Coaches, players and clubs walk together for a while, then say goodbye. After yesterday morning’s meeting, if there are no sensational twists, coach Mauro Zappi will no longer sit on the Virtus bench next season.
The paths of Zappi and the Gialloneri will be different after a part of the championship spent together, the coach having taken over from Marco Regazzi on 28 November with the V Imola team in the lower part of the ranking. There was no shortage of difficulties in Zappi’s management, but salvation arrived with five rounds to spare with Aglio and his teammates who had the concrete possibility of qualifying for the play offs.
However, the great dream is over. It would have been the classic icing on the cake for a team that on the pitch had earned the chance to play for a place in the A2 series; However, in the last five corners the yellow and black Imola have collected defeats in a row and the big target has vanished.
The Virtussini deserved a decidedly different epilogue, among the five consecutive stops there was also the defeat against Andrea Costa’s cousins in the derby on the last day of the championship, perhaps this defeat could have influenced the club’s decisions.
The yellow and blacks had presented themselves at the starting line of the tournament to stay in the category, compared to last season the bar was even higher and the championship proved to be quite difficult and full of traps.
From December onwards, however, Virtus showed its own identity, lining up a good series of consecutive victories despite staff changes, injuries and many other setbacks encountered along the way.
Until a month ago everything seemed settled, with Zappi still leading the operations and building the new staff together with sporting director Carlo Marchi.
More or less a logical consequence of the work done from the end of November onwards. There had also been a meeting and a handshake between the parties.
The results of the last period, including the derby, have probably opened up other scenarios so much so that the farewells were in some ways unexpected. A club always has the right to make its choices, just as Zappi won’t be there, many players could say goodbye to the V Imola court by going elsewhere.
As regards the succession of the coach, the name that circulates most insistently is that of coach Luigi Garelli, now working for Blacks Faenza.
