Quitting Juventus top job wasn't easy, Andrea Agnelli says

Outgoing Juventus JUVE.MI Chairman Andrea Agnelli said on Tuesday his decision to stand down from the top job at the Serie A club was not an easy one to take, and he remained convinced he had acted correctly.

"On top of loving Juventus, in recent years I have given my best to achieving results on and off the pitch," Agnelli told shareholders gathered in Turin to approve the team's results for the fiscal year ended in June which showed a 238 million euro ($255 million) loss.

Juventus, Italy's most successful team, is under scrutiny by Italy's prosecutors and market watchdog for alleged false accounting, leading its board to resign last month. Prosecutors have requested Agnelli, 11 other people and the club itself stand trial.

Agnelli said that by stepping down he had wanted to avoid any risk that people might think his personal situation could affect the club's decisions.

"Juventus comes before everything and everyone," he said, adding: "I am strongly convinced I have acted properly in recent years, and that accusations raised against us were not founded."

On Monday Exor EXOR.AS, the holding company of the Agnelli family and the controlling shareholder of Juventus, presented its slate for the club's new board, which will be appointed at a shareholder meeting scheduled for Jan. 18.

It includes accountant Gianluca Ferrero for the role of chairman and Maurizio Scanavino for CEO. Scanavino is the CEO of publisher GEDI, also controlled by Exor, and was recently appointed as Juventus general manager.

The new board, made up of accounting, auditing and legal professionals, will shrink to five members from 10 previously.