Former Parma player Manuel Pascali, who has become a cult figure in Scottish football with Kilmarnock, has lifted the lid on just what it was like to be a player at the club.
And the judgement from the 33-year-old is not pretty. Pascali joined the Ducali in 2007 from Carpenedolo but found himself loaned out to Foligno of Serie C1 before departing for Rugby Park the following year.
He gave a lengthy interview to ItaSportPress.it recounting his experiences at the club, under the guidance of Tommaso Ghirardi, and became one of just many players to be signed for the Crociati without ever getting close to playing time.
In fact, just far away he was from even that may surprise you. “I did not have a happy experience at Parma,” he began. “Indeed, I never saw Collecchio, I never saw a doctor or did a medical. I never had the opportunity to show what I was capable of and signed a three-year deal in 2007 without ever attending the training ground or sports centre and have the chance to get to know my teammates. I was left to myself.
“Ghirardi took over in that year and many of the players brought in were left abandoned. I trained alone in the gym with a friend of mine even though I was under contract at Parma. Then I came to discover that they had 250 players under contract who have all cried foul and are now picking on Ghirardi, Leonardi or recently Manenti but I would like to know how many of those 250 had the same experience as me.”
He continued: “I do not know what has happened at Parma but it was under the eyes of everyone. The list of 250 players on the payroll at a club had to be submitted to the football association. I am not saying Ghirardi is a saint but everyone had to see it and our culture is always to do the hunting.”
Pascali then told an anecdote of how he was so far removed from the club that he ‘played for’ that when it came to attending games, he was forced to do so as a paying customer along with everyone else!
“I read the words of Melli recently talking about how there were players at the club who he had never met or known – I was of those!” laughed Pascali. “I remember one time I went to see Parma v Juventus in the Coppa Italia and I had to pay for the ticket.
“I went with some friends including a former teammate at Parma and he introduced me to some of the players including Reginaldo. We went for a pizza and I told him ‘in theory, I am also your teammate because I have a three-year contract at Parma alongside you’ and we all laughed about it but the situation was appalling.
“In 2008, I released an interview about this which created problems and I received insults from fans and critics.”
For now Pascali has only regret. He says he will unlikely now ever return to Italy as a player and admits he wishes his statements then had been taken more seriously so that something could possibly have been done to prevent the current plight the club finds itself in.
