Giampiero Boniperti is gone. It was Juventus. Forty-eight years in the service of the Old Lady. First as a footballer, then as president. To distinguish it: sobriety, shrewdness, class. In one word: the Juve style. He would have turned 93 on July 4th, heart failure fatal.
He wore the shirt bianconera 444 times, from 1946 to 1961. He arrived at Juve at the age of 17, from his country, Barengo, in the Novara area. Every year in the contract he demanded and obtained the purchase of a cow: he had arrived in the big city, but he had not forgotten his peasant soul.
With the Juventus shirt he won five league titles between 1950 and 1961 and two Italian Cups. With John Charles and Omar Sivori he formed the so-called Magic Trio: seeing them play was a spectacle. With the national team he collected 38 appearances and 8 goals, but his trace in blue was less significant, because it happened in a period – the 50s – of great crisis for our football.
He was president from ’71 to ’90 and then, when he was recalled by the Agnelli family, managing director from ’91 to ’94. Since 2006 he was honorary president. As a manager he never got to watch the games in full. A little anxiety, a little habit: a lot of superstition. He left the stadium at half-time, got into the Fiat driven by the driver and drove around the streets of Turin – when Juve played at the old Comunale – or returned to Turin, if Juve were involved in an away match. always with the radio tuned to “All football minute by minute”.
With the players had a a hard relationship, but always loyal. The Juventus players signed blank contracts. One year – it was the mid-70s – the various Tardelli, Cabrini, Bettega and Gentile asked for an increase. Boniperti – sitting behind his master desk – pointed to a picture hanging on the wall. It portrayed moments of a derby with Toro. And he asked the players: “Who won the Scudetto last year?” The Toro had won, so the bianconeri lowered their heads and left the office, without the retouching of the salary.
Among the champions he was most attached to, they must certainly be remembered Gaetano Scirea and Alessandro Del Piero. To unite them the privacy, the silences, the sobriety of everyday life. Very strong friendship with Giovanni Trapattoni, whom Boniperti himself had wanted as a coach. It was Trap’s first real experience on the bench. The trace he left from 1976 to 1986 is indelible: 6 championships in a decade. The lawyer Agnelli was with him who confronted, whenever there was a decision to make. Boniperti did not indulge him, on the contrary. Famous was the time when – to the lawyer who asked for information and pushed to buy a very young and half-unknown Maradona – Boniperti replied that: “If he were that strong, I’d know him too.”
He was a member of the European Parliament from ’94 to ’99. He continued to follow football, indeed his Juve. Recently he said: “I can only wish Juve one wish: keep winning because, as you know, the only thing that matters is always…”.
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