MESSINA – Messina are always chasing, according to the latest championships in Serie C. In Sciotto’s three years among the professionals, the biancoscudati aimed for salvation after a start to the championship that saw them struggling at the bottom of the table. A glimmer of light was seen halfway through the season which ended months ago with Messina fighting for a few weeks for the positions that would have qualified them for the playoffs. The fact of reconfirming the coach of that team, Giacomo Modica, gives hope that Messina finally wants to change pace, organizing and structuring itself.
But the first summer signs do not go in this direction. Messina is not only chasing in the standings, for example the official statement from Domenico Roma had to arrive at Foggia for the club to communicate that it would no longer continue the relationship with the sporting director. Other elements that confirm the constant “pursuit” are the company’s latest press releases. In these, the communications sector, instead of providing news, spends its time denying what the newspapers manage to find.
These would be negotiations for the sale which, like every year, enliven the Messina football summer. This time there was no initial declaration from Sciotto to put the team up for sale, but reading the company’s denials, there are meetings with potential buyers. Without prejudice to the fact that president Sciotto is not physically well, and should undergo surgery and we wish him the best, it is serious that the club without its most representative man has no other figures who can take his place.
A personal and unorganized society
This lack of corporate organisation, without therefore having a different contact person to ask about what happens in the event of the forced absence of the president, also has cascading repercussions on the first team. In recent years, many coaches, sports directors, general or operational managers have passed by the Strait and did not last long. Beyond errors of evaluation, diverging paths or anything else, it would be necessary to provide continuity from year to year so as not to always start from scratch. A chronic situation that seems to have become the property’s only plan in recent years.
This also has significant repercussions on the team group given that currently there are five safe players, because they are also under contract for next season. Groups to be rebuilt every year and then disperse the good, maybe not so much, that has been done. A way of doing things that then generates protests and disaffection among the fans. It is no coincidence that in the highlighted image we reproduce the banner that appeared in the Curva Sud when Messina was now mathematically safe. A season in which the fans, for the good of the team, remained quiet but wanted to signal their discontent. The renewal of Modica seems like a step in this direction, we will see what the future says in the coming weeks.
The start dates of the season
Because we can’t wait who knows how much longer. The Lega Pro has released the start dates for the championship: scheduled for next August 25th, with a break on December 29th and the last of the regular season on April 27th 2025. But even before August 25th the two rounds of the Italian Cup will be played: the 11 and 18 August. Mister Giacomo Modica in the press conference for his renewal had hinted that it would take about forty days to complete the retreat as he wants. So from mid-July the new group will already have to be at work.
Without a sporting director yet, the risk is that the players will arrive little by little, perhaps while training camp is underway, making it difficult to assimilate the coach’s schemes. It could certainly be remedied by trying to retain players who are expiring and still free from contracts with other teams. Another sporting problem is that they will arrive at the championship premieres with different “fuel in the engine” for everyone, depending on the period of arrival in the white-shielded group. Circumstances that will certainly not make us see Messina at their best at the beginning of the year, with the risk of having to fight to chase and make the fans lose their desire to follow the team to the stadium.
