Krasic was just too predictable to be a successful win player in his formation and 2) Vidal was going to be a star, Arturo would score the first goal less than 5 minutes after coming in as a substitute and changed the game immediately in other ways as well. After the game, Conte decides to put aside the 4 2 4 (he started having doubts on it a few weeks before during a friendly against Betis) and instead goes with a 4 3 3 than can morph into a 4 -1-4-1. Conte would move permanently to the 3 5 2 in the game against Napoli at San Paolo stadium, which Conte describes as the key match that season. Juve came back to tie the game 3-3 after falling behind twice, the players really started to believe in Conte and themselves after that match. Conte then describes the “goal di Muntari” match against Milan and his confrontation with Galliani at half time (Conte would later call Galliani to apologize), I liked that Conte mentions the Matri goal that was disallowed due to a non existant off side call. Conte ends the chapter describing the overwhelming joy he felt when Juve won the scudetto in Trieste against Cagliari, and the hug he shared with Marotta (the one in the picture at top of article).
I really enjoyed reading about the strong bond between Andrea Agnelli and Conte in this chapter. Conte describes Andrea Agnelli as a great listener and someone he has a constant relationship with. While Andrea Agnelli asks a lot of questions, Conte says he never once tried to impose his ideas on Conte. While I do not think Conte will be Juve’s Ferguson (it’s just something that doesn’t happen in Italy and Conte has never hid his desire to coach abroad someday), I do think the strong bond between Conte and Andrea Agnelli will ensure a long partnership between the two, and a lot of wins for Juve.