The “Government of the Best” of football collapsed in a month. Between rifts, farewells and the Malagò-Abodi clash, the appointment of the new selector is already dead.
A month to burn the government of the best and confirm to the whole world that Italian football not only cannot be reformed, something that had already been understood in previous eras, but also that it has insurmountable difficulties in managing itself. Even in a step that should be as basic as the choice of the coach to whom to entrust the senior national team, which emerged with broken bones from the third failure to qualify for the World Cup and on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
From June 22nd, the day of the election of Giovanni Malagò As president of the FIGC, on 26 July when Paolo Maldini and Leonardo presented their resignations, the reverse loophole was as spectacular as it was ruthless. The idea of being able to try to convince Guardiola to sit on the blue bench had kept everything alivealmost the glue of a picture in which the cracks were evident even if they were kept under wraps. The political support for Malagò was superficial, the support for the project to finally create something that would break with the past, giving broad powers to the newly formed technical direction, was an illusion that lasted the space of a morning. When the owner of Turin Urban Cairo came out of the meeting of the ‘directors’ with the presidents of Serie A explaining the theory of the “hundred days” to be contrasted with the medium and long-term re-foundation, the somewhat hypocritical veil of sharing suddenly came down.
A month later the situation in Italian football is, if possible, even worse than that which accompanied the wait for Malagò’s election. The former president of CONI of miracles, considered the only and last Italian manager capable of reviving the situation by leveraging his long-term winning experience, was forced to disavow the pillar on which his initial recipe was based. There will not be a re-foundation project and even if there were a new technical director (Chiellini?) it is clear that he will have limited powers and will have to submit to pressure and conditioning.
The crisis of rejection was total. The war around the coach was only the indicator and the supposed “moral question” that sabotaged Andrea Pirlo’s choice was a pretext to make it explode. To be clear: not having previously intercepted the explosive potential of the collaboration with the Russian betting portal was a mistake, but it is clear how the matter would have been resolved differently if it had been linked to a profile not rejected like that of Pirlo. On which the evaluations were technical, not moral. And it was also the window left open that allowed politics to once again get its hands on the football system after being rejected in the spring.
In this regard, the poisonous exchange between Malagò and the Minister of Sport, Andrea Abodi, made it clear to everyone that the relations between this FIGC and the government are cold. Not that the difficulties were not known, but a full-blown crisis is the last thing that would be needed for Italian football which needs support to deal with the other dossiers, not the choice of the coach, being able to count on a minimum of sharing. Instead we are wall to wall and stabbed. Bad. Very bad.
In this climate of everyone against everyone, a month after Malagò’s call which was considered the extreme solution (almost the Draghi government of football, to use a political parallel), the situation is that Malagò is crippled, the technical ministers called by him – the best on the market – rejected to the sender and the camp of alleged supporters torn apart. THEper match for the next coach best represents the situation: whether it is Roberto Mancini or whether the choice falls on Antonio Conte, none of the opposing sides will recognize the legitimacy of the investiture. Just take a look at the editorial positioning of the parties involved to realize this.
Whatever happens, therefore, it will be a disaster. Imagine when Malagò will have to implement the real reforms which by definition displease many and must be carried forward by shielding others. The question is simple: if the trivial appointment of the coach has undermined the credibility of the entire system, what will happen when much more complex and vital issues for the system are on the table?
