Corsicans take chance on Fab Rav
Fabrizio Ravanelli, he of shirt-over-the-head goal celebrations, signed up with Corsican club AC Ajaccio over the weekend as their new head coach.
The former Middlesbrough striker spent the last two years
working within the youth coaching set-up at Juventus and decided now to take on
the challenge of taking Ajaccio up to new heights after they ended last season just
one place and two points above the relegation zone in Ligue 1.
The White Feather
won the Champions League with Juventus as a player in 1996 before a £7 million
move to Middlesbrough. The deadly front-man fired 31 goals in all competitions
(17 in the Premier League) and helped Boro to the final of both domestic cup
competitions. The campaign was to end in heartbreak, though, when the
Teessiders were relegated from the top-flight, alongside devastating losses in
both the FA Cup and League Cup Wembley showpieces. Their fight against demotion
was compounded by a 3-point deduction due to an unfulfilled fixture against
Blackburn Rovers after Boro’s squad was decimated through illness and injury.
Only two matches into the new season, Marseille stumped up
£5.25m to take the Italian international to the south of France, and now the
inexperienced coach has returned to French football with Ajaccio.
The beautiful island of Corsica is classed as part of France,
but is only slightly closer to French shores than it is to the Italian mainland.
It will be a home-from-home for him as he makes his first steps in charge of a
senior team and he’ll hope to give Ajaccio a boost in their quest to establish themselves
in the top-flight and to become the pride of Corsican football above local rivals
Bastia, who finished in 12th position this past season.
The former striker inherits from outgoing boss Albert Emon a
squad shorn of star quality, but with significant experience in the form of ex-Chelsea
and Juve man Adrian Mutu. He also takes with him former Juventus and Siena
assistant Giampiero Ventrone, who worked closely with Marcello Lippi and
Antonio Conte in the past.
The new man in charge will have to inject some top-level
experience, perhaps putting his contacts with Juventus to good use in the
process, and he’ll surely need to lean on his experienced assistant for guidance
on occasion. However, as Ravanelli said on his introduction as head coach, he
may not have a lot of coaching experience, but he holds substantial knowledge
of the game from a 19-year playing career. On top of that, he knows the
language and culture intimately from his successful spell with l’OM.
The well-travelled 44-year-old is set to embark upon a new
adventure and will find the going tough at times, but with his determination to
succeed and knowledge of football in France, he is well-placed to lead Ajaccio
to better times in the future.
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