If you were looking for one word to describe Palermo this season, then consistent wouldn’t be it. What is consistent however is the unsettling and unbalanced nature of the bridge the Sicilian club are walking.
Far be it for me to go naming various suspects for the team’s demise, but one can’t help springing immediately to mind.
And that is the impossible to ignore Palermo president Maurizio Zamparini. The 70 year old is never shy of a deeply soul crushing, momentum killing comment or two.
This outspoken character is the praying mantis of the football world. His primary feed, being the capture and torture of unsuspecting coaches who are crazy enough to accept a managerial proposal at Palermo.
Living the life of a Palermo footballer not only means you get to dress pretty in pink. But also with the uncertainty of turning up for work not knowing who your coach is. Zamparini gets through coaches as if they were sweets. No less than twenty coaches spanning a decade have tried warming the Renzo Barbera bench under Zamparini.
The most successful being Delio Rossi who guided Palermo to 5th position in the 2009/10 campaign. But was sacked after the 7-0 battering at home by Udinese. “He ruined my Palermo,” Zamparini said afterwards. But just when Rossi was barely out the door, mad Maurizio welcomed him back in again for a second stint in charge.
Delio Rossi’s story is comparatively normal compared to that of Francesco Guidolin. The now current Udinese coach endured four stints at Palermo between 2004-2007 under the presidents infinite wisdom. And was duly responsible for the uplift in fortune transforming the Barbera outfit from a Serie B challenger to a solid force in Serie A.
But for the odd few that gained Zamparini’s hard fought affections, are the many that tried and failed. One gets the impression the power to hire and fire is an irresistible urge, or that a loss to Sicilian rivals Catania is a more than good enough excuse for a dismissal.
The latest victim under Zamparini’s helm is Bortolo Mutti, who was the fifth different tactician in 2011 alone. Rumours of late indicate Mutti will be ousted out, although Zamparini has insisted his job is safe for now. But watch this space, by the time you read this article he could be gone.
Zamparini makes his intentions known, he wants to win, and win well. After all he did purchase the club in 2002 with the soul mission to take the eagles back to Serie A. Something they achieved in 2004, and have remained in the top flight ever since. But now were in the present, and with the inevitable sale of superstar Javier Pastore to filthy rich Paris Saint-Germain last summer. The team are lacking inspiration and creativity in midfield.
New January signing Argentine Franco Vazquez brings much expectation on his shoulders to succeed Pastore. But that does little to diagnose the problem at the club. The fact remains Palermo in the hands of Zamparini will never be short of controversy, or a change of tactician every now and then. it’s about time the president yielded his overwhelming taste for the destruction of coaches.
And instead build a stable managerial platform to work with rather than to attack. Otherwise the boys in pink will just be going round and round in circles, and the man at the top is entirely to blame.
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