If Ridley Scott’s epic Oscar winning motion picture Gladiator taught us one thing, it was that no one man is bigger than Rome. Greed, power and the desire to claim them lead Joaquin Phoenix’s character to betray his family and the Empire he loved. Back in reality however, one can’t help but wonder if Francesco Totti is smothering Roma in a similar fashion.
All extreme metaphors aside, it has been a theory held by some for a few years that Totti’s role at Roma on the pitch hinders the side somewhat. His critics claim that in his later years Totti’s game has been reduced to walking pace and this impairs Roma’s fluidity in attack when he is in possession. Those critics were forced to eat their own words last season when the darling of Rome over took Roberto Baggio in the all time Serie A scoring charts.
Upon doing so Totti seemed to role back the years and become the goal machine he once was. Ten of his 15 goals in Serie A last season coming in Roma’s final 11 fixtures including a brace against the old enemy Lazio. This season will tell us if that goal frenzy was a turning point or a last hurrah but the early signs don’t look good for the Giallorossi’s golden boy.
Totti did not start the first competitive game of the season away to Slovan Bratislava in the Europa League qualifiers. This was a game that Roma lost 1-0 and Totti along with his many fans would claim that had he started the game rather than coming on as a substitute for the final 18 minutes, things may have been different. So naturally it came as a shock when new manager Luis Enrique said after the game that he did not regret his initial team selection.
Admittedly a first leg Europa League qualifier is not the biggest game of the season so the inevitable speculation on the relationship between Enrique and Totti may be a tad premature. One thing is for certain, the defeat in Slovakia makes the second leg in the Stadio Olimpico a much bigger game and it is an early test for Luis Enrique’s Roma side. Totti’s role in this game could be very telling on how he and Roma will fair in the coming season.
The Catalàn manager is not the first boss to have clashed with Totti. During Claudio Ranieri’s first press conference as Giallorossi boss, he claimed the great Francesco was “as predictable as a stone” and that opposition defenders know what he is going to do before he does. Managers of Roma can survive comments of this nature provided they win and more importantly, win consistently.
Ranieri’s first season saw Roma mount a title challenge following an abysmal start to the campaign, which lead to the sacking of Luciano Spalletti. Roma even went top for a week after an epic defeat of Inter on home soil only to fold the following week to Sampdoria and eventually finish second. Last season when results were not as favourable, Ranieri walked out of his own accord after the 4-3 loss at Genoa.
Totti’s contract states that he will become part of the club’s board after his playing career comes to an end. Needless to say it is not advisable for managers to create a problem with him, there is only ever one winner. Regardless of everyone’s opinion on Totti’s on the field ability, it is hard to dispute his off the field political power.
Is this good for any club? To have one player wield so much boardroom power. Similar situations arose at Real Madrid in recent years with Raùl and Guti. Two players themselves that are widely believed to have destroyed managers like Josè Antonio Camacho and Juande Ramos. It was telling that upon Josè Mourinho’s arrival the two were forced out of Real Madrid to Schalke in Germany and Besiktas in Turkey respectively.
Does a similar course of action need to be followed in the Italian capital? Will a board member ever stand up to Totti and dare to force him out? Naturally this will be a lot harder than with Raùl and Guti as neither of the Spaniards had contracts stating they would become part of the Real Madrid board after their playing days were behind them.
It is unlikely the new owner Thomas Di Benedetto will rock the boat early on with such a move. The Roma ultras have ways of making life uncomfortable for those who make them unhappy. The most likely scenario will be simply wait for Totti to retire to the board room, when he can no longer claim that he should be in the team.
Few clubs could claim to have a director with more love for their team than Roma when Francesco Totti swaps his boots for a nice Armani suit. In the mean time Totti simply sitting on a bench will always cause more attention than it should for any one player. With a situation like this it will be difficult for Roma to build true success in the coming years.
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You’ve made some good points, and it should also be noted that, if Luis Enrique’s ambition is for Roma to play tiki-taka football, Totti will not really fit into his plans. Totti is undoubtedly a world-class player, but to play like Barcelona you have to have fast players, and at 35, Totti lacks pace.
Big time, I was saying it all last season he does hinder them big time and then he went and broke that record. The bastard!
Totti is still a valuable player for Roma, as his goals in the past few seasons show. He was the best player for them last night until Enrique subbed him for no real reason other than to try and show he has power.
To that extent, you’re right – Totti does wield a lot of power, but I don’t think it is a negative for the team. If I was a Roma fan, I’d be more worried about Luis Enrique; he talks as if he’s Jose Mourinho, but this is his first club job. Picking a fight with the squad’s most powerful (and still one of the team’s best) player is a pretty foolish move. If he doesn’t start to show some flexibility soon (and not just regarding Totti) he’ll be out before Christmas.
I am a Roma fan actually. He is a valuable player of course. I just think he needs to be used sparingly rather than if he is fit and available he MUST play because he is Totti.