Sampdoria were the latest club to unveil their coach for the new season as last week the Serie A newcomers parted company with Giuseppe Iachini and prised Ciro Ferrara away from the Italy Under-21 fold.

The Azzurrini remained unbeaten in their UEFA U-21 championship qualifiers but the prospect of returning to club management was always at the back of Ferrara’s mind.- Antoine Dalli

This summer, eight clubs have opted to change coach before the 2012/13 campaign gets under way next month.

Strangely, Iachini lost his job at the Genoa club despite leading them to an immediate return to the top flight after just one year in Serie B doldrums.

Samp had the better of Sassuolo and Varese in the play-offs to reach their goal and join Torino and Pescara for promotion.

At first, Sampdoria chief Riccardo Garrone moved for ex-Inter coach Rafa Benitez. The newly-appointed France coach Didier Deschamps was also linked with the job.

However, both Benitez and Deschamps turned down the offers. It was at this stage that Garrone turned his attentions to Ferrara.

This appointment represents a great opportunity for former Italy defender Ferrara to revive his coaching career.

At the Marassi, he will have former Juventus team-mate Angelo Peruzzi as his assistant.

Ferrara was part of Marcello Lippi’s backroom staff at the 2006 World Cup. He then joined Juve’s technical team and was made in charge of the club’s youth sector.

Then, in May 2009, Juventus sacked Claudio Ranieri and asked Ferrara to take charge of the team for the last two games of the season. His task was for the Bianconeri to maintain the second place in the standings.

Juve went on to beat Siena and Lazio and the runners-up spot behind Jose Mourinho’s Inter was secured.

Although at the time Antonio Conte was already in the line for the Juventus job, the board opted to keep faith with Ferrara and hand him a contract.

Juve were off to an auspicious start to the 2009/10 season but their fortunes changed dramatically as they were knocked out of the Champions League and fell behind in the Serie A race.

Ferrara’s destiny at Juventus was soon sealed when they were eliminated from the Coppa Italia by Inter.

However, Ferrara did not stay idle for too long as in October 2010 he was hired by the Italian Football Federation to start coaching the Under 21 national team.

The Azzurrini remained unbeaten in their UEFA Under-21 Championship qualifiers but the prospect of returning to club management was always at the back of Ferrara’s mind.

Now, at Sampdoria, he will be asked to start laying the foundations for a new team, strong enough to avoid the drop and introduce new faces from the youth sector.

Fresh from his experience with Italy Under 21, this looks an ideal opportunity for Ferrara to bounce back and cancel his bitter experience on the Juventus bench a few years back.

Ferrara, 45, will want to prove his critics wrong, particularly those who contend that great players do not necessary make great coaches.

Maybe the appointment at Juventus came a bit too early in Ferrara’s fledgling coaching career.

But, expectations are kept to modest levels at Sampdoria and that should help him settle down much quicker at the Marassi and put his plans into practice without too much hiccups.

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