Chelsea have officially announced Antonio Conte as manager for next season on a three-year deal.
The current Italy manager will join the club once his role concludes at Euro 2016 this summer.
.@ChelseaFC is delighted to announce the appointment of Antonio Conte... https://t.co/prZqPkLaNE pic.twitter.com/hUu7iHVVRm
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) April 4, 2016
Yesterday, the club was making a very different announcement - one of denial.
The Sunday Times published a story which implicated Chelsea - along with Arsenal, Birmingham and Leicester - in a major doping scandal.
The main man in the Sunday Times story was Dr. Mark Bonar who claimed to have aided the doping of 150 sports stars.
Some of his business came via a former Chelsea employee, Rob Brinded, who had been head of strength, conditioning, injury and rehabilitation at club for six years. He left in 2007.
Brinded claimed that some Chelsea players were using banned substances during his time at the club though there was no suggestion that the club knew anything about such activities.
Given yesterday's allegations, today was an interesting time to make the Conte announcement.
The 46-year-old was a part of a Juventus side with considerable links to doping.
In 2004, Juventus team doctor Riccardo Agricola was sentenced to 22 months in jail for the supplying of performance-enhancing drugs to players.
During the testimony for that trial, it was alleged Conte along with several other players used EPO.
This is from a 2004 London Independent report of the trial.
If anything the testimony of leading haematologist Giuseppe d'Onofrio appeared even more sensational. He said that it was "practically certain" that midfielders Antonio Conte and Alessio Tacchinardi had taken EPO to overcome brief bouts of anaemia, and "very probable" that seven other players - Alessandro Birindelli, Alessandro Del Piero, Didier Deschamps, Manuel Dimas, Paolo Montero, Gianluca Pessotto and Moreno Torricelli - had taken EPO in small doses.
Conte was pressed directly about doping allegations around the '96 Champions Final between Juventus and Ajax in a 2013 Dutch documentary. You can watch Juve's press officer shut the interview down around 11.00.
Yet it's not only doping that has Conte in the public eye this week.
Due to his time as Siena manager, Conte was due in court today regarding match fixing.
Conte is accused of failing to report that a match between Albinoleffe and Siena in May, 2011 was fixed. The Italian has already served a four-month suspension in connection to match-fixing.
