A bitter relegation. Without fighting. Only one victory in a championship, that of Serie B, which was supposed to represent a national showcase and which instead was just a slow agony. The club soon gave up, leaving the coach and players alone. When they tried to somehow save the ship from the storm, it was too late. The season just ended by Gela 5-a-side football left deep wounds in Enzo Fecondo. The white coach needed some time before analyzing what happened.
Mister Fecondo, can we say that a terrible sporting season has come to an end?
«I’ll start by saying that my words represent my point of view, it’s always good to clarify this, and not an absolute truth as many have the presumption of considering their own ideas. On the one hand it is true that we were not helped to avoid this enormous bad impression, so much so that in our moment of maximum difficulty we were practically pushed into the void with cuts outside of every logic that we accepted to avoid abandoning the ship that was sinking. But on the other hand it is also true that we hid, myself as coach and the more experienced players, behind the many shortcomings that still existed and that no one can deny.”
Who is responsible for this failure?
«I am the first to have failed. I built this team with those guys who deserved to play in this much desired category, with the belief and perhaps the presumption of being able to save us easily. I could say that I didn’t succeed because my mind was always elsewhere to solve the thousand problems that popped up promptly, even on the day of the match, and that along the way everything was getting worse. But I am the coach, I agreed to continue even though I wanted to give up everything even if it is too easy to give up when you lose, even though I had a thousand valid reasons. I failed to motivate this team when it needed a strong jolt.”
It is perfectly clear, from the facts even before your words, that you and the team have been abandoned by the company.
«Even though I wasn’t put in a position to be a coach, I agreed to continue because my abandonment would have meant the absence of technical and managerial figures. But no one and I mean none of the players gave that extra something useful to the team. The lions I knew hid behind the “but”, we had to put the problems aside and focus more on the field. What was missing was that humble, strong and compact team which, instead of always unloading its shortcomings on others, should have accepted its limitations and looked for the last miracle on the pitch.”
A season that started badly and ended worse.
«Only after all these misadventures did president Maurizio Melfa try to save what could be saved by trying to buy some players, but we were satisfied with what we found also due to a strange reform, which requires having only one foreigner per team. We all know how our tragic season ended, we all gave much less than what was needed to make the leap in quality. In fact we took a step backwards, tackling a Serie B as if it were a Serie D.”
How do you imagine the future?
«We will start again from the young people and the most humble veterans, everything begins and ends as happened about 16 years ago, when a cycle ended in the worst way but from there we started again by writing beautiful pages about sport and above all about human relationships that go beyond the sport. I am certain of one thing: to continue, there must be the conditions and above all the ambition to grow and win as it was when I decided three years ago to return to Gela in a strong club, with a strong president and with a great arena. Serie A. Otherwise it is better to die immediately than remain in agony, as has already happened in the past.”
