Cagliari Club Focus: The transition is here

Date: 19th April 2014 at 12:04am
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It’s fair to say that quite a bit has happened on the island of Sardinia since I wrote my last Cagliari club focus.

The most interesting, albeit by now slightly old news is that of Diego Lopez’s departure, as earlier this month, the Uruguayan tactician became the latest in a long line of coaching casualties of president Massimo Cellino’s reign. The Sardi supremo broke an unenviable record in dismissing the club’s former defender, as in doing so, he had sacked the 37th coach of his 22 years in charge.

Nobody can say that it hadn’t been coming, and Lopez was lucky enough to earn a stay of execution following the disappointing 2-1 defeat to struggling Livorno in mid-February – his assistant Ivo Pulga was axed, when many had expected his younger colleague’s head to be the one on the chopping block.

Cellino was briefly rewarded for the faith he placed in the 39-year-old, with 1-1 draws against both Inter and Catania coming before and after a resounding 3-0 win over Udinese, but a run of four defeats in five games proved the final nail in the coach’s coffin, as his president’s patience finally ran out.

Comically enough, the man who was sacked in Lopez’s place was the man who has now filled the void left by his untimely dismissal – Pulga.

And so we wave goodbye, for the time being at least, to the rookie tactician, who steered the ship to near-safety in troubled waters up until this late stage of the season. Despite earning a win ratio of 22.22 per cent in his first senior coaching position and leading the club to 15th place and 32 points, he has been relieved of his duties.

One could criticise Cellino for his decision, but he clearly felt that a shakeup was needed after witnessing a poor performance during their 3-1 home defeat against Roma. Though it’s difficult not to sympathise with Lopez, who has done a fairly good job given the circumstances at the club this campaign.

His ex-president recently completed the purchase of English Championship side Leeds United, which could result in him parting ways with Cagliari in the near future. With his embezzlement charges on top of this, one can only wonder how difficult it was to keep the players focused on the job at hand. Losing a key player such as Radja Nainggolan at the midpoint of the season also provides many unwanted headaches.

Speaking of the Belgian midfield maestro, who left for Roma during the January transfer window, Cagliari have reportedly earmarked a replacement – his compatriot, Under-21 international Ibrahima Cisse of Standard Liege. He is a promising prospect, and with his contract due to expire in 2015, the Sardi would do well to move quickly to avoid missing out, and a deal could be sealed for as little as €1 million.

Back to the point at hand, Cagliari sat seven points adrift of the relegation zone following their defeat to the Giallorossi. As their high-flying opponents were a decidedly better outfit than them, would it not have been wiser not to trigger an earthquake following a match which was objectively likely to have been lost anyway? It is now a moot point, but it was very unlikely that they would have fallen to the second tier of Italian football with a seven point cushion.

Now onto the stadium situation – this is perhaps the worst problem the club has had to deal with this term, as safety measures have meant that only 5,000 fans are permitted into the Sant’Elia while it undergoes reconstruction work. This has resulted in a complete lack of atmosphere at the Isolani’s home games, and the passion of the Sardinian tifosi has been sorely missed for some time now.

With Cellino looking more and more likely to sell up following his successful acquisition of Leeds, it has been rumoured that an American investment fund are ready to buy the club, and pump €85m into a new stadium. Their plans involve a 30-35,000-seater ground inspired by Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena, set for completion in 2017. The council of Sardinia, the authority which current president Cellino has had so many disagreements with in the past, will have the final word however.

Talk is cheap, and while the Sardi could have a shiny new home stadium in as little as three years time, a very legitimate question to be asked is where they will contest their home games in the next two or three seasons.

There are three possible options available to the Rossoblu, the first being to remain at the Sant’Elia, but continue to be restricted to a 5,000-strong crowd.

The second could be a shock return to the much-maligned Is Arena, while the third would be to once more move home fixtures to Trieste, where the Sardi would play at the Stadio l’Alberto Braglia di Modena as opposed to the Nereo Rocco.

Off the pitch issues aside though, newly-appointed tactician Ivo Pulga began his latest stint in the Cagliari hot seat with a 1-1 draw away against battling Sassuolo – a result which brings his side eight points clear of 17th placed Livorno with just five games to play.

All things considered, it would take a catastrophic collapse for the Sardi to be relegated to Serie B for the third time under Cellino, and the next game is another away trip to Genoa, who are smarting from three consecutive losses. What an opportunity for them to get their first win on the road in over a year!

Follow Anthony Alborino on Twitter: @anthonyalborino

 

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