Juventus president Andrea Agnelli has backed Massimiliano Allegri to continue the club's cycle of success this season while calling for reforms to strengthen the Italian game.
The Bianconeri have dominated Serie A in recent seasons, winning each of the last three editions, and Allegri has been backed to bring even more success to the club after being labelled "a winner" by his president.
"In these four years, there has been a lot of professionalism at our club," he wrote in a letter to shareholders.
"Antonio Conte, whom we all thank, has decided to follow a new professional pursuit and our focus now is on supporting the new coach Massimiliano Allegri.
"He's a winner and he has already brought with him a new passion and new desires to challenge all and everybody."
Allegri has made a perfect start to the season with Juve winning their opening five Serie A games without conceding a single goal. However, they were beaten for the first time in midweek by Atletico Madrid, underlining a different level of competitiveness on the European stage.
"The gap to the best clubs in Europe remains huge and this gulf must be reduced if we are to aspire to results in line with our club's international history," continued Agnelli.
"Italian football must be able to choose between being competitive in Europe, both on the field and in terms of the growth of revenue, or being marginalised, which is something it currently seems condemned to."
At the same time, Agnelli says an eye must be kept on ensuring enough competitiveness in Serie A.
"The value of television rights for Serie A and European competitions is in constant growth, which is a clear sign that there is a market interested in football," he said.
"In the distribution of this revenue, it is necessary that a mechanism which is able to recognise the values of the big clubs, of which Juventus are one, while at the same time supporting financially those clubs who may in future find themselves no longer in Serie A, needs to be found.
"Missing out on a place in Europe is now something which hits the medium and large clubs hard, but relegation from Serie A to Serie B is something which can even raise serious doubts about a club's existence.
"We have all got to bear this in mind because we cannot put Italian football into an even greater crisis of sustainability."
Agnelli's suggestion is to reduce the size of Serie A and Serie B.
"We all love football and it is something which people are always passionate about," he said.
"It is necessary therefore that we further reduce the number of professional clubs and revise the way the squads are made up to guarantee to the national team a suitable number of eligible players."
A reduction of Serie A from 20 to 18 clubs is already on the Italian Football Association's (FIGC) agenda with league reforms at the top of new president Carlo Tavecchio's list of priorities.
More competitiveness would in turn render Serie A more attractive, thus boosting interest which has a knock-on effect on revenue and the buying power of Italian clubs.
As things stand, Juventus and Roma -- who meet this Sunday -- risk turning this season into an unattractive two-horse race.
That is something Roma's sporting director Walter Sabatini said on Thursday he hopes does not happen, saying he dreams of a more competitive Serie A.