Alessandro Lucarelli interview: “I, betrayed by Parma”

Journalist

December 30 – 07:49 – MILANO

In Parma, Alessandro Lucarelli is simply “The Captain”. Even on the street they call him that. Children, adults, elderly. It was generational. He also ran a restaurant downtown, obviously called that. And how else. He was the leader in the year of bankruptcy, the last bastion and the last to give up, then the symbol of rebirth: he was the only one to sign blank after the bankruptcy of 2015. “I accepted twenty thousand euros per season, I didn’t care. For Parma I have always reasoned with my heart, rather than with my wallet.” Manifesto of a sense of belonging that is increasingly rare today. Seven years ago Francesco Totti said that “only the handle remains of the flags”. Alessandro’s boat was still flying then, before being forced to lower it last June. “There is no longer any respect for figures like ours. Maybe we are inconvenient? I don’t know. The fact remains that after 17 years of love, my story with the club deserved a different ending.”

Alessandro, let’s start from the end. You had a contract as director of the Parma loan area, then what happened?

“I was sent away without having a clear explanation. I found it a serious lack of respect, both for me as a person and for what I represented for the city of Parma.”

Was it too bulky a figure?

“I don’t know, I just know that I would have liked to have received different treatment. After 17 years of love, I think that my story with this club deserved a completely different ending. Not only for my role, but also for the excellent work done as a manager. It’s an open wound that is still bleeding. But let me add one thing, if I may.”

“I didn’t want recognition because I was captain. But for the work done after retiring, visible to everyone. Is it a coincidence in your opinion that people like Maldini or Totti no longer work in the clubs for which they gave their soul?”.

You who remained in Parma even when everyone was fleeing…

“President, DS, everyone. They left me alone to fight. It was a terrible year. At a certain point we no longer even had the money for water or to go away. We were training and in the meantime a crane was taking away the company’s structures and materials. It looked like a Fantozzi film. But it was true: a waking nightmare.”

Did you ever speak to Ghirardi during that period?

“At the beginning yes, we had a confidential relationship. When they excluded us from the Europa League, won on the pitch, he told me that it was just a bureaucratic error and that everything would be resolved. Instead it was Pandora’s Box, it uncovered all the rottenness that was underneath. From then on, never seen again. He was the first to escape.”

Then Manenti arrived…

“A clown. He held that press conference out of nowhere, without introducing himself to anyone. Then he came to the locker room with a white sheet of paper with “100 million” written on it. After two weeks, he told us that they had the wrong IBAN to send the money to. I went to the bank and called him from there… he doesn’t know how many I told him…”.

Shortly afterwards he was also arrested.

“For money laundering. Think about the hands Parma had ended up in…”.

Those were tough months. Is there anyone who particularly disappointed you?

“Definitely Ghirardi. But more than him, the players who refused to lower their wages. And then, in the city or in interviews, they acted like those in love with Parma. They disgust me. There’s no need to name names, they know who I’m referring to.”

Is Cassano also among these?

“Antonio’s is a special case. He chose to leave and that’s okay, but he was wrong to betray a pact made in the locker room.”

“I had proposed that the team wait before putting the club in default. Antonio, however, did his own thing. On the eve of a match against Cesena he went to a newspaper to tell everything. Then he went under the curve to talk to the fans… he himself who had never wanted to do it. Mirante shouted at him “you can stop acting like Anto”. I was disqualified and ran down from the stands: I went to the locker room convinced I was going to punch him. Luckily for him, Luca separated us Bucci, then goalkeeper coach. After two days everything was back. We clarified, but he still chose to terminate and leave.”

Parma went bankrupt in 2015 and restarted from Serie D. You were the only one who chose to stay.

“I signed blankly for twenty thousand euros per season. I didn’t care. For Parma I always thought with my heart, rather than with my wallet. I remember the first match, in Arzignano, in a potato field. And to think that six months earlier we were playing at San Siro. But when you do things for love they don’t weigh on you. Bringing the team back from the amateurs to Serie A was the best thing in my life.”

Go and explain it to the Americans…

“You’re saying it… I’m just saying that today it’s all become business, there’s no more room for feelings and gratitude. Footballers are now companies, before being men. In our time it was different.”

Before saying goodbye, a couple of career flashes. What was it like to be considered ‘Cristiano’s brother’?

“He has never been a burden, my brother is a phenomenon. He made history in Livorno. We were both captains and symbols of a city. I think it’s a question of DNA…”.

Other scattered anecdotes. The most bizarre thing you remember from football?

“The superstition of Guidolin and Spinelli. The coach hated purple and Subarus. Once he took a bus trip with his back turned so as not to look at the make of the car in front of us. The president, on the other hand, never shook hands before the match. He said it was bad luck.”