Naples, 25 April 2024 – Suspended between present and future, with an increasingly nostalgic look towards the past: the Naples he has been in the balance and in tension between what is, what will be and what has been for some time now and this situation is not producing anything good either on or off the pitch. Current events speak of a team called to get back up after yet another fall, that of Empolito try to mend the rift with the fans and the Maradonaprobably half empty against the Romeand to qualify for a continental tournament: the dream, far in the background, remains there Champions Leaguebut also Europa League And Conference League they begin to whet the appetite in the time of the so-called lean cows. The future is now, one might say as a slogan but also as a warning to avoid the mistakes of the post-scudetto, that very sweet past that generates a bitter aftertaste when compared to what it is today: a sad parallel that will become very relevant again the next May 4thwhen Aurelio De Laurentiis will launch the film on the Italian flag. Yet, having reached (almost) rock bottom after the best period can paradoxically help the owner to learn from his mistakes.
All De Laurentiis’ mistakes
After almost twenty years of management bordering on perfection, clearly highlighted by the record attendance streak of Naples in European competitions, most of the missteps were made just when the road, on paper, was most downhill. Yes, because in the aftermath of a sporting result expected for 33 years the Neapolitan place, notoriously not exactly easy, would have accepted even a season below expectations, perhaps immediately abdicating from the fight to reconfirm the title, as in fact happened. In short, the problem was not not winning another championship straight away: an almost science fiction achievement if you think about the interval spent with the previous Italian title. The trouble, or rather, the trouble came later, when the expected surrender became a vertical collapse that sent even the last extreme defenders of the patron into a rage. In reality, someone who still supports the work of ADL there is, bringing up the almost wholesale confirmation of the Scudetto squad without dismantling it immediately after the party, when there were many tempting offers. The only sacrifice, dictated above all by the presence of a termination clause in the contract, was the transfer to Bayern Monaco Of Kim Min-Jae: something that the Naples he could not avoid, while the bets taken on the market to replace the South Korean were largely avoidable. The discussion can be transferred to the sporting director: lose Cristiano Giuntolithe creator of the championship team, was a serious setback, but replacing him with the little-known Mauro Meluso perhaps it was even more so. A move which, according to the most mischievous, hides his usual long hand De Laurentiis, the ‘father-master’ of the entire steam who so far has decided everything personally: from a market without the talents perhaps necessary to rekindle the team’s hunger after the apotheosis of the Scudetto and to increase internal competitiveness, bringing the team down from the pedestal those who perhaps at a certain point felt untouchable, to a very questionable policy in the choice of all seasonal coaches. In the beginning, instead of Luciano Spallettiunmotivated to stay in blue perhaps also by the always tense relations with the owner, had been chosen Rudi Garciawho had presented himself declaring that he had not followed the exploits of Naples who would have won the scudetto, dominating the championship, the previous season. Then it was the turn of Walter Mazzarri, who had tried, even at the cost of distorting himself, to slavishly follow in the footsteps of the tricolor team, failing miserably in his aim and with the added regret of not having followed his ideas. The last one in chronological order to sit on the hot blue bench is Francesco Calzona, the most interim and perhaps, as such, even less corporate-minded, who received the betrayal from precisely those players whom he had tried to accommodate in every possible way. At least until the debacle of Empoli.
‘Forgiveness’ in view of Roma
In the end the one that was consumed at Castellani it could turn out to be the classic storm in a glass. With words Calzone promised lightning and thunderbolts towards the very starting players, accused of not having shown the right amount of anger to try to straighten out a match which had immediately started uphill due to the lightning goal from Alberto Cerri. The facts, however, point in the opposite direction: against the Rome The Naples will take the field in its usual capacity both as a formation and as players. So, peace made? Maybe yes or maybe no, as can be seen from Castel Volturno, the scene of a very heated confrontation between the parties in recent days. Great alternatives though Calzone there are none and not only due to the poor guarantees provided by most of the so-called second lines: leaving the big names on the bench in the face of a Rome very fast despite the recent slowdown against the Bolognain the event of a negative result, would expose us to fierce criticism Calzonethe last of three seasonal coaches on ‘s payroll De Laurentiisfor a total of over 4 million, just to stay on the topic of mistakes made during the season. In short, what the owner could have saved in terms of championship prizes slipped away to keep three technicians without reaping any benefits: another paradox of the year which discovered all the vulnerabilities of an enlightened president precisely in the management of his club’s finances . If this is the long string of bad news, the good news is offered by the calendar: the agony of Naples is about to end and if last season served as a positive yardstick, the current one will be able to help in view of the future, because doing worse than today seems like an impossible mission. For everyone: even for De Laurentiis.
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