Serie B…

By: Francesco | May 19th, 2008

Ghirardi

It was a sad day yesterday. After 18 years of Serie A, a club that came out of nowhere and became a European power during the ’90s, a club that bred so many young stars into future champions, a club that gave so much joy to a small city, that same club was sent down to the inferno of Serie B yesterday.

Realistically, I saw this coming months ago. The squad, although having a better roster than most of the teams they were fighting with, did not seem motivated at all. An inexperienced manager was at the helm, and the squad lacked motivation and fight, something the other clubs that saved themselves had. (perfect examples- Cagliari, Reggina). I knew Parma would not beat Inter. It was too tough of a task.

You could even say everyone saw this coming when the Tanzi family was found to be a corrupt. It’s even a miracle Parma stayed in Serie A for as long as they did without a true owner, and Tommaso Ghirardi finally stepped in to guide the club. Unfortunately for Ghirardi, he will be remembered as the Parma president that brought Parma to Serie B, but this is the best chance for Ghirardi to redeem himself. Now he has to show that he’s a competent football president by building a good project this summer and gaining promotion to Serie A right away. Parma should be the best team in Serie B next season. Then once he gets back to Serie A (hopefully that’s 2009-2010), the club can focus on becoming a good Serie A side again.

The only problem I see is that some important players will probably leave. I doubt Luca Cigarini stays, and I’m still on the fence about Daniele Dessena. Igor Budan is definitely gone, and most probably Lucarelli will jump ship too. In fact, most of the attack will probably leave, I’m not too sure that Bernardo Corradi (although he’s on loan anyway) and Andrea Gasbarroni will want to play in Serie B. This is where the management has to work well. If these players are going to be sold, sell them quickly, don’t wait until August 31st to sell them and then have no time to find good replacements. Sell the players, and use the cash to buy good players that will make the difference in Serie B. But we’ll have to see. Ghirardi is promising a strong Parma next season, and let’s hope he’s right.

Because Serie A without Parma is very strange, they need to be back.

AVANTI CROCIATI!