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Rebuilding the Rossoneri
The Rossonerri have been abysmal in the last several years. For a club with such a storied history and a worldwide fan base (and commercial base at that!) it is completely unacceptable to fail to qualify for the Champions' League. Club legends have come and gone at the helm and have all failed to make things work. Now a new manager, one who has limited playing experience, takes over as manager to save the Rossoneri.
Crispino Di Franco is an Italian football manager. Though he has some professional experience, his playing career never really took off; Di Franco played largely in the Lega Pro with brief glimpses of play in the Serie B and never really being a contender for the Italian national side. A life-long AC Milan supporter, Di Franco played his youth football at the San Siro before being cut and signed to a Lecce in the mid1980's. He would play six years at the Salentians before being moved on a free transfer to Pescara, who had been promoted the season before. After an uneventful season, mostly in the reserves, Di Franco moved back to the Lega Pro to play for minnow club Pro Patria. In the twilight of his uneventful career, Di Franco moved to Argentina to play for Quilmes in 1991 who had only just been promoted back into the Primera Division. For six years, Di Franco came on and off the bench at the Argentine side before announcing his retirement from playing at only 32 years old.
Di Franco would spend almost no time out of the game, however, taking on a coaching role at his old Argentine side. In 2002, the Italian midfielder would make his way to America where he would take over the reigns at the MLS side San Jose Earthquake. He would stay with San Jose for six years, winning the MLS Cup in 2004 but failing to relive his early success. In 2008, Di Franco and the Earthquake parted ways by mutual agreement and the globetrotting now-manager was forced to move again.
This time, he would move back to Europe as manager of Portuguese side Nacional. The Alvinegros are perennial mid-league finishers in the Primeira Liga and, as usual, Di Franco was successful early on. Nacional finished fourth in the league in 2008, qualifying for the Europa League the following year. His last season at Nacional would be 2011-12 where he would finish seventh in the league and depart at the season's end to move to Spanish side Betis, who would punch above their weight in the manager's first year by finishing seventh in the league. The next season, however, would see Betis seriously underperform and, at Christmas, Di Franco was sacked for the first time in his managerial career.
Unemployment would not last long as opportunity came knocking in France. Olympique de Lyon, a club who have also been dire of late, required the services of a game-intelligent manager and Di Franco was their man. Di Franco was moderately successful in his first season, qualifying for the Europa League. His performance, however, attracted the attention of the Rossoneri who came sniffing around March of 2014. Early on, Di Franco resisted the urge to jump ship and return to his childhood club and lifelong love but by the summer the temptation proved too strong. It was announced in June that the Italian would be returning home, after a string of failed former superstars, to take on a club who were on the slide.
This rebuilding the Rossoneri.