Benevento
The youth teams of Benevento are projected at final stageswith the Giallorossi club which led to qualification three out of four teams. Furthermore, the Primavera will compete for access to the top flight, at the end of a regular season played at a great pace, but conditioned at the end due to numerous absences. Diego Palermo took stock of the situation, also responding to questions criticisms quite heated towards the youth sector:
“We have always said it: the results of a youth sector are not dictated by points, but by growth of children. Over the years we are doing something important. Only in Spring the result counts, while as regards the other categories it is normal to happily try to get to the end, but It’s not something the president asked us to do. I would like to underline something that is fundamental for me: it bothers us to be attacked without foundation, telling us that we are a youth sector where they play only recommended, that there is an incompetent son-in-law, poor collaborators and a president who understands nothing. Our results are imported and I’m referring to the many kids who play around Italy that we raised and those present in first team. If this means being incompetent, let alone if we really were. I’m very sorry because these criticisms come from people from Benevento; maybe we did something to him, or maybe some child was discarded. I have no idea. I can only say that they are available to everyone for any clarification at Camp Avellola, where I am almost every day. It hurts to be accused of things that I am neither in heaven nor on earth. There is more than someone who enjoys writing untrue things, without knowing the dynamics. It’s even more disappointing, I repeat, to see that they are people of Benevento“.
Palermo then continued: “The presence of so many guys in the first team satisfies the president’s requests. For me it’s already a lot. Furthermore, ours mission is to train them. I’ll tell you an episode: during a match, at the time of a substitution, the player who was coming on started arguing with the coach. I was there and I have them forbidden to play. After two hours, this guy was texting me, asking me sorry for the mistake made. For me this is important, let’s try train kids teaching him values. This means managing a youth sector: transform boys into men, before becoming footballers“.
Palermo focused on the season of the individual teams: “With Spring we are there best second of the two groups, with the possibility of playing three home games in the play offs. We played for more than two months without Perlingieri, obviously we lost something in terms of achievement. THE Well done they go to the boys for the path they have undertaken, also because we fought against a very strong Cesena. We were clinging to first place, then there were many serious injuries, caused by the pitch, which they pushed us away from the summit. The boys fought, it would be a dream win promotion. The playing field? There was a wrong lot on the part of the company, the land is completely consumed. In the summer he will be replaced.”
“The under 17s and 16s have undertaken a extraordinary journey. More than this I don’t know what we should do, then it’s clear that there is always room for improvement. We want to get further possible bottombut winning is not a given. The under 15s he experienced difficulties, as always happens in the first year that kids live in a professional context after football schools. At the end of the season we will do the ratings on everything“.
Palermo also made a consideration on the first team which is about to participate in the play offs for promotion to Serie B: “They are completely special play-offs, beautiful for those who watch them from outside. The play-offs are a per lotbut I’m sure that Benevento will give you a hard time to everyone. These are clean matches, the margin for error is minimal. The strongest don’t always get to the end, let’s see how it ends. The season of young people in the first team? I’m overjoyed. I feel sorry for Pastina’s injury, it’s definitely a bad loss for the playoffs. The others have done well, for us they are a reason to great pride. They won’t be champions as some say, but they grew up with us and seeing them as protagonists in the first team is source of great satisfaction: this is our best victory.”
