The entire board of directors of Juventus resigned last night.
The decision taken unanimously derives from the involvement in the Prisma investigation for false accounting and from the objections of Consob.
Andrea Agnelli leaves the presidency after 12 years.
It is Gianluca Ferrero, accountant, auditor, mayor and director of various companies, the man that Exor, the holding company of the Agnelli family which controls Juventus, will indicate as president of the black and white company.
Ferrero - explains Exor - has solid experience and the necessary technical skills, as well as a genuine passion for the Juventus club, which make him the most suitable person to hold the position.
Exor will communicate the complete list of candidates for the renewal of the board of directors within the terms of the law, i.e. 25 days before the
Twist at Juventus.
The entire board of directors, starting with the chairman Andrea Agnelli, resigned
in the evening.
A decision made at the end of a long meeting of the extraordinary board convened in the afternoon at the Continassa.
In the documentation examined by the board "the new legal and accounting opinions of the independent experts appointed to assess the critical issues highlighted by Consob on the company's financial statements as at 30 June 2021";
during the day, the Juventus council "reexamined the objections of the Public Prosecutor's Office at the Court of Turin, the deficiencies and criticalities detected by Consob and the remarks raised by the auditing company Deloitte&Touche".
Thus ends the era of Agnelli, 12 years at the helm of the club, with nine consecutive championships, other trophies, two Champions League finals, a sensational coup like the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo.
And then the descending parable with the investigation into the financial statements, in the sights of the magistrates, the 'salary maneuvers' and the capital gains and the criticisms of Consob.
A troubled period, with the
accounts heavily in the red, -253 million this year after the loss of 209 million the previous year, and very bitter even on the field with the team eliminated from the Champions League already in the group stage and very far from leaders Napoli in the league
.
And the grumbling of the fans, critical of the management especially for the decision to re-entrust the team to coach Allegri.
Steps, the judicial ones, with the searches by the Guardia di Finanza, and by the Stock Exchange, which caused the shareholders' meeting to be postponed twice, first postponed from the end of October to November 23rd and then to December 27th.
A wake-up call that something unusual was going on.
The management, which had already presented its counter-deductions to the supervisory body of the Stock Exchange, was convinced to turn to other experts.
And it is precisely from the accusations of the Turin Public Prosecutor's Office and from the observations of Consob that the long reflection that led the Juventus board of directors to present his resignation began, asking only the managing director Maurizio Arrivabene to remain in his role in the bridging phase until 18 January 2023, when the shareholders' meeting was convened which will have to approve the new board of directors.
But in the black and white club, always considered a block of granite, there is no compactness as Agnelli himself clearly stated in the open letter released in the evening at the height of the cyclone
: "When the team is not compact, it lends its side to the opponents and this can be fatal. At that moment - wrote the Juventus president - we need to be lucid and contain the damage: we are facing a delicate moment from a corporate point of view and compactness has failed. It is better to leave everyone together, giving the possibility to a new formation to overturn that match ".
A new era therefore opens in the history of Juventus
.
If the names of Del Piero and Chiellini gain share in the word of mouth of the fans, while rumors grow about a role for Alessandro Nasi,
the first step is the appointment of Maurizio Scanavino as general manager
, a position that the outgoing board of directors conferred on him "in order to strengthen the management of the company".
Scanavino, however, will maintain his positions in the Gedi group, of which he is managing director.
Before the entire board decided to leave, there was the resignation of Daniela Marilungo, "non-executive and independent director of the company" and member of the Control and Risk Committee and of the ESG (environmental social and corporate governance) Committee.
"Dr. Marilungo - reads the note released in the evening by Juventus - justified her resignation by claiming the impossibility of exercising her mandate with due serenity and independence also, but not only, due to the fact that she believes that she has not been placed in the position of being able to fully 'act informed' in the face of issues of certain complexity. The board of directors took note of the comments of Dr. Marilungo, not sharing them ".
A group of journalists and some black and white ultras met in front of the Juventus headquarters at the Continassa stadium late in the evening
after the resignation of the entire board of directors.
The company headquarters, with the internal lights lit as usual, is now deserted.
The collaborators of the president's staff came out last.
"Finally some good news."
"We'll be back as beautiful as we were. Avanti Curva Sud".
And again: "Finally everyone is out now we await Allegri's resignation. We will return".
The state of mind of the Juventus fans after the news of the resignation of the Board of Directors and of the president Andrea Agnelli runs on the social pages of the Curva Sud Juventus ultras
.
Between the most extremist fringes of the Allianz Stadium curve and the club there has been bad blood for some time, especially after the Juventus club had reported to the police the attitudes of the violent groups of the ultras groups, which ended up in the Last Banner investigation which led to the condemnation of the historic leaders of the Curva Sud. Only one photo has appeared on the official page of the ultras in these hours with the sector complete with banners such as Drughi and Tradizione.
Below the comments, by the dozens, in which the fact is underlined that without the president Agnelli we will now be able to return to the corner.
"The southern curve rejoices".
"Finally good news, until the end."
