Re: Serie A Thread - 2010/11 Season
I'd like to see Rossi in Florence if he can't stay and continue his work with Palermo because of freaking Zamparini and conflicts, etc.
Perhaps he can pick up where Prandelli left and help La Viola become a force again. Though it's also a question of investment. They have a very good squad already but it all depends on what the 'ambition' as well as how deep Della Valle's pockets are. Seems like they're running a bit out of money in last couple years having invested a lot earlier to rescue club and help it establish etc. How much would new Fiorentina manager have to invest in squad? And what is their realistic goal? All those things have to be taken into account. But I would really like to see Delio Rossi there. And given the beautiful football he likes to play, La Viola certainly have players capable of doing that.
yep Sina, the Della Valle brothers kinda decreased their investments in the last couple of seasons... but that's because they're having some troubles with the new stadium. it's the electoral season right now in firenze so authorizations, building permits, everthing is on hold. red tape is a killing machine in italy, and even moreso during electoral campaigns.
and without the money coming from the new stadium and the other facilities (fiorentina project is HUGE, it includes not only the stadium, but also a "cittadella sportiva" just take a look at that
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJ-SOgogm_w ) the growth process of fiorentina itself is on "hold".
having said that though, from a professional point of view, fiorentina would be a step up for delio rossi. i mean fiorentina might have calmed down a bit in the last couple of years..... but they still spend way more money than palermo.... it's just that they had a pretty rough season, that's all. but afterall, also udinese and lazio had a terrible season last year.... and look at them now!
Gerd said:
I would love to see clubs like Palermo but also Udinese and napoli make that next step on the ladder.
I'm also disappointed by Genoa. A couple of years ago, it seemed that this was the club that would threaten the likes of Inter and Milan. But now they are rather mediocre.
it would be impossible for palermo, udinese and genoa to make that "next step" u're talking about, Gerd. that would be extremely difficult for "bigger" midclass clubs like fiorentina, lazio and napoli... but for palermo, udinese, genoa and samp that would be absolutely impossible.
to make that step u need more money. it's really that simple. each club's annual incomes set a precise limit to its ambitions, and there's no way around this.
u might overachieve for 1, 2 seasons tops, but eventually the situation will balance itself.
take napoli for instance. they've done great this season, their placement in serie a and the champions league spot will give them around 30 millions euros.... so u might think this is a good financial boost that could help them improve the team and decrease the gap with the top clubs... and that this sort of results, in the long term, might allow napoli to join the "top club gotha".
but that isn't the case. u see, half of those 30 millions will be burned to renew the players contract. after such an outstanding season, cavani, lavezzi, hamsik, maggio, cannavaro will inevitably ask for a renewal in order to stay in napoli. and de laurentis can't just raise the wage of them. if u raise cavani and hamsik contract, then u also have to raise pazienza's and gargano's contract (to avoid problems in the dressing room). this sort of butterfly effect drains an enourmous ammount of money. napoli will have 15, 20 millions tops to spend on the next transfer campaign..... and that means 1, maybe 2 top class signings, nothing more than that.
and if next season napoli won't repeat this season's result (and since they'll have to play in champions league too, u can be absolutely SURE they won't repeat this season's results), then they won't have enough incomes to hold their most expensive players.
long story short, performance related incomes don't allow to grow as a club. what allows a club to really grow are structural incomes, steady incomes, like the ones coming from tv-rights deals and the stadium. and for italian clubs those sort of incomes are very "light". italian clubs don't own their stadia, so they don't make money out of them. and speaking of tv-rights money, a club like napoli gets pretty much the same money a relegation contender club gets in england.
this is just not enough to allow u to grow, to develop into a top club.
so wich are the real ambitions for italian midclass clubs?
the most realistic ambitions are to stay out of debts, and to compete for a 4th\5th spot for a couple of years. then u'll have to sell your best players and start over.
and in order to do that, in order to build a good squad and don't get eaten by the banks, u need to be absolutely perfect.
u need a great academy (coz u can't afford to buy your entire squad... some of the players have to come from the academy).
u need a top notch scouting network and a great general manager (to be able to sign great young players for reasonable prices).
and u need a great coach who can always get the best out of your players.
u can't afford any mistake at all.
everton, aston villa, newcastle can actually afford to make a bad investment... to spend 5, 8 millions on a player who eventually doesn't turn out to be that good.... because they have much more steady incomes than us.
in italy instead there's no room for mistakes, there's no margin for bad signings. never
think of palermo. despite zamparini's dramas, palermo is one of the best clubs in the world in terms of management. we have a team filled with amazing players who came in here for very little money.
bovo is a fantastic cb and we payed only 3 millions euros for him.
munoz is a very promising youngster and yet he costed only 4.5 millions euros. we bought
hernandez for 3.7 millions!!
miccoli came here for 4.3 millions.
balzaretti and cassani are among the very best sidebacks in europe today... and yet we payed only 3 millions for cassani and 4 millions for balzaretti!!! we payed 2.2 millions euros for
ilicic!!! 3 millions for
pinilla. and only 4.5 millions for
pastore!!!! not to mention those who come from our academy like
sirigu.
and it's not just about this current squad. we've always been one of the very best clubs in the world in terms of management, ever since zampa bought the club. we bouth
kjaer for 3 millions euros and then sold him 2 seasons after for 13 (wich means a 10 millions capital gain). we bought
amauri for 4 millions euros and sold him to juve (2 seasons after) for 25 millions. we bought
cavani for 5 millions and sold him to napoli for 17.
and i could continue like this for hours, mentioning lots of great players that we bought for very little money and then sold for tons of millions (toni, barzagli, barone, grosso).
it's hard to find a better management then palermo. so u would think "
hey, with all this huge capital gains, they must have a lot of money!"
but we don't. u see we need all those money to pay for our current expenses. we have to pay to use our stadium and our training ground, and we can't count on all the money everton, fulham or newcastle make from their own stadia related incomes.
we need all those money to survive without recurring to debts and to be able to compete with the likes of napoli udinese, fiorentina, lazio, genoa, samp and so on.
and also theese other clubs have to do the same thing.
bottom line, in order to survive in serie a u have to be perfect. perfect on the pitch (the coaching aspect) and perfect off the pitch (the financial aspect).
and u have to mantain theese crazy standards, to come out with "perfect performances" (both on and off the pitch) every single year....... and not to join the top clubs..... u have to do that in order to survive and mantain your current "midclass" status.
u can't afford any false steps........ ever!
as u will easily understand, it's impossible to be perfect on a year basis... and as soon as u make a mistake, your season is fucked up, as all the other midclass clubs will inevitably overtake u.
so theese sort of ups and downs are absolutely normal for midclass clubs in italy. every season there are at least 2 clubs who make 1 or 2 mistakes. and since the competitiveness in this league (especially concerning midclass clubs) is huge, 1 or 2 mistakes can make all the difference in the world.
last season lazio and udinese made a few mistakes and weren't able to "keep up with the rest of the pack" this season instead samp, fiorentina and genoa failed..... next season it might well be palermo's and napoli's turn.
but we shouldn't feel disappointed when midclass clubs have a bad season...
we should instead be amazed when they have a good season. because given the little financial resources we have to deal with, it's amazing that we can build such good squads and play such good football (especially when u compare italian midclass clubs with their english, spanish and german counterparts).
This will be the bossman of the decade. When was the last time a player of his caliber was there for free? Galliani wants to put him down to 4 mill a year but Pirlo wants the 6 but can Juve pay him 6 mill a year? I guess it is a risk they'll take.
