Source: Eurosport
Ranieri future up for discussion
Claudio Ranieri faces a nervous wait to hear whether he will be kept on at Juventus as another trophyless season for the club draws to a close.The Bianconeri are destined to end another season empty-handed after crashing out of the Coppa Italia to Lazio last week, while they have not won in the league in over a month to leave them two points behind AC Milan and nine behind Serie A leaders Inter Milan.The club recently issued a statement denying they were planning on replacing Ranieri but John Elkann, president of the Exor group which controls Juventus, refused to give his coach similar assurances."Ranieri? We'll see at the end of the season," he said. "You do the balances at the end of the season, now is not the time to face this argument."The players will look to win the rest of the games from now until the end of the season."Earlier in the day, angry Juve fans had staged a protest displaying banners calling for the board to be sacked.However, Elkann has reassured shareholders that the club is matching their targets on and off the pitch.He said: "Juve is a club we have owned for many years and we began a project three years ago which was meant to deliver sustainable football, which means managing positive results alongside economical and financial ones."For the fans there will be the satisfaction of the results, for the shareholders that of good economic value."Recently there has been disappointment because the club needs to win. Rather than speaking, the coach and more experienced players have to show they can win the last five matches."There is no other response but to win."In further bad news for the club, the Italian football association confirmed that they had rejected Juve's appeal against having to play their match against Lecce behind closed doors because of racist chants from their fans in the draw against Inter.[LNB]
