MARINE
Gian Piero Ventrone was locked in cupboard by Gianluca Vialli and made Zinedine Zidane sick as he turned Juve into machines before joining Antonio Conte’s Premier League top four push with Tottenham
Gian Piero Ventrone was a hugely popular figure with football's top stars, despite having a reputation for his militant training drills.
The 61-year-old Tottenham coach sadly passed away on Thursday due to fulminant leukaemia on Thursday morning and a host of players and clubs paid their respects to a man known as 'The Marine'.
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A close friend of manager Antonio Conte, it was during his time at Juventus where the fitness coach really built his reputation as one of the game's most renowned coaches.
Ventrone enjoyed two spells in Turin – first from 1994-1999 and then from 2010-2004, with his first five years at the club being enough to write him into Juve folklore.
Working under legendary manager Marcelo Lippi in the 90s, Juve boasted a playing squad that was the envy of many with the likes of Conte, Gianluca Vialli and Zinedine Zidane among those to play for the Old Lady.
Ventrone was best known for the huge demands and lung-busting runs that he would impose on the first team players in order to build their fitness to a level that was superior to their rivals.
Zidane arrived in Turin in the summer of 1996 and spoke of his shock at the intensity of the training sessions.
"[Didier] Deschamps did tell me about the training sessions, but I just didn't believe they could be as bad as all that," Zidane previously recalled.
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"Often, I would be at the point of vomiting by the end, because I was so tired."
Author Michael Cox wrote in the book 'Zonal Marking: The Making Of Modern European Football' that Ventrone's sessions were so tough that Vialli took it upon himself to lock the coach in a cupboard before calling the police.
But despite boasting the nickname 'The Marine', Ventrone was able to build a close relationship with all of the players whom he coached.
Ventrone joined Conte at Tottenham following his appointment in November 2021 and got to work on making Spurs one of the fittest sides in the Premier League.
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Heung-min Son was one player who held a particularly close relationship with the Italian, with the pair seen embracing after the 6-2 victory over the Foxes last month.
Son said: “I have a really, really good relationship with Gian Piero.
“So obviously his English is not perfect, sometimes he is coming with his phone and translating into English from Italian.
“It means a lot. Not as football-wise, I think life-wise he gives me so much advice, which I am really grateful.
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“He has been so helpful, giving me always a big hug in tough times and even great times he has always been next to me and every staff.
“Even today before we left the training ground, the hotel, we had a couple of minutes of having a nice conversation which made me really comfortable and really grateful.”
Matt Doherty also hailed the coach. "It's funny because normally when you have a fitness coach like that who is running you ragged you start to not like him — but we all absolutely love him.
"We've got so much respect for him that we do whatever he tells us to."
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Ben Davies also spoke about Ventrone's impact on Tottenham, telling The Telegraph, Davies said: “He really is a workhorse. He works us very hard, but you know that he has our best interests at heart.
“He’s been in the game for a very long time so who are we to question his methods? It clearly works. He knows when to lay off us, but he pushes us to be better.
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“It’s great to have his experience around the place, not just on the fitness side but as a person. He’s been there, done it and been around some of the best in the world, so he can translate some of that experience onto us.”
While Ventrone may not be a household name to football supporters, it's clear that beneath his nickname 'The Marine', the Italian was hugely respected and will be a real miss to the football world.