It’s November, and Roma is already on its third manager at the helm. In the summer, the Wolves management spent 92.6 million euros, but did not see the desired result at the start and, not without intrigue, kicked Daniele De Rossi out the door.
Ivan Yurich, invited to rescue, failed to stabilize the situation and also quickly left his post. Moreover, we do not recommend mocking the Croatian – he is used to building long-term projects and gradually “swinging”; The top of the “Gialorossi” could not have been unaware of this specificity and simply entrusted the team to the wrong, innocent person.
And now – Claudio Ranieri. The experienced specialist interrupted his retirement and, in a romantic-patriotic spirit, noted that Roma is one of those for whom it is worth resuming his career. The words are readily believed, because the creator of the Leicester City fairy tale started at the club as a player and hosted the Romans twice as a coach – in 2009 (claimed the Scudetto, at the end of the 2009/10 season he was two points behind Jose Mourinho’s Inter) and 2019.
To be honest, we don’t really believe in a sudden revival of the team, but there is also a more restrained belief in the style of “it can’t get any worse.” Although one can argue with this – not so long ago Roma was even more feverish. Let’s go back to 2004.
Calm before the storm
It all started with Fabio Capello’s farewell. At the end of the 2003/04 campaign, Mister took the silver line of Serie A and agreed to lead Juventus. An unfortunate loss for the “yellow-red”, but in truth, Allenatore had to change the situation – he assembled a top team that won the 2001 championship, almost repeated the achievement, but soon realized that he was close to exhausting the available resources.
A reboot was due, and Capello’s finish served as a trigger – as a result, Emerson (followed Don Fabio to Turin), Walter Samuel (Real Madrid) and Francisco Lima (Lokomotiv Moscow) were sold during the transfer window; Jonathan Zebina generally received the status of a free agent and also joined the ranks of the “old lady”.
Important names left (we are not yet taking into account those close to the core, those who guaranteed the depth of the bench), and Roma tried to fill the void – Matteo Brighi, Simone Perrotta, Philippe Mexes, Matteo Ferrari and Mido cost a total of 43 million euros . Let us emphasize that almost all the newcomers gained a foothold and subsequently “recaptured” the invested dividends, but at the beginning of their journey they encountered problems. And all because they interacted without a coach. How is this? And here it is.
Prandelli. Verona’s promotion to Serie A in 1999, success in the form of ninth place, and entry into the UEFA Cup with Parma in 2003 opened the door for Cesare to collaborate with more promising clubs. “Roma” is a serious challenge, but in practice the specialist not only did not play a single official match, but also missed part of the pre-season training and did not go to the USA, Canada and Japan, where the “wolves” held test matches.
On August 27, 2004, Prandelli resigned, and for a good reason – the cancer of Manuela, the coach’s wife, progressed by leaps and bounds, so football logically moved to the tenth plan (in 2007, the other half of the future Euro 2012 finalist, alas, passed away). “Roma” made a nice gesture – they offered to stay – but everyone agreed that precious time was running out.
It was necessary to hurry – on September 12, Roma had to face Fiorentina at home with Fabrizio Miccoli and Enzo Mareschi – after all, the team had a chaotic summer behind them. Yes, no one rejected the significance of Vincenzo Montella, Francesco Totti, Antonio Cassano, Mancini and De Rossi, people who can single-handedly help out in moments of crisis, but where is this good?
Finding themselves in the most uncomfortable position, the Jalorossi did not choose for a long time and called Rudi Feller. Germany failed to overcome the Euro 2004 group barrier, fired the manager, and then the option of the red part of Rome just turned up. Feller played for Roma in the late 1980s, won the Italian Cup in 1991 and reached the CUEFA final, so he was considered at least no stranger to the Stadio Olimpico.
At the press conference, Rudi said the following: “Italy and Rome have always been in my heart. I couldn’t say no to Roma because I love this club. Now I only hope that I can give them the best.” Spoiler: nothing good worked out.
Rome in ruins and a fugitive from Portugal
Appointed on August 30 and dismissed on September 25 – yes, Feller lasted less than a month in his post. The debut against the Violets turned out to be successful (1:0; Montella scored the only goal), but what followed was pure trash. September 15 – the famous match with Dynamo Kyiv, as a result of which the Italians were awarded a technical defeat 0:3 (inadequate people from the stands hit Swedish referee Anders Frisk in the head), September 19 – 3:4 against Messina, and the Wolves owned a one-goal handicap, but managed to fall short.
We had to save ourselves against Lecce (2:2; Mancini equalized the numbers on the scoreboard in the middle of the second half), and the meeting with Bologna brought it to a boiling point – the Rossoblu acted in the minority (Giacomo Cipriani and Theodoros Zagorakis got sent off), but even the nine of us triumphed 3:1. Rudy looked doomed: “A lot of things didn’t add up. I had my own ideas about how it should work. But it couldn’t be implemented. I offered my resignation.”
