Below, we report the words of Mr. Capuano, who spoke on the sports program “The Changing Room”, broadcast on RadioSapienza, Rome’s university radio.
Path in Taranto – Let’s say that I arrived in Taranto last season, after having been there in 2001 when I was a “child prodigy” but I was sent away after a few days, with the team one point away from first in the standings. I waited to take back what had been taken from me, a wonderful square where everyone would like to play, coach or be a manager. I was called back in an almost dramatic situation, the team was last in the standings, conceded many goals and people didn’t believe that team was capable of saving itself. Through work, application and self-sacrifice, we not only managed to save ourselves but due to a difference of just one goal we did not enter the playoffs. Afterwards they offered me a three-year contract and the opportunity to create the team and, very sparingly, I went to get players who didn’t come from brilliant seasons but who I knew their qualities, especially human ones and therefore a team was born that improved itself. day after day, we did something unthinkable, we made a gain by selling Antonini who also did well in Serie B, we sold Cianci and Romano but we even improved the ranking compared to the first round. The remarkable thing was bringing 15,000 people to the stadium and giving back a sense of belonging to the people of Taranto. I convinced myself that we could do well, I say this frankly, during every training session, the boys always showed commitment and great intensity. We did something unthinkable with so many difficulties, games behind closed doors, penalties, points never given back and we could have done even more if we had participated in the playoffs as second in the standings. My satisfaction is having given back a sense of belonging to the Taranto fans, having come second on the pitch and being loved by the people.
Thoughts on the dual role – I like to maintain roles, I like the pitch, I took on that role at the request of my President and I accepted it because having been in this world for more than thirty years, I have a vast knowledge of footballers. When you don’t have a big budget you have to work a lot on ideas. This love I have from people has put greater responsibility on me, having so much knowledge it wasn’t very difficult but I want to go back to doing what I do best, coaching on the field, even if the results obtained this year are been more than positive. We were far-sighted and good. Anyone who worked with me this year was good and what Taranto did should be taken as an example. Seeing the images of the latest matches is something indescribable, gives goosebumps, something that gives emotion linked to emotions.
Management of sleep, anxieties and fears – I have my own conception of fear associated with courage, those who have courage constantly live with fear and the skill lies in not being gripped by it. For me it’s not just not sleeping before the race, the race is the last step, but it’s how you get to the race, training after training based on the race. Being a coach is a vocation, he is responsible for something that no one can imagine, he is responsible for the baker, the banker, the university professor, they are representatives of that city and based on the result they experience a positive or negative week. For me it’s not the match that takes away your sleep but all the preparation to get there.
Early coach – I wanted to be a footballer, unfortunately a very serious accident at the time prevented me from doing so. Thanks to Silvano Bini of Empoli, a team to which I am still very attached, I started coaching and then moved first to Beretti and then to the first team of Ebolitana. I was twenty-four years old but I told my players I was thirty to have more credibility. From there I can say that I have never been without a year and therefore I say that the value of the man surpasses that of the coach. The only regret is the media character that was unconsciously created for me, on the one hand it gave me notoriety but on the other it lowered the parameters of the intrinsic value of Capuano as a coach. I have coached many teams but rarely have I had a high level team. Unfortunately I have paid for many choices made out of coherence and dignity, I don’t say this with resentment because resentment is the feeling of the weak, but as a Vasco song says, yes, I’m still here!
