The 2014-15 Serie A title may not be Juve’s prettiest in recent years, but pre-season incidents make it priceless.
While the 2011-12 Scudetto was probably the most precious in terms of Juventus regaining their rightful place following the Calciopoli scandal, 2012-13 cemented it as the Bianconeri remained top from matchday two, and 2013-14 brought about a record-breaking campaign where Juventus finished the season with a staggering 102 points.
On May 2 2015, the Bianconeri secured their fourth successive Serie A title, being the second longest Scudetto run the club has ever witnessed since the five Serie A titles won between 1930 and 1935.
However, what makes the 2014-15 Scudetto win special is the fact that it is so priceless to all of the Bianconeri faithful: from boardroom to fans. Priceless not as in the most special or outstanding, but definitely the one that brought about the biggest sigh of relief in the dressing room.
Juve’s summer was deemed a catastrophe by some. The Bianconeri lost the services of coach Antonio Conte — the club icon who led the Turin giants to three successive Serie A titles — with the board deciding to appoint former AC Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri to lead the club.
It was not only the departure of Conte, but Allegri himself was relieved of his duties at the Rossoneri only six months prior after a string of poor results, and was often the subject of ridicule from the AC Milan faithful.
It didn’t stop there either.
The summer transfer window saw Juventus miss out on players such as Alexis Sanchez and current Roma winger Juan Iturbe — which turned out a big sigh of relief in hindsight — with the board being accused of mishandling both deals.
All of the above will of course bring about sighs of collective relief from the board and Allegri alike. After all, the board took a risk on Allegri to replace Conte — who himself had been a risk at the time of his appointment, due to his relative inexperience — after the club’s overwhelmingly successful Serie A season where they only dropped 12 points.
Allegri and the players will also have big sighs of relief too; in addition to being ridiculed for his time at AC Milan, there were also question marks surrounding Allegri’s relationship with midfielder Andrea Pirlo. After all, the midfielder’s departure from AC Milan prior to joining Juventus had always been partially attributed to the 47-year-old coach.
The sigh of relief isn’t coming from Pirlo only, but the old core of the squad who won the Scudetto while fighting on two other fronts in the Champions League and the Coppa Italia.
New signings like Roberto Pereyra, Patrice Evra, and Alvaro Morata were able to prove their worth throughout the season as well — thus putting to bed any doubt surrounding their ability, and why the Bianconeri signed them in the first place.
Finally, the fans’ relief stems from the club’s success amidst big summer spending by Roma, with the team not only cementing their place as Italy’s best, but doing so while reaching the last four of the Champions League, and reaching the Coppa Italia final too.
All in all, 2014-15 may not have been the prettiest of Scudetti, or the most dominant, but it was definitely the one that resulted in cacophonus sighs of relief in Vinovo.
Not a very good article. Not Juve’s prettiest? Nonsense. They have played pretty football for the majority of the matches and keeping Pogba and Vidal, while adding Peyrera, Evra and Morata is not that bad.