The 2024/25 Italian Serie A campaign has produced plenty of intriguing story lines for fans of all colours to be distracted by and entertained with, but Sampdoria have continued creating headlines of their own down in Serie B, and they have not been for the reasons they would have wanted.
It has been an awful campaign for the I Blucerchiati and with the Genoa based club being held to a goalless draw in their final second tier clash of the campaign at Juve Stabia, it ensured that they finished the season in 18th place in the division, a single point behind Salernitana who managed to secure themselves a relegation Play Off place following a 2-0 victory over Cittadella.
Many will feel that relegation to the Serie C has probably been a long time coming, but it does mark their first relegation to that level in their 78 year old history. Fans who have been following their plight in recent years will know that managerial upheaval ultimately cost them heavily this season and fingers will be pointed by fans in a few directions as the dust settles over the next few months.
It has been a major fall from grace when you consider the star studded side they boasted back in 1991 where they lifted their first, and only, Serie A title, but having been relegated initially to Serie B at the end of the 2022/23 season they have been on a downward curve for a while now.
Italian World Cup winner and legend Andrea Pirlo was drafted in back in June 2023 in an attempt to turn their fortunes around, but having been unable to secure an immediate return having reached the Play Off stage but been defeated, it all went quickly and drastically wrong this year.
Having been called a ‘key part of the project’ by the club’s owners prior to the Play Off defeat, Pirlo was relieved of his duties just three games into the new season having suffered two defeats and a draw.
Andrea Sottil may have overseen a penalty shootout victory over Genoa in the first Derby della Lanterna in two years, but he was also quickly sacked in October having picked up only four wins in 14 games. Under Leonardo Semplici they found themselves in the dropzone and with worsening tensions he lasted until April and boss number four, Alberico Evani, had a go alongside legend Attilio Lombardo and Roberto Mancini.
A bright start quickly fell away, but four managers in a single season is never going to end well.
