Remember the hilarious gag of Massimo Troisi during the TV premiere party Napoli championship? When, interviewed by Gianni Minà, did he have to say something to the city? I’ll try to replicate it to avoid the usual accusations of benevolentism.
“It has been said that the main (not sole) person responsible for Napoli’s disastrous season is Aurelio De Laurentiis, who in twenty years will have got the management strategy wrong (find me an entrepreneur who gets them all right in such a long period of time) no longer four times?” “Yes, it has been said!”
“Has it been said that the main architect of last year’s scudetto was Luciano Spalletti, chapeau, who transformed a team of decent (not exceptional) footballers into an unbeatable battleship?” “Yes, it has been said!”
“Has it been said that the hero Spalletti, like the Homeric Ulysses, betrayed the Neapolitans despite the hypocritical and contradictory declarations of love for the city?” “Except for a few unbelievers, it is blasphemy!”
Just like inOdyssey, where Penelope remains faithful to an Ulysses who peacefully lives relationships with other women like Calypso and Circe, even in the modern football epic, we perceive the behaviors of the hero Spalletti-Ulysses as acceptable. The mythological-Homeric spell leads us to tolerate everything that happens.
Milan Kundera, in Ignorance, notes how Homer, glorifying homesickness, establishes a moral hierarchy of feelings, with Penelope at the top, far above Calypso. Yet, for Luciano Spalletti, former Napoli coach, the situation has now clearly become controversial. After receiving the honorary citizenship in December by the mayor (why only to him and not to all the creators of the scudetto?), it seemed that Spalletti had created an indissoluble bond with the city.
“If I leave, it is not because I have stopped loving, but because I have spent everything I had to be up to par,” he stated last June, promising not to coach any other team other than Napoli for a certain period of time. . However, the words revealed themselves right away ephemeral. Just two months after promising to take a sabbatical, the change was dramatic: on 18 August, Spalletti signed with the Italian national team, demonstrating a flagrant inconsistency with his previous declarations of loyalty and the authenticity of the emotions previously expressed.
But the pantomime didn’t last long. Recently, the national coach adopted a different tone: “In Naples we had everything to continue on what we won. You should be aware of things. I love everyone, I forgive everyone, but I don’t forget. I won’t say why I left, but not out of fear.” These statements contrast markedly with the unconditional love professed less than a year earlier.
If he really loved the city and the Neapolitans, why weren’t these statements made in June? Maybe the lid would have been uncovered big pot, opening a debate that could have reduced De Laurentiis’ delusions of omnipotence. Spalletti, who often “philosophizes” with Jungian quotes and archetypes, should be well aware of the thoughts of Heraclitus, who said: “War is the mother of all things”. In this context, the tensions and conflicts in Naples, if they emerged immediately, could have acted as catalysts change And revelation.
This is why, as a true Neapolitan, I launch a provocative appeal for the revocation of the honorary citizenship conferred on Luciano Spalletti too lightly. This recognition, symbol of a deep bond with the city and its citizens, now seems like a sentimental affiliation called into question by the subsequent actions of the Certaldo coach. These dynamics lead us to reflect on the ephemeral nature of declarations of affection in a football world increasingly dominated by pragmatic and temporary interests.
The honor given to Spalletti, initially seen as a sign of eternal love, changes direction so radically that it raises questions on the seriousness with which these awards are perceived and on the possible need to reconsider the criteria with which they are awarded.
In extreme cases, citizenship can be revoked, for example, “in relation to the lack of the requirements that justified its granting”. It could paradoxically be revoked for damages due to love, given the love professed and not manifested with concrete actions by Spalletti towards Naples.
The case of Luciano Spalletti leaves a bad taste in the mouths of many fans, not just Neapolitans. Between broken promises and feelings quickly cast aside, the question remains: to what extent can a coach’s words be taken seriously, and how quickly can modern football turn heroes into strangers? Unfortunately, in this story, there is nothing new; words fly in the wind in football, and the great Italy coach is the latest example of this.
