Where will Juve rank next season?

It seems Juventus still have to find their feet since winning back their place in the top flight after one year in Serie B for their part in the soccer scandal of 2006.

Their immediate promotion was followed by successive top-four finishes but instead of building on that Juve suffered badly in the next two years and back-to-back seventh-place finishes, under three different coaches, saw the team slipping into wilderness.

But this season the ‘Old Lady’ hierarchy are seeking to start a new chapter with a brand new stadium and under the charge of coach Antonio Conte, a mainstay in Marcello Lippi’s star-studded Juve side that conquered Italy and Europe in the late 1990s.

Lecce-born Conte has to succeed where his recent predecessors – Didier Deschamps, Claudio Ranieri, Ciro Ferrara, Alberto Zaccheroni and Luigi del Neri – have all failed.

But it is not going to be easy for Conte to lead Juve back to glory as he is pressed up for time to mould a squad strong enough to break into the top three in the Serie A and a place in the Champions League competition.

Milan, Inter, Napoli, Lazio and Roma will all be vying for the major honours and at present Juve aren’t seen as a side that can break into this elite group.

Conte is well acquainted with Juventus and knows the sort of pressure and scrutiny he will have to face when things go wrong. But the least he could hope for is that he gets a longer time than his former club-mate Ferrara got in season 2009/10 to prove himself.

Conte is relatively new to the Serie A coaching scene so he needs time to adapt. It is one thing leading modest teams Bari and Siena to Serie A promotion and coaching one of the most popular sides in the Italian peninsula.

Conte’s operate will only be one aspect on which Juve’s new hierarchy will be judged.

Since the departure of Fabio Capello in 2006, Juventus have had five different coaches in five years, something unheard of in Turin in previous years.

The Bianconeri badly need some sort of stability. It is important that Conte is given the necessary backing even if things go wrong.

On the field of play, Juve’s failure to adequately replace the ‘old guard’ has been their major downfall in the last two years or so.

The previous administration used to run the club at a profit mainly by selling their best talent and replacing them with unknown players from smaller clubs at bargain prices.

Things have changed dramatically in the last four to five years though as Juventus, despite not competing in the Champions League in four of the last six editions, still spent big money in the transfer market.

However, as already pointed out, results were disappointing.

With Ranieri around, and later Ferrara, Juventus only managed top-four finishes because the likes of Gianluigi Buffon, Alessandro del Piero, Mauro Camoranesi and, particularly, Pavel Nedved were still in their peak.

But life after Nedved and Camoranesi was difficult for Juventus as the move to spend big on new signings backfired... the return on these investments was rather poor.

So, if Juve are to have a successful campaign and, perhaps, rank among the title challengers next season, Conte needs to have the full support of his bosses and key positions in the team filled by quality players who will have to prove themselves at the top level.

Anything short of that will see Juve stutter again... irrespective of who the man in charge is.