Following the recent news that Tottenham fitness coach Gian Piero Ventrone suddenly passed away, many tributes have been made, with a lot of Spurs players taking to social media to pay their respects.
Handpicked by Antonio Conte, the 62-year-old left a mark wherever he went, as shown by the many retired footballers wanting to share stories about how they were affected by Ventrone.
Fabrizio Ravanelli is one of those, whom many Premier League fans will remember from his time at both Middlesbrough and Derby, scoring a combined 25 goals in 64 appearances in England’s top division.
He also represented Italy 22 times, often being recognised via his rather eccentric haircuts that helped him build his legacy in football.
Speaking to TuttoMercatoWeb about the late Tottenham coach, he said: “Gian Piero was an important person for all of football, especially for Juventus. When he arrived in 1994 he changed the training methodology, trying to bring innovation and quality to work. He changed everything that was there to change, inserting important exercises both in the gym and on the pitch, in particular in the aerobic part.
“They were exhausting workouts, in the first days of preparation it was also difficult to rest. The workouts were very hard. Another memory was when during the first day preparation, he made us do 600 sit-ups. They were exhausting workouts and when someone couldn’t do it they had to play what Ventrone he called ‘the bell of shame’ which he built himself.”
Despite the gruelling exercises, Ravanelli was thankful, as once you got over the initial impact, the team ‘started flying, winning several trophies’, with many finishing the game without even being tired.
Prior to his move to Tottenham in November of last year, Ventrone had spent time at Juventus, AC Ajaccio, Catania before heading to China, where he worked as JS Suning and GZ Evergrande.
