To the microphones of Hashtag Sicilyduring the broadcast “Hashtag Rossazzurri the Talk“, spoke the former President of Catania football from 2000 to 2004 Riccardo Gaucci. The current number oneAssisi he focused on the past and present of the rossozzurri club. From anecdotes of his presidency to current events on Ross’ company Pelligra.
Gaucci: “I see Catania very well. In Assisi we will make everything available to the Rossazzurri club.”
During our usual weekly column dedicated to Catania FC the former red and blue President intervened Riccardo Gaucciriding for the Sicilian club from 2000 to 2004. “I see Catania very well as a club. – begins the former number one – I see a eager, determined and feisty society. There is great financial availability and no effort has been spared in Serie D and C. This year we have paid a heavy price in Serie C which is the most difficult championship of all, more than A and B. We too are in our first year of C1 we started badly and then afterwards with Guerini we had a great ride until the final against Messina. It has been a testing year for us as it may have been for this company. The following year we won the championship in Taranto in the playoffs and I am convinced that next season could be the right year for Catania“.
And on the now possible ad retirement Assisi of Catania Gaucci comment: “It is an immense pleasure to welcome Catania to Assisi. You know how much I care about this square, for me it’s a second skin. I lived the four most beautiful and intense years of my life as President. It’s the team of my heart. When we spoke to the club, an exceptional feeling was immediately born with this new club. We made everything available to him even though we are a company founded just a year ago. After the winning experience in Malta, which lasted six and a half years and was wonderful, we won practically everything. We took Floriana to the Champions League preliminaries and to the third round of the Europa League preliminaries. It was in my head at that time to return to Italy and Assisi was among my ideas. Then Covid arrived and the old company went bankrupt. Last year we arrived and immediately jumped on the opportunity with some local entrepreneurs starting from scratch, i.e. from the Second Category. Within 10-15 days we formed the team and resumed the material, we restored a minimum of organization. The first year went very well and we managed to win the championship.”
“Zeoli? Great work. I really like the Faggiano-Toscano combination”
He spoke above all about Catania’s present Riccardo Gaucci to the microphones of Hashtag Sicilia, focusing especially on Michele Zeoli. The Sicilians’ coach in the last part of the season was part of the squad at the time of his presidency: “I heard Zeoli yesterday. You have done a great job in recent months. You put your heart and life for Catania. He’s like me, when he decides to do something he puts his all into it. Looking at the results, Catania won its first trophy in history (the Italian Serie C Cup) and could have done a little more in the playoffs, perhaps stopped by tiredness and injuries. Carrarese went to the playoff final, who I saw play in Perugia and didn’t make a great impression on me. If we had managed to beat Avellino we could have dreamed of something big.”
On Tuscan And Faggiano Gaucci comments thus: “I don’t know Toscano personally. On the other hand, they do very well. I had to deal with him at the time of Floriana when he was DS of Trapani during the Coronado operation. He is a determined, spirited and capable person who knows what he wants. In Catania he will be supported by a super club not from Serie C but from Serie A. In my opinion they will do very well. However, be careful, it doesn’t mean that whoever has the best DS and coach always wins the championships. There are more possibilities, but there are variables that can happen. However, I am very positive. I really like the Faggiano-Toscano combination with Grella behind it. It will be a great season. Catania won the Coppa Italia Serie C and qualified for the playoffs as if they had finished third in the league. I don’t see all these errors. There was some bad luck and that some important players in the playoffs were not recovered.“
Gaucci: “Extraordinary Catania fans. Mascara drove us crazy at the time with Avellino and I decided to get it”
The amarcord anecdotes of the era could not be missing either Gaucci in Catania. In red and blue Richard he achieved the Sicilians’ last promotion to Serie B on 9 June 2002 in the playoffs against Taranto: “When we arrived at Iacovone, from me to the warehouseman, we were determined. At the end of the match I was attacked but I didn’t care. We won with malice and we took home the victory. Even 100/200,000 people could have been waiting for us, but we would have started the war anyway. The team entered the field with incredible determination. Sand you remember what struck me so much was seeing Baggio in midfield before kick-off giving Bonomi a shoulder and there we realized we were at 100%. Baggio was an angry lion on June 9th. To win championships you have to be like this and it also applies to Catania who wants to win group C. The dancers cannot play this type of championship. The B’s on the field? They helped give us further energy. We were gambling with money and reputation. We invested a lot that year. Which club wouldn’t pay like the red and blue ones with 20,000 people at every match in Serie C? it’s like seeing the Olimpico always full with 70,000 spectators“.
Closing Gaucci he also talks about those most important market hits under his management: “I remember two with pleasure. One is Lulù Oliveira and the other is Mascara. When he called me Angelozzi and told me about the opportunity to take Mascara I remembered that both he and Fini tore us to pieces in 2001 and so I told him to take it immediately even if he was injured.”
