Alessio Secco

Alessio Secco (born 5 January 1970) was an Italian director of football for the Italian Serie A club Juventus. Alessio was later on dismissed at the end of the disappointing 2009–10 season, and replaced by Giuseppe Marotta.

Secco first joined Juventus in 1999, working as a press secretary and then as team manager in 2000 under Carlo Ancelotti. He then worked under Luciano Moggi but was promoted to Moggi's position on 23 May 2006 when Moggi was forced to step down due to the Calciopoli scandal that year. Former Juventus player Didier Deschamps was brought in as manager and Juventus topped the Serie B to win promotion. However, he and Deschamps had a falling-out over multiple issues, leading to Deschamps' resignation at the end of May 2007 with only two games remaining.

Working together with chairman Jean-Claude Blanc, Secco proceeded to purchase players in an effort to revitalize the team after Juventus regained promotion to the Serie A. However, he soon came under fire from Bianconeri fans due to his failure in buying top class players capable helping Juventus mount a title challenge against the likes of Internazionale, Milan and Roma. Although credited with preventing the sale of goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and young stars Sebastian Giovinco and Claudio Marchisio, he was highly criticized for signing players such as Tiago Mendes, Sergio Almirón, and defendes Jean-Alain Boumsong and Jorge Andrade during the 2007–08 season even though Juventus finished third in the league, thus qualifying for Champions League football the following season. Meanwhile, Mendes, Almirón and Boumsong were all either loaned out or sold by the winter transfer window of the 2009–10 season. In February 2009, it was confirmed that he renewed his contract until 2011. He courted controversy after it was discovered that he had allegedly spoken to representatives from Genoa and reportedly communicated with Moggi despite the latter's five-year "excommunication" from football.

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