Paolo De Paola, former director of Tuttosport, in his editorial for Sportitalia spoke of the words of Luigi De Laurentiis towards his father Aurelio: “The son claims that the father says “bullshit”. Luigi explains: ‘Sometimes I have to live with my father’s bullshit father…’. Poor thing. And then, again: ‘Obviously when he enters my working sphere, after so much effort, they become damages…’ We ask ourselves, humbly, who put the good Luigi De Laurentiis into that ‘working sphere’. Now, everything can be said to Aurelio De Laurentiis, but a son who is born with the good fortune of having a father who is as rich as he is generous in involving him in the family business should only thank that father and realize that not everything is ‘due’ in life and that many other children do not have the same fortune to sit at tables so laid out thanks to their parent. For goodness sake, it may be the modern language of a young man, now forty-five years old, but the demeanor would indicate a language that only shows gratitude. The alternative does not exist, other than a beautiful silence.
Or there is another way to avoid suffering from the father’s ‘bullshit’: separating from joint affairs. Take other paths. We are sure that De Laurentiis son is endowed with excellent managerial qualities and that he carries out his role with skill in the family businesses, but leaves it to journalists with the task of underlining the often contradictory aspects in the public utterances of his effervescent father who, let us remember, is the best president of Italian football in terms of company productivity. No one knows how to earn so much and win with perfect accounts in Serie A. A child who distances himself from his parent after having received so much from that parent sounds a bit out of tune. Unless he also agrees with his father in these ‘distancings’. We certainly wouldn’t be surprised by such histrionics. This is football, baby. More bullshit, less bullshit.”
