Three coaching vacancies filled

By: Francesco | June 5th, 2009

So, three clubs have now officially ended their search for a new boss. Atalanta, Juventus, and surprisingly Palermo have all appointed new managers today. Atalanta and Juventus choosing a new manager was expected, but Palermo appointing someone new was very surprising, especially considering that Davide Ballardini hasn’t even been fired yet.

Atalanta have chosen to go with the young and up-and-coming route and have appointed Angelo Gregucci as boss. Gregucci has little Serie A coaching experience; he was coach of Lecce to start the 2005-2006 season but he was fired after 5 games because of poor results. He did a decent job at Vicenza in Serie B this season, leading the Veneto club to a comfortable 12th place. Atalanta are hoping that Gregucci can have an Allegri-type effect. Davide Ballardini was rumored to be a contender for the Bergamo club, but the Bergamaschi took a gamble on Gregucci.

After weeks of speculation, Juventus have finally appointed Ciro Ferrara as head coach for next season. The ex-Napoli and Juve defender has signed a 2-year contract. With other candidates Antonio Conte committing to Bari and Luciano Spalletti staying at Roma, Ferrara was the most obvious option. I think it will be very interesting to see how Ferrara does next season and what kind of manager he will be.

And now for the most surprising news of the day, Palermo, with Davide Ballardini still under contract, have hired Walter Zenga to take charge next season. Firstly, Zenga was in charge of rivals Catania this season. It will be interesting to see how the Catania fans feel and how the Palermo fans feel about this as well. Second, it looked almost certain that Zenga would be going to Lazio (now it looks like Ballardini might be going there, but don’t count out Marco Giampaolo). Zamparini is known for his craziness, and this is just added to the list. I guess he admired the 4-0 win Catania had in the derby this season.

Coaching vacancies yet to be filled are now Lazio and Siena (Giampaolo seems to be on the way out).