Five days after the first official release of the new Pistoia FC, gray clouds continue to hover above the orange bench. The management, led by sporting director Massimo Taibi, is in fact working day and night to identify the ideal profile to lead a team which, without mincing words, will have to fight to win the championship. The identikit that was leaked a couple of weeks ago seemed to correspond to that of an expert coach, so much so that the hypothetical list seemed to include coaches such as Domenico Giacomarro, who won Serie D with Team Altamura this year, and Luca Tabbiani, champion with Fiorenzuola in 2021. The latter in particular seemed to be close to accepting Pistoia Fc’s proposal, but the negotiation collapsed in recent days. The management then explored another couple of younger profiles, such as that of Luigi Consonni and, lastly, that of Alberto Villa. Both are coaches with less experience than the first two, but who have the advantage of already knowing the Pistoia square. Consonni led Pistoiese until last December, when he was sacked along with his entire staff on the eve of the match against Lentigione. Villa instead played in Pistoia for two and a half seasons between 2002 and 2005 in Serie C1, collecting a total of 68 appearances and 15 goals before moving to San Marino in January 2015. Having hung up his boots, Villa started the second life on the bench as assistant coach to Nicola Antonio Calabro. Together with him he spent a year in Carpi, two in Viterbese and a year and a half in Catanzaro. As first coach, however, he began by leading Pergolettese in the 2022/23 season, obtaining an eleventh place with consequent passage to the playoffs. In the recently concluded championship he instead coached Virtus Francavilla until November and then from February to May, relegating them to Serie D after the playout with Monopoli, which ended with two draws, in which the green-and-whites were saved due to the best placing in the standings .
Michele Flori
