Matteo Gentilini was a guest of Vitamin Effe on Nettuno Bologna Uno.
How did you digest the loss of first place and the Italian Cup? “Losing first place certainly bothered me a lot, we have a 20-7 record and I think back to how we lost the races in Forlì and Verona. I didn’t swallow it. The Italian Cup final was a satisfaction, for how we beat Trapani on Saturday. On Sunday, as long as there was a basketball game we saw what we can do, then Freeman was taken away from us. A flick of Cinciarini’s nail? I heard this too, from a journalist. But do people think about it before speaking? He’s also a repeat offender. Freeman also wanted to go back, but he couldn’t see it himself. And the team was cooked”
The team always manages to react after a defeat. “I see a compact group, which always responds, led by a great coach who is our added value. And in Latina, with those absent, a fearless team took to the field. I’m very happy with how things went this year, at the beginning of the season we would have signed to be where we are, which is second and with one game less”
The relationship between team and coach seems to have improved. “I saw a solid group, apart from the first few minutes in Latina there was no match. Then I read that they are small, but the baskets must be placed. Just like in Trapani, we saw that anything can happen in a single match, and no one would have expected a similar result.”
There are different signs, compared to certain defeats last year. “Remember the last clock phase? We lost them all. Now things are different.”
Many fear that there will be no market because the Fortitude she doesn’t want to be promoted. “There is an open lead regarding a player, a market movement that could be successful. We don’t want to get away with it but we don’t want to throw money away, we want to make additions but on our own terms. We always said that the objective was the playoffs, we achieved it by being first for almost the entire championship, we almost won the Italian Cup and lost it for a fact that I don’t want to remember. And I would like to clarify one thing: we are eight members, in December we met, and looking into each other’s eyes we said we were ready to look for the A1. I go to the matches, to all the away games, I talk to everyone, I have nothing to hide and I see a world. Then, on social media, I see a completely different world. We don’t want to go into debt, I know the Consortium’s numbers by heart and we often put in our own money: reading that we are stingy isn’t pleasant at all”
Are you looking for someone futuristic or for the end of the season? “Now we’re thinking about the end of the season, then perhaps with exit penalties. But let’s not think about taking someone and already having them at home for next year, unless Caja and Basciano have other ideas.”
Caja’s situation? “He also has a contract for next year. Then it’s not like Basciano and Alibegovic tell me everything, but I think he will stay.”
The infirmary? “99% Fantinelli will be there on Saturday”
Will one graft be enough? “For me yes”
Internal relations? “I see people who care and who care. I was sad to read that the Cup didn’t count for anything and there were only injured people: I live near Taflaj, it was destroyed, and there was a lot of sadness on the bus. We all cared, but put yourself in the shoes of us 8 members: winning the Italian Cup in the first year would have truly been a source of pride. Wasn’t it any use? But don’t you have respect for people who took the bus twice returning at night after a defeat?”
Perhaps Aradori’s injury in a match that was already almost over was disappointing. “Coach’s choice, whatever he decides is fine”
Has the company had offers for further entries? “There have been contacts for new possible members. I hear around the bars that Tedeschi would have taken scraps, people who were not economically explosive. We may be scrappy, but we have put in guarantees: we have put in money but also guarantees, while there are entrepreneurs who are much wealthier than us who, when asked for certainties over time, struggle”
The changes did well on Saturday. “They replied present, nothing to say”
There have been share transfers in companies. “It was expected. We are a compact group, and getting eight heads to agree might not have been easy. Instead everything is fine, we get along, and I want to highlight that unlike last year none of us gets a single euro. Giovanni Pennica is the one who works hardest of all, he manages many contacts, it is an activity that takes up a lot of his time, and he does it for free, so to speak. We are united by an ideal, the love for this team, and we are moving forward. I heard someone tell the Germans that they took Fortitudo to get rich, and Andrea responded like a gentleman. Better they don’t come and ask me: we’re here because there were things to change, then we’ll see what happens. I no longer believe in the entrepreneur who puts in money alone, it’s something I experienced firsthand last year, I hope that a fund arrives: there are a thousand entrepreneurs richer than us, but nobody spends money”
How is the Consortium going? “Well. He started with a mountain of debts, every year we start with 330 thousand euros of debts with the banks, after mortgages made in the last three years. Then there are 200 thousand euros which were charged to the Consortium at the time of sale – I’m talking about the Consortium, not 103 – and other things to manage. We have debts to spread for ten years, and we have paid one: when I feel that the money is not there I would like this to be remembered. Innova brought a good number of consortium members, we have to find the rest. Then, we started late: anyone who joins the Consortium is entitled to 2 subscriptions, we couldn’t do that in October, and one thing that’s scary is that when you join you have to stay there for at least three years. This is why we are thinking of changing the statute, because three years is sometimes scary. There are contracts that expire in 2025, we have a guaranteed agreement with Innova until 2029, and other consortium members are needed. We have an agency that goes looking for sponsors, and not even a consortium member was found for me: talking about three years is annoying, and it was a great satisfaction to hear Tonelli from Ascom ask me to return. I hope that he, like Galletti, from Emilbanca, wants to return. Today there are 37 of us. And I was pleased that Stefano Monti from Punto M wants to join, trying to reach 40. We’re talking about 15 thousand euros, downloadable, with two subscriptions, this is what we ask for, but people are afraid of three-year period”
Would a possible A1 be sustainable from this structure? “I know the costs, we are all entrepreneurs who don’t want to be caught unprepared. It is clear that we should go to the sponsors to talk about the situation. It would be difficult to adjust the tickets too much, because they are already high, and new commercial proposals would have to be studied. And we have Teo Alibegovic who is giving us a hand, he will have an increasingly important role, but I don’t see any problems”
Others have said that you would already be ready for A1, with the entry of new members. “Someone approached, but was not given the opportunity to enter because currently there are no problems, no one intends to leave their shares”
What will the future of Flats Service look like? “We have a three-year contract that we are respecting. It won’t be easy to find another main sponsor who puts in 350 thousand euros, of money and not of sweatshirts or other things. We are there until 2025, it would be nice if this company, growing and having more and more visibility and responsibility, acquires other names. In A2, finding a fan like me who gives that amount is not easy, also because I know how much the other main sponsors give”
In case of a category jump, what could change in the team? “I may be a pimp, but I am fond of these, and I will be sorry if someone were to leave. I have an excellent relationship with Taflaj, with the Americans, and also with someone like Aradori with whom there were misunderstandings last year. In A1 the quintet should be reconfirmed, perhaps not as starters, but these are technical discussions that are not within my scope. We are a united group, at the end of the game we go to dinner together, things that were unthinkable last year”
Would the two Americans be confirmable? “We’re working on it. Given their championship, however, some proposals are arriving”
The debt situation? “It’s improving, also because we aren’t doing any others, and because those who were there last year are helping us”
People follow you.“I would like to thank all the fans for how they are following us, at home and away, and on Saturday we will exceed 5000 spectators on Easter Saturday”
We return home, the last time there was a defeat. “It will go as it goes, it’s a season so far worth remembering. And we want to continue”
