JUVENTUS legend Alessandro Del Piero believes Kilmarnock’s Angelo Alessio will be a hit in Scottish football
The new Rugby Park manager was Antonio Conte’s assistant at Juventus in Del Piero’s 19th and final season in Turin as the Serie A giants wrapped up an invincible season.
Alessio is still wetting his feet as a manager but World Cup winner Del Piero is confident the Italian can emulate his long-term friend and former colleague Conte as he strides out on his own at Rugby Park.
“I had the pleasure of working with Angelo Alessio and got to know him from a personal and professional point of view," said the six-time Serie A champion.
“I appreciated his technical and human qualities. He is a man of character, very meticulous in his work and as versatile as when he played.
READ MORE: Celtic 'beating Manchester City' in Jose Cifuentes pursuit | Middleton and Hardie set for exit?
“For many years he has been the main technical collaborator for Antonio Conte, in Italy and at Chelsea, and Conte would have liked him to join him at Inter.
“Alessio has chosen to walk alone and at Kilmarnock I think you will have the opportunity to appreciate his qualities. I have known him as an assistant but not as a manager and it is not a simple transition, especially at the beginning.
“One thing is certain: Alessio has character, skills and desire to do well. Throughout his career, as a footballer and coach, he has always been appreciated for his great flexibility and for his constant desire to improve. Antonio Conte's obsession with victory is a nice starting point for those seeking success in a new path.”
Conte and Alessio forged a successful partnership during their time together with Siena in Italian football’s second tier before leading Juventus to three Serie A titles.
The pair then enjoyed a two-year stint with their national team before heading to the English Premier League with Chelsea, winning the league at the first time of asking.
And Del Piero believes Alessio will look to instil the same philosophy he relied on as a coach in his first management role.
“In eight years of working together, Conte and Alessio have shared everything. Antonio and Angelo are different characters, but for this reason they have complemented each other for many years.
READ MORE: Celtic's street fighting rascal Leigh Griffiths is getting back to his best
“Mr Alessio faces a new challenge, in which he will bring methods and principles that have always been the basis of Conte's philosophy: work ethics, obsessive attention to every single detail and the hunger for victory that never fails.”
Angelo Alessio’s appointment might have come from left field but Juventus’ all-time leading goal scorer Del Piero thinks the Ayrshire side and the 54-year-old are a good match.
“I think it's a great opportunity for both. Scottish football will interact with an Italian coach who wants to give himself a new and more personal dimension after so many successful seasons assisting a great coach who was able to establish himself in Italy, England and also with our national team.
“Alessio starts a new path with an excellent club, replacing an important manager like Steve Clarke who was not surprisingly chosen to lead the Scottish national team.
“In Italy it was taken for granted that Alessio would follow Conte to Inter. Everything was ready and certainly Angelo would have signed an important contract and experienced another compelling experience alongside 'his' coach.
“It went differently because Kilmarnock ignited the desire for a challenge of his own.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel