The news was discovered by Ivan Malfatto who wrote about it yesterday in the ‘Gazzettino’ and we wanted to look into it further. No doubt about the veracity, obviously, but we were interested in the details. In fact, the 500 thousand euros were approved last Saturday during the hastily convened Federal Council with two or three points on the agenda. The call at 7.30pm on Saturday immediately seemed strange to us and in fact the motivation was there. In a weekend characterized by the play-offs and the international activity of the Women’s team, given that it really couldn’t be postponed, a time was chosen that could guarantee the presence of those councilors ‘loyal’ to Innocenti.
And so the Gallina, following the women’s national team, connected before an already scheduled commitment and also with a certain haste to close, Innocenti even presided over the Council from the car returning from the Viadana grandstand where we all saw him, only to give two examples. So why hold a Council in one day at such an “unfortunate” time? Alas (alas?) Did the Council necessarily have to be held? Let’s hypothesize to avoid putting Zebre’s business continuity in doubt?
According to what was reconstructed by Pianetarugby.it, the federal franchise is doing so badly that it has ended up in a liquidity crisis with consequent difficulty in paying salaries, which will now be guaranteed with the transfer of the 500 thousand euros from the Fir mentioned by Malfatto. So no, it couldn’t be postponed.
In summary: the first news is what was decided on Saturday. An addition of several hundred thousand euros to the contribution of 4 million and 800 thousand euros paid annually.
The second: since the Zebre became federal, therefore about 7 years, a federal Council has never had to intervene ‘on the fly’ to save the company from a profound liquidity crisis. Innocenti is a record holder in this too.
The third: Dalai closed the last season under his responsibility with a profit of 16 thousand euros. Now we find a hole of 500 thousand euros (someone swears that it is however more) So since Marzio Innocenti was granted practically unlimited powers in representing the property by the Federal Council, in June 2023 shortly before giving Dalai the sack the Fir) with the Zebre, more money was spent than actually came in. It reminds us of the Fir management. It would seem like Attila: where he passed the grass no longer grew.
The fourth: the Zebre will close the balance sheet with an important and structural red. The future is a hypothesis. But it doesn’t end here. Now let’s try to explain some details.
The fifth: considering the disbursement to Zebre of 500 thousand euros, we make no mistake in stating that the approved budget with 7.8 million losses actually has a ‘hole’ of 8.3 million. And think that in that balance sheet there are no prizes for the Six Nations 2024, which are quite substantial. And it’s only April!
During the Federal Council, someone would have tried to shift all responsibility onto the previous management. It’s now a cliché: it’s always the fault of those from before. Childish attempt considering that with Dalai’s defenestration the Zebre lost more than one sponsorship, laboriously found by Michele Dalai himself.
Among the lost sponsors was also Fiorini Packaging SpA which guaranteed just under 200 thousand euros per year. A two-year plus one contract, closed in 2023 and never renewed both because it was a direct contact with Dalai and because in February 2022 the company’s ownership had a significant clash with Marzio Innocenti. The president had made some statements at Midi Olympique. Innocenti had spoken very badly about the Zebre, therefore about an asset of the Fir (Tafazzi, please), and about its sponsors.
On that occasion, the owners of Fiorini Packaging SpA, through its lawyer, formally warned Innocenti not to make any more statements of this kind. The sponsor accused the president of having threatened and damaged the company’s business. An accident then reconstructed by Dalai himself who, in fact, acted as ‘guarantor’. Via Dalai, via Fiorini Packaging SpA
The second missing sponsor is Altrad which already had a general agreement with Michele Dalai. Connect the dots, add the numbers and draw your conclusions.
Therefore Dalai’s fault should be that he took away personal contacts. Among other things, since last year the Zebre had been able to count on an extraordinary income, the former number 1 of the franchise, during the negotiations that led to his removal, warned Innocenti, explaining that without his sponsors he had to reduce expenses because there would be a lack of income. And we are not only certain about this: we have proof. Advice evidently ignored by the federal president.
But what leaves us perplexed is that, despite this warning, Innocenti was reduced to having to quickly convene a Council to communicate a situation that has been known for months.
Now: if for the federal hole you can always say that the national team wins, as if it were a valid reason to burn money, what do we do with the Zebre? Perhaps this is why in the press release released ‘overnight’ to announce the ban on relegations, there is no trace of the extraordinary contribution to the Zebre?
I like:
I like Loading…