To be honest, it’s a pity for Feller – he found himself in extreme conditions (there is an analogy with Yurich, isn’t there?), did not have time to convey his ideas (it is not a fact that they were formed in such a short period), and later gave up his profession and became a functionary. This is the price of a mistake. The media reacted with horror to the twists and turns, and La Gazzetta dello Sport delivered its verdict with an eloquent headline: “Rome in ruins. Feller leaves after 25 days of hell.”
A holy place is never empty. Luigi Delneri appeared on the horizon, agreeing to take over Porto after Jose Mourinho moved to Stamford Bridge, but already in July he suspiciously broke off contacts with the “dragons”. The motive given by the press was “the desire to return home,” but in reality Delneri broke pots with the leaders of the locker room and realized that he was the odd man out in the camp of the current Champions League winners.
Weak character? Undoubtedly. However, Roma took this step and handed over a two-year employment contract. “I’m looking forward to starting work, I will give all my enthusiasm to Roma. Every coach hopes to work with a top club and Roma is undoubtedly one of them. There have been some problems, but the quality of the team is undeniable. There are there are a lot of proven players and several promising young players. I’m very happy to be here,” Allenatore concluded.
It was not a panicky invitation, as in the case of Feller, but also very, very uncertain. Delneri built a nice Chievo, with which in 2001 he not only made his debut in the top division, but sensationally achieved fifth place and secured a ticket to UEFA. Over the following years, the results worsened, but remained acceptable for the award – Luigi liked the stability and prompted him to bet on him.
But there is a key nuance that is not difficult to guess: the next coach is accustomed to players who are ready to obey him unconditionally – strict discipline must reign, and this is the only way to hope for something. Due to the fact that the native of Aquileia fled from Porto in disgrace, the new charges accepted him… in no way.
“Roma” was drowning in scandals fanned by journalists, and besides, Delneri had to openly confront some characters at his side. Fabio Capello did not know how to cope with Antonio Cassano – the striker could please with a share of genius on the field, and then throw away his hobby and undermine the authority of those around him. These are the days when Totti threatened to join Real Madrid on a free transfer; in a word, there was an insane pressure in the air, which certainly influenced Luigi – the experts at the time were convinced that the coach “let go” of several games because he did not know how to level out mistakes and get away with it.
31 matches, 11 wins, 8 draws and 12 losses – sad statistics. “Roma” performed in flashes: after seemingly positive indicators, it easily slipped and flew headlong downwards. Were you lucky to make a comeback against Internazionale – from 1:3 to 3:3? Nothing, but they saved Udinese (0:3), Regina (0:1) and Lazio in the derby (1:3). We are already silent about the Champions League, where the “wolves” limited themselves to one measly point – “Real”, Leverkusen “Bayer” (and “Dynamo” is no exception; Traianos Dellas “brought” in Kyiv and Maxim Shatskikh scored) easily took advantage of the weakness opponent.
The sad February-mid-March 2005 finished off the patience – Delneri lost peace with Lecce (1:1) and Bologna (1:1), lost to Inter (0:2), Palermo (0:2) ), “Juventus” (1:2) and “Cagliari” (0:3). Seventh position, nine points behind the Champions League qualification zone – President Franco Sensi, already known for behind-the-scenes games, had the opportunity to once again announce the cancellation of the contract.
The barn burned down – so did the hut
Realizing that the season was lost (who of qualified managers can you call in the spring?), Sensi brought Bruno Conti into the process. An openly populist step to somehow calm down the dissatisfied tifosi and hold out Calcio to the end. Legend, idol of millions, world champion in 1982 – the tongue will not turn to utter a sinful word.
Conti had failed to become even a mediocre coach, so nothing was asked of him. In 15 matches, 2 modest victories and 6 draws were recorded, and in another 7 cases Roma caught a scapegoat. 19 goals scored, 27 conceded, tripped up by such “tops” as “Regina” and “Siena” – it’s surprising that the “Gialorossi” managed to reach the decisive stage of the 2005 Italian Cup (however, “Internazionale” rightly took the cup there).
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One of Bruno’s few advantages is facilitating the emergence of Luciano Spalletti. During his “cadence”, “Roma” faced off with “Udinese” three times, managed with difficulty in the semi-finals of the national cup, and this was quite attractive. “It was 2005, I was coaching Roma, we had to have a hand in fixing the damned season. The club had to find a replacement for me to return to my role as a functionary. We arrived at the cup semi-final in Udine, Roma made it through, but suffered from the first to the last minute.
We were captivated by Spalletti’s team. I was amazed by the way his team was playing, I said to myself: “Why not take him to Rome? I chose him as the man of the future. Luciano agreed with enthusiasm.”
45 points and eighth place – this is the result for the Wolves in the 2004/05 competition. But with a note – that same Italian Cup final guaranteed participation in the first round of CUEFA.
The following year, Spalletti, overflowing with ambition, led Roma to silver – both in Serie A and in the cup. Life gradually got better.
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