Another disappointing year for Livornowhich not only did not achieve promotion to Serie C, but did not even reach the playoff final of Serie D: all this despite the proclamations that it has been making since its arrival in Labronica patron Joel Esciuawho immediately talked about Serie B. But on the sidelines of the championship, the deafening silence, interrupted only by some rumors about the probable sale of the club.
And definitively broken now by the Brazilian entrepreneur, who, through the club’s official channels, wrote the following:
“Never has a silence been more talked about! This could be the title that best describes my last weeks in Livorno. My days were difficult, days in which I let the disappointment of a championship that ended differently than hoped and in which I have reflected a lot on my mistakes which, to be honest, were not few. Of course the question arises spontaneously: were my mistakes so serious that they deserved 2 paper bombs under the hotel where I am staying? And I still ask myself: is it possible? that no one has bothered to stigmatize such serious acts in a city that has always been non-violent like Livorno. This failure to take a position is as serious as the act itself because it risks sending out a disturbing message.
Now, however, it is time to react, take advantage of what has happened and organize ourselves to face the near future with a better organisation, both sporting and non-sporting, which will allow us to respect the programmes, i.e. reach Serie B within the next four years. And I can guarantee that one minute after the Grosseto race I was already working to achieve my goals which haven’t changed one iota.
To some it might seem paradoxical to think about medium-term programs when there is a lot of talk about what in financial jargon I could define as ‘hostile takeover bid’. I want to do everything today except get drawn into a fight that risks making me lose clarity but some clarifications are mandatory for me:
• I read about certified e-mails with offers accompanied by checks deposited at a city notary’s office. Unfortunately, nothing ever reached me.
In my house it works that when you want to buy something, you approach the owner, you explore their willingness to sell, you make an offer and, only in the case of an agreement, you communicate via the media.
In the homes of the gentlemen I read about, however, it seems to work differently. I read that an official proposal should arrive today, a few hours after the Goldoni convention, I take note of it and await it with curiosity without forgetting everything that has been done and said over the course of this month.
It refers to an official proposal, a large media campaign against me is organised, icons of Livorno football, entrepreneurs (from whom I bought the club 10 months ago), journalists, organized supporters are assembled and they all get together in a convention which aims to present to the city… present what exactly? If what I read is true, the only thing Mr. Locatelli should have done is formalize an offer, exactly what I did with Toccafondi at his time.
When I talk about a hostile takeover bid I do so with good reason and this is evident from the controversy over the US Livorno brand in which the president of the club Magnozzi Enrico Fernandez was unfairly involved. I wonder why all the actors on the pitch have worked so strenuously in an attempt to ‘detach’ the US Livorno brand from the purple shirts when they claim to want to buy the club? Is it possible that none of the city pens asked themselves this very banal question? Can you imagine an entrepreneur in other latitudes who wants to buy Milan and, before doing so, tries to take possession of the historic brand by threatening to take it as a dowry to Alcione Milano who plays in the Lega Pro? Isn’t it perhaps that this vain attempt highlights how there is no real desire to buy the club, but rather to create an alternative by slipping the US brand onto the shirts of Pro Sorgenti Livorno of which one of the entrepreneurs forming part of the consortium is a member? Elementary, right? For this reason, just above, I defined this large operation as a hostile takeover bid, a clear attempt to create an alternative in Excellence before presenting a low offer and thus putting myself in front of an alternative: either sell at dirt cheap or we will compete with you a second team in Livorno. Conduct of this kind takes on a vexatious profile which, obviously, I do not intend to acknowledge. Soon I will organize an event in which I will present the club’s relaunch projects to return to the football that counts as soon as possible.”
