VARESE – The first time in front of the microphones of Paolo Peregovice president of Varese Basketball, is equivalent to removing the veil from future plans of the company. In the Ultima Contesa, the very popular Monday program of Varese Noi, pressed by questions from Fabio Gandini and Malpensa24, the number two of the red and white club reveals previously unpublished aspects. Starting from a fixed point for the team of the future: “we want to confirm Nico Mannion”. Not words of circumstance, but a clear and concrete objective. Create the Openjobmetis 2024/2025 around the Red Mamba. The contract is there, the will of the company as well. Then, as we know, the market streets are endless. But the words that Mannion released at the end of the match to Alessandro Burin of Varese Sport (“It is important to have reached this goal, but we all have much higher objectives than salvation” “I like Varese a lot, I have found the joy of playing basketball here and it has a special place in my heart”) are already the words of a leader. Under (at least) one condition. That Varese knows how to build an ambitious project around Nico for next season.
Mannion: great player and leader
Nico Mannion’s impact was undeniable, on an individual level, but also in managing to make the team play. He is very young, but has very important leadership qualities. Coming to Varese was a winning choice for him too: he found space and earned his place in the national team for the pre-Olympics. The terms are known: if we hadn’t been convinced by Nico we wouldn’t have signed a very important two-year contract for a company like ours. What I have learned in sports is that, unlike the business world, contracts are not always respected. We still cannot say today that Nico will remain 100% in Varese. We have the will to start again from Mannion. He has an exit for the NBA and the Euroleague. We will see.
Willie Cauley-Stein: the big disappointment
There were bets made at the beginning of the year that didn’t pay off. Willie Cauley-Stein is the one who disappointed me the most. The expectations of the experts towards the player were very high. Unfortunately he had problems across the board, despite the help that the club tried to give him on and off the pitch. It’s clear that in this situation, with a system like ours and with budget constraints, he gets off on the wrong foot. Unfortunately we lost many games by a few points, with a playoff share of 28 points, which is very low. We must learn from our mistakes so that we don’t go through this type of situation again next year. We have a huge responsibility towards our public and sponsors: we feel it very much and no one deserves to arrive like this year and like the last few years. Then mistakes can happen to anyone: on the eve of it no one would have thought of places like Brindisi, Treviso and Pesaro in a desperate fight for salvation. Unfortunately there are imponderable situations that you cannot calculate in advance.
Sustainability and ambition
We don’t want to think of salvation as a union minimum to be achieved. The board of directors is made up of people like Toto Bulgheroni, Luis Scola, Mario Vernazza and modestly also myself, who have won more than lost in life and who have never done mediocre things. Always with the desire to win. And this is our mentality. We are investing a lot of time into it pro bono, we do it out of passion, but also with the ambition of leaving a better situation than the one we found from a corporate and sporting point of view. Financial balance and sporting balance do not denote a lack of ambition on the part of the club. To be clear, we want to create a team that gives satisfaction to all the fans and a wonderful environment as Varese’s history has always been. Making holes is the easiest thing, but then you don’t get far.
The new VSE at the helm of the company
Today the shares of Pallacanestro Varese are divided between Luis Scola (45%), VSE (45%), the consortium of companies Varese nel Cuore (7%) and the fans’ trust Il Basket Siamo Noi (3%). Varese Sport&Entertainment it is a company made up of various partners (Luis Scola, Paolo Perego, Zach Sogolow’s family and some foreign investors) and which was explained for the first time in public by Paolo Perego himself. How does VSE work? The funds raised will not go directly to Pallacanestro Varese, but will finance investments whose proceeds will fuel the company. The idea predated the Pelligra affair (“a surreal affair” as Perego defined it) and today it has been put back on the table to the point of generating interest well above expectations, with many investors ready to enter. Many tasks on the pitch at Varese Basketball will be on the pitch at VSE. One point among all? The management and improvement of the Itelyum Arena: creating a more pleasant environment for all fans (not just VIPs, but also spaces for companies, skyboxes and restaurants), usability of the sports hall 365 days a year, acoustics and energy efficiency. As well as merchandising and other initiatives. An innovative plan managed by people who have experience in this regard, guarantees Paolo Perego.
