There is an old saying in sport that what goes up must come down and after Hellas Verona stunned the world to take the most unlikely Scudetto of all time in 1985, the only way was down.
It was to be a long fall for the winners of a shock and fairytale title under the inspired leadership of manager Osvaldo Bagnoli to win Serie A for the first and, as yet, only time in their history.
Just six years after their triumph, the club’s financial difficulties caught up with them and they folded while losing their name in the process to add insult to injury.
The team under the name of Verona FC were soon relegated and although they briefly returned, they were soon back in Serie B although they did gain some small measure of pride back by regaining the name Hellas Verona FC, something which meant a great deal to their hardcore following.
Ownership of the club moved between quite a few privately-owned companies during this time as the club’s fans could only look back nostagically to just the previous decade when the spent eight consecutive seasons in the top flight, contested two Coppa Italia finals (although they lost both), played in Europe and won the championship.
For much of the 1990s, the club became a perennial yo-yo outfit as they moved between the top league and the second tier and it was hard not to feel for the fans as it looked as though the glory days would never return as the slump continued although, during the 1998/99 season, the fans were given brief hope.
An astute new president Giambattista Pastorello was brought on board in 1997 and hired a brilliant young coach who some calcio fans may be familiar with today by the name of Cesare Prandelli.
Under the tutelage of the future Italian national side manager, the side played some tremendous football without any great individual talent but with a core group of players who knew exactly what their roles were on the field and what their objectives were for the season.
After a run of eight consecutive wins at the start of that campaign, the Mastini ensured promotion to Serie A by winning the Serie B title to sit proudly in their trophy cabinet alongside the big one that they had won 14 years previously.
The club did well in their first season back in the promised land of the top division despite a sluggish start and recovered considerably to muster a 9th place in their first season back with Prandelli fast gaining a reputation as one of the peninsula’s finest coaches.
However, unfortunately for the club, Prandelli left to take over at Venezia ahead of Hellas’ second season in Serie A and the Gialloblu suffered badly as a result.
Under the management of Attilio Perotti, the side stuttered badly and were left facing a play-off against Reggina to try and save their status in the league.
Although they won the first leg 1-0 at home, Hellas found themselves 2-0 down away from home with just minutes remaining and facing the possibility of another return to Serie B until Michele Cossato scrambled a crucial away goal which kept them in the division and sparked wild celebrations.
The following year promised to be an exciting one as Alberto Malesani took over and inherited a team with a group of exciting young players such as Alberto Gilardino, Adrian Mutu, Marco Cassetti and other recognisable talents such as Mauro Camoranesi and Massimo Oddo.
The Hellas fans had reason to be confident and even more so after they won the first Verona derby to be contested in Serie A in November that season which moved them into 3rd place in the league at quite an advanced stage.
Incredibally though the side began to falter and dropped points consistently throughout the second half of the season but never dropped into the relegation zone. That is, until the final day of the season when, for the first time that campaign, Hellas found themselves in the bottom three after losing to Piacenza and were relegated.
As good as the highs may have been for them, the lows such as these were excruciating and the club have not graced the top flight since as Chievo have taken the plaudits as the top club in Verona.
These heartbreaking lows continued for Hellas in 2005 when they came achingly close to a return to the top flight. After sitting near the top of the table for much of the season, they (in typical Hellas style and in what should be a warning to the current side) slipped up towards the end as always and finished 7th.
This put them just one point behind Ascoli who were promoted to Serie A due to the demotion of Genoa for match fixing and due to the financial problems suffered by Torino and Perugia.
The club continued to fall and things just got worse for them two years when they fell even further after losing a play-0ff to Spezia and then found themselves playing their league football in Serie C1.
It truly seemed as though there would be no way back for them and the heyday of the mid 80s would have seemed like a lifetime ago especially when they managed to avoid dropping into the Lega Pro Seconda Divisione with a narrow play-off win over Pro Patria that year.
The death of club chairman Pietro Arvedi D’Emilei in March 2009 after months of being in a coma following a car crash after watching his side play added to the misery around the club as they remained in the doldrums without looking like they would find their way out of Serie C.
Not that the fans noticed though and if there is one thing you cannot fault the Hellas fans for it is their astounding loyalty and their season ticket sales topped 10,000 even during this diffcult period which was higher than some Serie A clubs and they regularly welcomed attendances of over 15,000 even in the third tier.
These fans deserved much more and are now beginning to be rewarded for their loyalty as it seems as though the Hellas star could be on the rise again, all the way to the top league.
Another play-0ff brought about the return as Andrea Mandorlini masterminded a mid-season turnaround as Hellas went from relegation candidates to 5th place and beat Salernitana 2-1 on aggregate (the second leg being played in front of 50,000 fans which was a division record) to ensure they would be back in the second tier.
Although it seemed as though the club would struggle upon their return after four years in the lower reaches after picking up three points in their first five games this season, they managed to prove all the doubters wrong by going on a truly exceptional nine game winning streak (the longest in their history after besting the record set by Prandelli’s title-winning side) which has propelled them up the table.
An incredible Coppa Italia run was only halted by a last minute Hernanes winner for Lazio at the Olimpico with Hellas managing to be the last team left in the tournament who were not a Serie A side.
Players like Nicola Ferrari, Emil Halfredsson, Panagiotis Tachtsidis and top scorer Juan Gomez are definitely players to look out for should they complete the fairytale and gain promotion back to the top flight.
At the moment, the club sit in 3rd place and are just three points off top side Torino although in reality they could have been almost sure of promotion if it were not for the incosistency they have shown at times.
They would not be Hellas though if they did not frustrate their fans and do things the hard way but they certainly are looking like a confident side filled with belief and could yet return to the big time.
However, if the recent history of Hellas Verona has taught us anything, it is that you simply cannot predict what will happen with this club. They could be contesting for a European place in Serie A in the next few years just as easily as they could be involved in a relegation play-off in Serie C.
Follow Padraig Whelan on Twitter @PWhelan88 and be sure to check out Football and Fighting
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