Being a Palermo fan for this season has been fun most of the time. Except our last three games which we have lost, including today’s game against Udinese where we went down at the Renzo Barbera by seven goals to nil.
It was an undoubtedly horrendous performance against what is a very tough side, made even harder by the early sending off of Armin Bacinovic for two yellow cards, and Matteo Darmian’s red for stupidly hauling down Armero inside the box when the game was already lost.
Delio Rossi being the true gentleman that he is has already admitted full responsibility for Palermo’s worst ever Serie A home defeat, but in truth, Palermo have had a terrific season so far, and the coach cannot be blamed for the capitulation which we saw today.
However, Maurizio Zamparini, the rather eccentric owner of the club who has a history of giving coaches the sack without much consideration has already made his feelings known to the media, and I’ll be surprised if Rossi is still in a job by the time I finish this article!
Zamparini said: “He [Rossi] ruined my team and has a one per cent chance of staying on the bench.” It isn’t the only time he’s treated his coach with utter disrespect in the media. After Palermo’s 4-2 defeat at the hands of Fiorentina which started their recent losing streak, he said “We have thrown away two victories – one against Inter, and one here today [against Fiorentina] and it is his [Rossi’s] fault.”
In truth, Delio Rossi has done a fantastic job in getting Palermo to a position where they can even be contending for the Champions League spots, and the rosanero have had quite a good season to date. The players respect him, as do the fans – so much so that they recently wrote an open letter to Zamparini asking him to cease his derogatory remarks for fear that Rossi might just pack up and leave.
After Zamparini’s comments today, striker Fabrizio Miccoli replied by saying: “The team is with Rossi. We hope to raise the per cent of him staying. Knowing Zamparini, he wont listen to us – he hasn’t done it before.”
For a side which is crammed full of young players – they have had a combined 6,571 minutes played by players born in 1989 or later, next best in Italy is Bologna, with only 3,196. In all of Europe, Palermo are second only to Rennes (7,740 minutes) – Rossi and Palermo have had a great year.
Zamparini is right when he criticises the Palermo defence, which has been far from watertight this season. But with such a young side, what do you expect? There are few wise heads in the rosanero back line, and if he wants immediate success then he’s going to need to prise open his wallet a bit more for some more experienced players. Until then, Rossi deserves to stay on.
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You’ve articulated the pig-headed Zamparini vs coach Rossi fiasco beautifully. Too often the coaches hired by Zamparini have been real gentlemen. I would like to see him hire a hard coach who will not take Zampa’s shit talk and refusals to meet legitimite requests for players. Though I suspect Zampa would break even the hardest of coaches anyway.