Taranto’s new season starts with the Giove-Capuano duo. During a marathon press conference, the top rossoblù executive illustrated the company plans and the technical project for the 2024/2025 sports season. Many topics were discussed: from the stadium issue to last year’s penalty to the budget for the next championship up to the Faggiano stadium, but not only. The first fan wanted to reiterate the importance of the partnership with the Distante Group, which will be the club’s main sponsor. The president draws up a balance of the tournament that officially ended last June 30: “It was an important year, we did something beautiful. Obviously during these 15-20 days in which we worked hard to register for the championship and on the various tasks, between me and Eziolino all sorts of things were written. I was busy with the last formalities, the coach was resting. We are rebuilding the team with the backbone of last year, with the aim of having an important championship.The pitch will tell us where we can get to. This championship will be even more complex, there will be other teams that will invest significant amounts. Some players will no longer be part of our squad, but others will arrive. I am convinced that we will be able to do something positive”.
On the budget and the stadium, Giove explains: “When I met again 15 days ago with Capuano, the coach immediately asked me about the stadium issue. I confirmed that we would have the Iacovone available, as Minister Abodi said. We registered for the championship for a capacity of 10,990 seats. With Eziolino we remained on the continuation of the project, in line with what happened last year, the coach gave us the free hand to continue on a path already traced. We have always had reassurances about playing the matches at the Iacovone, but Ferrarese also put it in black and white about the unavailability of the stadium: at this point I don’t know who to believe between Abodi and Ferrarese. If we were to lose a significant portion of our revenue, I would be forced to tell the coach to dismantle the team”.
For Giove only one regret in the past season, the fire of the Iacovone: “What happened with Foggia has marked the whole path of Taranto, we suffered a significant economic damage in addition to an imposition made by the League to make up a high number of consecutive games, playing five games in quick succession. Playing with Cerignola at the Iacovone and with regularity, we probably could have improved something. Surely for the economic damage suffered by Taranto, we would not have suffered the four penalty points”.
The president also tends to clarify any disagreements he had with mister Capuano over the last few months: “Everyone knows that I have a strong and devastating character, I always try to speak as little as possible to cause less damage. Between me and Capuano there has never been any situation of misunderstanding that could have called into question our relationship”.
Between the -4 and the events in Vicenza, the patron continues “We were coming out of an injustice of four points, with Taranto the sporting order was changed. In Vicenza our fans were attacked, while the firecracker that hit the steward came from the local sector. Taranto starts with €250,000 less, Vicenza without even one match of disqualification of the pitch. In three years we have paid over €250,000 in fines, there is a persecution against us that is not right: all citizens must pay attention to these episodes. My fans must know that, whatever is done, it is always the club that pays for it. Taranto is a nuisance, there are various weights and various measures: I will go to the competent offices to make myself heard”.
Faggiano issue: “For us, Faggiano is an important node in trying to take the club forward. We are aware that the youth sector must be decisive, this year everything changes: we have identified Armenise as the head of the youth sector. We are starting from scratch, with an important project: we have made a three-year agreement to create something. The difficulties, to date, are those of finding the funds to be made available to make investments. To access certain financing, you need to have a triple A budget. There are no budgets like that, starting from Serie A, capable of making this type of investment. We were confident that Faggiano could be included among the redevelopment facilities for the Games but at this time the management has its own classification, idea and logic that, as president of the club, we can only respect. Unfortunately, it is not included among the facilities, despite having made several requests. In the last two years we have also highlighted the problem related to Iacovone B, which will become a construction site. It is an idea that we have not abandoned and that we will continue to pursue, with all our strength and tenacity: we are not in charge and we will see what happens”.
Taranto will not dismantle the squad that achieved second place on the pitch: “We have regained credibility, so much so that the players are asking to come to Taranto now. We were the second team to get the OK. Lega Pro is a bloodbath, the goal is to get out of this mud and go to Serie B. There are many clubs there that bring home important figures. Never before have we had so many requests for our players, this is proof that if we had wanted to dismantle, we would have done it”.
Giove believes in the full use of the Iacovone: “We will organize the season ticket campaign, as we did last year, and I hope there are no surprises: it would be another setback for us”.
In this regard, the vice president of Taranto Vincenzo Sapia illustrates the situation related to the use of the facility in the Salinella district: “The project with Capuano will be feasible as long as the stadium is usable. At the moment we are interested spectators, sometimes invited, other times not to the technical tables. Playing with open doors would certainly mean not having a capacity of 2000/3000 seats, it would be unthinkable to do so under these conditions. When we filed the registration, the administration provided us with a document with a capacity of 10990 seats. If we are at ornithomancy, I am worried: we need certainties, not hopes. This can happen in an oratory, not in a football match. At the moment we do not have a signed agreement with the Municipality of Taranto: they are in difficulty because they do not sign as they are waiting for instructions from the Commissioner, who is waiting for auspices from the Minister. The technical subjects are responsible for what will be done, the work of Mister Capuano and the corporate planning of Taranto will depend on them. Like all companies, it must be careful about costs and revenues. At that meeting, the CEO of Sport&Salute was consulted and, by May 31, he should have presented a project that would allow Taranto to play during the work in progress: the budget was almost doubled for this very reason. We had also set up ultrasound barriers to allow training. We were never invited to the technical tables except for the meeting of the Chamber of Commerce with the Minister. We reported all the emergencies in time so that we could be sure of playing in Taranto”.
On a hypothetical deadline, Sapia says: “We are used to having a plan B and a plan C, we cannot be caught unprepared, especially out of respect for those who work and the fans. The deadline doesn’t depend on us. Until the championship starts, we are waiting. We can say to go play somewhere else even two days before the start of the tournament: we hope to play here and that we are also guaranteed training. Castel di Sangro? I want to be optimistic, I hope to see it far away. I am convinced that we will be able to play in Taranto. It would become an inconvenience, especially for the fans, in addition to being a damage for our company”.
