L’AQUILA – L’Aquila 1927 press conference, yesterday morning at the Gran Sasso stadium, to present the new corporate structure. Among the new features is the appointment of the new president, the entrepreneur Mario Russo. The CEO illustrated the choice Goffredo Juchich and the honorary president Francesco Ghirelli. The senator was also at the press conference with them Guido Liris.
“I am honored to present Mario Russo” began Juchich who first spent a few words on the evolution of the rossoblu project. “Last Saturday – he said – I was a guest of the municipality of Jesi, because our football project attracts attention even outside the Abruzzo region. It is an alternative project and it can work if it starts from the bottom.” A project, Juchich recalled, which was born five years ago from the curve, from the ultras: “Thanks to them that this project finds daily development. We have created strong roots with the territory, its businesses and institutions. Hundreds of sponsors, a strong connection with the people, hundreds of children who come to the stadium, all things that testify to the quality of our work.”
So greetings to the new president who. it will serve to give further professionalism to the environment: “he has embraced our project and believes in his mission. He doesn’t feel like a lone man on command but he wants to build a path with us. We are bringing a first-class person to L’Aquila who will share this experience with us.” A few words also for the health of Salvatore Di Giovanni and Simone Perrotti, who have chosen other paths.
Ghirelli recalled that “there is an industrial plan and a popular shareholder base, which accompanies the rebirth of the city. Ours is the Bayern Munich model, and we must connect society, entrepreneurs and the bond with the territory. There is no one who has a five-year industrial plan, a financial plan or even a sports plan.”
After Liris’ greeting, the microphone goes to the new president, who has been working side by side with the L’Aquila management for weeks. “I am called to represent a football reality that has done something extraordinary as a newly promoted team. My rapprochement with L’Aquila has grown over time and I didn’t imagine I would find myself becoming president.” Russo underlined the popular passion surrounding the project: “At the first match against Matese I saw a packed stadium and I wondered how we could do better. I went back to Avezzano and said to myself that what they are doing is extraordinary. With the Sambenedettese I think that the square has made everyone understand what the expression ‘it is a square that deserves other stages’ means.
“Then it is important to be able to manage the club in a professional way by organizing it to be ready to go beyond the result on the pitch but in those matches it is clear that you are dragged along.”
“I arrive on tiptoe” continued Russo, “respecting everyone and what has been created. The Aquila is a rare model in Europe and perhaps unique in Italy. Being called fills me with pride and fills me with responsibility. I hope that it becomes three or four companies because to aspire to important stages you need solid entrepreneurial realities that put the icing on the cake of what you are doing”.
Russo’s will be an important economic contribution which will guarantee a solid budget for the signing campaign but, he specified, he would also like to invest in the youth sector “which makes football sustainable in the long term and best represents the bond between the city and the club . L’Aquila is a place that must fight to win.”
Russo said he was not worried about the new sporting director: “There isn’t a name ready yet, but we’re working. It’s a coveted place for sporting directors and so I’m not worried. We will choose the most suitable figures.”
