TWB : Die-nysty: The shortfalls of success

For a second year running, the race for the Scudetto does not include the “old lady”, Juventus. To all but the fans of the Bianconeri, this is a welcome shift in the Italian footballing landscape.

Author

S'bo Gyre

Published

April , 2022

Conte and the ever-controversial Andrea Agnelli completed with great aplomb both on and off the pitch.The most impressive achievement at the time was their move to the Allianz Stadium thus making them the first Italian club to own their stadium.

Since their 2011 move, three other Italian clubs have followed suit. The heavyweights from Milan, the two Roman teams, and Napoli are still at the mercy of municipal ownership.This gives Juventus the financial edge over their rivals as their independence allows them to broker and leverage better deals with potential sponsors. Good corporate and institutional governance at Juventus has had positive ripple effects in the boardrooms of their league advisories.

Once AC Milan had focused on organizational improvement, they were able to steadily build a framework for the club to compete at the highest level domestically and in Europe. However, to say Italian teams are competing at the highest level in Europe could be said to be misleading. Italian clubs have become also-rans in major European club competitions.Inter’s narrow defeat to Liverpool in the last 16 has been the best showing by an Italian team. Juve, true to their recent Champions League form were embarrassingly dumped out at home by Villareal. Atalanta was relegated to the Europa League and AC Milan finished bottom of their group.

Juventus’ dynasty has a significant role to play in this outcome. Many take exception to “one team leagues” with football twitter dubbing them “farmers leagues”. The integrity of the competition is not put into question but concerns are valid when nuanced conversation calls into question the quality of “the chasing pack” and the wider impact on the level of football in that country.

From the acquisition of French club PSG to this tournament, the long build-up since Qatar was named as hosts has seen them become more aggressive in their sports-washing antics.It’s not uncommon now to see Qatar Airways as shirt sponsors and PSG chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi is now chairman of the European Clubs Association (ECA). The fact that a financial doper will now oversee the dispensation of new Financial Fair Play rules is evidence of the vice the Qataris have over world football.

This isn’t to say the funds and resources plunged into the game have not been beneficial however the situation is ought to be looked at holistically. The question is what does football do in the immediate and long term?

What works out for the greater good of football is when the chasing pack rises to the level of dominant champions. What often takes place is a decrease in the quality of the champions as they become more and more complacent.Juve let their guard down and became fixated on winning the Champions League. Their once lauded recruitment strategy left them with aging players with little motivation and astronomical wages. The end of their dynasty was more so as a result of their shortcomings than the rest of the clubs catching up.

The end of dynasties of a similar length like in Scotland illustrate a less significant rise in quality in the aftermath as opposed to shorter periods of dominance. Manchester United’s dynasties were clipped by Arsenal teams who rose to their level as did Liverpool to the threat of Manchester City dominance in recent years.

As long as the levels of professionalism and standards rise, the bullish teams should continue to set the benchmark for others to follow. The responsibility is on the chasing pack to level up.

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