FM_TNSSO
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Le Aquile - A Palermo Story
I'm back! I knew I wouldn't be away for long (a couple of hours at the most)!! For my new career which will hopefully last a lot longer than my last one, I will be taking over at Palermo in Italy. Now, the Palermo fans have been through many ups and downs over the years (both on and off the pitch) and it would take me forever to give you the full background, so I'll bullet point it for quickness instead...
I'm back! I knew I wouldn't be away for long (a couple of hours at the most)!! For my new career which will hopefully last a lot longer than my last one, I will be taking over at Palermo in Italy. Now, the Palermo fans have been through many ups and downs over the years (both on and off the pitch) and it would take me forever to give you the full background, so I'll bullet point it for quickness instead...
- In 1970, Renzo Barbera took over the club and would become one of the greatest chairman in the club's history.
- After 1973, Palermo exclusively played in Serie B for a long period of time, but still experienced some success in reaching the Italian Cup Final in 1974 (losing to Bologna on pens).
- Their name was changed to Societa Sportiva Calcio Palermo in 1977 and in 1979 they reached their second Coppa Italia Final, this time losing to Juventus.
- Barbera sold the club in 1980 to Gaspare Gambino, after a 5 point deduction imposed on the club for a match fixing scandal involving midfielder, Guido Magherini.
- 4 years later in 1984, the club were relegated to Serie C for the first time in it's history, although they did return immediately to Serie B the following season.
- However, 1 year later in 1985/86 after a struggle against relegation, the club was expelled because of financial problems and folded.
- In 1987, after a year without professional football in Palermo, the club was refounded with the name Palermo and began playing in Serie C2.
- A return to Serie B occured in 1991, but only lasted a year. They then won Serie C1 in 1993.
- This time round, they managed to stave off relegation and stay in Serie B for 4 seasons and in 1994, wrote a piece of history for themselves knocking out AC Milan in the Coppa Italia 2nd Round.
- The 1995/96 season was their best throughout the 90s, finishing 7th in Serie B after fighting hard for promotion all year and even reaching the quarter finals of the Coppa Italia.
- However, the following season ended in relegation again and in 1997, the club played one of their worst seasons in their history and were due to be relegated to the Serie C2 division, but were saved by the federation due to the expulsion of fellow Serie C1 team, Ischia Isolaverde.
- AS Roma chairman, Franco Sensi bought the club in 2000 and the club were promoted back to Serie B that season.
- After a short reign, Sensi sold the club in 2002 to retail trade entrepeneur, Maurizio Zamparini for 15 million Euros.
- Zamparini was ambitious and brought some high profile signings to the club such as Luca Toni, Lamberto Zauli, Simone Pepe and Andrea Gasbarroni. In 2003-04, they were promoted to Serie A, with Toni scoring 30 goals in 45 games!
- Palermo were back in Serie A for the first time since 1973, and an impressive season saw them finish 6th in the top tier, qualifying for the UEFA Cup! Toni again finishing top scorer with 20 Serie A goals.
- Despite some decent European form (winning their group) the following season, Palermo dropped a couple of places to finish 8th, which would mean they would only qualify for the Intertoto Cup.
- However, due to the Serie A scandal of 2006, the FIGC decided Palermo would not play in the competition...other clubs had been penalized which meant Palermo's league position was elevated to 5th and UEFA Cup football would be theirs again.
- Palermo spent millions that Summer bringing in the likes of Aimo Diana, Mark Bresciano, Fabio Simplicio and Amauri and were tipped for good things that season of 2006/07. They started the campaign well topping the Serie A table early on, although they eventually ended up finishing 5th. They had struggled in Europe though, finishing bottom of their UEFA Cup group.
- That was the height of Palermo's achievements as after that they ended up falling away, and finished 18th in the 2012/13 season to be relegated.
- The won Serie B the following season though and immediately returned to the top flight, but 3 seasons of finishing in the bottom half followed and it was clear Palermo weren't going to get back to previous heights they had reached. In March 2017, the club was sold again to an Anglo-American fund, led by Paul Baccaglini, and that season the club was again relegated to Serie B.
- The sale of the club had still not gone through fully by the Summer of 2017 though and with the necessary funds still not in place, the club fell back into the hands of Zamparini. It was a sign of financial issues to come and the club experienced a number of administrative issues the following year.
- Palermo struggled in Serie B for 2 seasons finishing 4th and then 11th, with ongoing financial issues forcing them to sell some of their key players. With the club in mounting debt, Zamparini eventually sold the club to London company, Sport Capital Group, for just 10 Euros in November 2018.
- In 2019, the club changed hands again, being sold to a consortium led by Daniela De Angeli. However, there were ongoing investigations into the recent purchases and sales of the club (that become too obscure for me to understand) and despite Palermo finishing 11th in Serie B in 2018/19, the FIGC placed them at the bottom of the league due to financial irregularities and they were relegated to Serie C.
- The club did however form an appeal, which they won, and that allowed them to stay in Serie B. With the fans breathing a sigh of relief, there was still another twist in the tale as in June 2019, Palermo was reported to have failed to correctly submit it's application to participate in the 2019/20 Serie B season, by failing to provide a valid insurance policy and the club was formally excluded from Serie B in July 2019. Not only that, but the club would be excluded from Italian football and would be forced to restart from Serie D, with all of it's staff and players being released immediately.
- A new club was formed under the ownership of Dario Mirri and Tony DiPiazza that Summer called Societa Sportiva Dilettantistica Palermo and would enter the Serie D competition, which they won in their first season.
- The following season, the club finished 7th in Serie C3 and changed it's name once again, this time to Palermo Football Club.
So this club has been through countless promotions, relegations, European adventure, financial woes, name changes, corruption, expulsion.....You name it, they've experienced it!
And that's where I come in. Alongside the new owners, under my management, we look to bring some stability back to this club and see them rise again through the divisions to the promised land of Serie A and see if we can bring those great European nights back for the fans who have been through so much!