Chatting with Valente, I was struck by one of his memories of when he won the playoffs with Palermo. The city, with all its support, was so convinced of winning that so were their players. Invincible. They had no doubt. They had entered a positive mental vortex, like when you surf onto the right wave and dance straight away to the shore. How do you create such a powerful climate capable of changing the destiny of things?
Padova’s playoffs begin in ten days, and the Biancoscudata fans are divided into three armies: the pessimists, the moderate observers and the always enthusiastic ones.
Pessimists are already announcing yet another disappointment. They argue that we should have won the championship with a team built stronger than the others, that the playoffs will end up as bad as ever, that we don’t know how to win important games, that we shouldn’t have changed coaches or we should have changed sooner, and all a series of reasons that obviously have a high percentage of coming true. So then they will be able to say that they were right, and this will satisfy them even more than going to B.
Then there are the fans who observe with moderate opinions. We’ll see what happens, we could make it to the semi-final, then it depends on who we find, let’s see if everyone is fit, who knows if they’ll give us a good referee, and similar phrases. They are generally fans to be won over little by little: if you go to the final they come en masse to the stadium but in the quarter-finals they prefer to watch the match on TV. This is the largest group of supporters or potential supporters, those who can be counted on when the results arrive.
Naturally, from the point of view of the club and the players in particular, the best fans are those of the third type: the enthusiasts. They also face the difficult moments of a season with regret, but they are always ready to start believing in it again. They have an unconditional form of love for the team: anything can happen, but they will always love them. And they will always be by her side, believing in the miracle possible in every situation. Which doesn’t mean not getting angry, that’s an emotion that comes and sometimes it’s right. But they know how to let go of the past, and look with positive eyes at what is coming. I believe that the Palermo team Valente was referring to was in that playoff in this mental condition.
How do we even get there? With the results on the pitch in the meantime, and with all the strength that the players will put into it. But we can all do something even as spectators. Letting go of beliefs and prejudices, and thinking only about the present. Living this adventure for what we want it to be: ours. —
