Despite Genoa’s draw at Palermo on Saturday night, the club’s fifth positive result in their last five matches, in some ways, felt like a loss.
The team didn’t have the energy displayed in previous weeks under Davide Ballardini. And players such as Juraj Kucka had a major fall-off in performance against the Rosanero. The entire team looked tired. And the difference in temperature between Liguria and Sicily, it was over 15 degrees Celsius on the day, and the pounding rain in the second half didn’t help Genoa at all.
Despite the weather, in reflection this fall-off can be expected. This season has once again been an emotionally draining Genoa season, not only for the players, but for the supporters. Two straight seasons of flirting with relegation has been difficult, especially when the club seem to have been able to prevent some of their current problems.
Watching the club play against Palermo, made me think of the similarities between the clubs. Both clubs have very outspoken owners that are not afraid to switch and swap managers at the drop of a hat. And both owners and clubs are happy to sell their best players whenever possible. But in truth, Genoa owner Enrico Preziosi has little on Palermo’s Maurizio Zamparini.
Both owners have used many of the same managers during their spells in charge at their respective clubs. Zamparini has been with Palermo since 2002, while Preziosi has overseen Genoa since June 2003, and both owners brought their teams back to Serie A in the early years of their tenures.
Lo Monaco is just one of the many to pass through the doors of both clubs.
By my count, seven managers have coached at both clubs. Just this week Palermo sacked former Genoa boss Alberto Malesani and re-hired former Genoa coach Gian Piero Gasperini, the man to have the longest stint as Grifone coach under Preziosi. Meanwhile, two of Genoa’s three managers this season – Luigi Delneri and Davide Ballardini have previously coached Palermo. There is, however, a very incestuous relationship between the clubs in Italy when it comes to hiring and firing managers. Therefore, it’s not too uncommon for one manager to coach at various teams throughout his career.
Not only have both clubs hired the same man to lead their teams over the last 10 years, but the clubs have, on occasion, traded players between one another. Currently, four Genoa players have played for Palermo in the past: Bosko Jankovich, Cesare Bovo, Mattia Cassani and Eros Pisano. Coincidentally, three current Palermo players are either former Genoa men or on a co-ownership deal between the two relegation rivals.
The relationship between Genoa and Palermo doesn’t stop there. Pietro Lo Monaco, now former general manager at Palermo, was originally hired to oversee Genoa’s team building last summer. His appointment was to help build and improve the squad, much like he had done at Catania. After only a short time in the job, however, Lo Monaco left the Marassi outfit and joined Palermo.
After his appointment with the Sicilian side, Lo Monaco attempted to bring in some of the players he originally wanted at Genoa, most notably Ciro Immobile. Lo Monaco’s original appointment at Genoa was due to Preziosi’s desire to loosen his grip on the club. But Lo Monaco obviously overstepped his boundaries at the Marassi, influencing Preziosi’s decision to move the general manager out of the club and on his way to the Rosanero.
Currently on loan from Fiorentina, Genoa’s January signing spent time with the Rosanero, too.
Interestingly, Lo Monaco was dismissed from Palermo around the same time Malesani was hired and fans protested Gasperini’s sacking. All scenes that are, at times, all too familiar at the Marassi.
So whether it’s a coincidence or something else, there seems to be a lot of similarities between Genoa and Palermo on and under the surface. Or perhaps, I am just a conspiracy theorist who thinks the Grifone and the Rosanero have a strangely intertwined relationship.
Regardless, Genoa are now five points ahead of the relegation pack, and could even leapfrog Bologna and the increasingly poor Atalanta. Next weekend, the Grifone will be tested at the Stadio Olimpico against Roma. A match that will be Ballardini’s first big test since unexpectedly turning Genoa’s season around five weeks ago.
Follow Drew Farmer on Twitter @CalcioFarmer, Drew is the Forzaitalianfootball.com Genoa correspondent and also hosts the Forzaitalianfootball.com weekly Club Focus podcast.
