“The next championship will be a new one, to be approached with caution and attention. The important thing is that, in the event of some negative results, you avoid arguing too much. There’s no need to create pressure if what you want doesn’t come right away.” This is the message that Stefano Osti, Siena’s historic secretary, sends via the Fedelissimo Online in view of the next season of Robur, in Serie D. Osti left in the summer of 2019, to dedicate himself to another sport, roller hockey. “Being a secretary is a demanding job, you have no timetable, there are no Sundays, there are no official holidays, the summer between training camp and the transfer market is worse than the winter. If after 45 years your enthusiasm runs out, you understand that the time has come to close.”
Last summer Bernardo Corradi, Giacomini’s intermediary, called him trying to convince him to return to Juventus. “But I had pulled down the shutter and no longer had the keys to reopen it,” explains Osti. “I suggested him to insist on Luigi Conte, a boy who has passion and who had already worked in the youth sector. I think he earned the role he held. In D it becomes more difficult, perhaps the company could support him with someone who takes care of the administrative sector”.
Corradi also asked him for some names of possible sports directors. “I gave him two names – continues Osti – one was Giovanni Dolci, a great connoisseur of players, the other was Simone Guerri, perhaps more suitable for starting from Eccellenza. They chose Simone and he earned his reconfirmation on the pitch, demonstrating that he knows how to work well.” Siena, in fact, won the championship, achieving, continues the former secretary, “a great feat. All championships are difficult to win, especially if you build a squad in a week, once the season has already started. Those who dropped down showed great humility and this made the team an invincible battleship. Great credit to my friend Magrini, who conveyed enthusiasm, sense of belonging and desire to win. Let’s not forget that Siena risked a year without football. The Giacomini family immersed themselves in the situation and contributed to the rebirth. We went to San Siro, the Olimpico, the Franchi in Florence, the Stadium in Turin, and the enthusiasm seen in Sansepolcro and in the other fields this year is the demonstration that Siena is a serious thing, it is an important faith, whatever the category. This year is a departure not to be underestimated, I hope that an important sequel can follow.”
Osti, in his chat with Fedelissimo Online, during the episode of “At the Club with Robur”, then recalled various moments of his career, from the first president, Danilo Nannini (“a mythical figure, a person from other times”) to the Serie A years, where nothing was built. “There was the issue of Taverne d’Arbia, at that time there was an offer from the mayor of Colle Val d’Elsa so that Siena could acquire Gino Manni. It was something to consider, but some of the council opposed it. It could have been a highlight, a facility that would have brought resources through a bar, restaurant, gym, rented facilities. There was a lack of foresight in that period in which Massimo Mezzaroma was president.” A joke then about his friend Giorgio Perinetti, who sacked Gilardino in his last experience in Siena. “He had strong pressure on Gilardino. Had he been free like in De Luca’s time, in which he had carte blanche, he probably would not have exempted him.”
