“Never be afraid to give young players a chance.” Renzo Castagnini speaks

Doing a lot with very little. “We’ve always worked well here: the important thing was not to let ourselves get bogged down by despondency.” A year ago at this time, Renzo Castagnini became Frosinone’s sporting director. A weary atmosphere, morale at rock bottom, the spectre of Serie C – and of a double relegation, following the traumatic end to Di Francesco’s Gialloblù era – narrowly averted. “And yet the raw talent was there. So was the team. We just needed to rebuild the mental side of things by bringing in a couple of practical players.” And so it came to pass that, within a few months, the club found itself celebrating a return to Serie A – its fourth promotion in the last decade. Perhaps the most sensational: “Just three defeats, nine wins out of ten in the final stretch, and second place in the table.” As the underdog amongst the division’s big names – Venezia, Monza, Palermo – whilst observers, for most of the season, were simply waiting for Frosinone’s run to fizzle out sooner or later. They’re still waiting.

“We may well have taken everyone a bit by surprise,” Castagnini explains to Il Foglio Sportivo, “but internally we knew we were capable of achieving this. We set out without much pressure on us, and that’s always a good thing. I must thank President Stirpe above all for giving me free rein over the choice of manager,” Massimiliano Alvini, fresh from three consecutive sackings. “I’d been following him for three years: I wanted to bring him to Brescia when I was working there; it didn’t come to anything, but we never lost touch. I like his approach to football, his attacking drive, the way he relates to the lads. He’s a good, loyal man. So I was convinced we could do a brilliant job together. But it wasn’t an easy name to put forward to the owners, given his recent results. That’s another reason why we felt an even greater sense of responsibility.” And so Serie B is getting to know this new Frosinone side, which concedes few goals, scores plenty and plays superbly – especially away from home, having dropped just one game out of 19. It’s the golden era for Ghedjemis, Calò and Raimondo. “Reigniting the fans’ enthusiasm happened in the blink of an eye. And the manager put a lot of himself into it: maintaining top physical condition right to the end, bringing 4–5 players into the Under-21 squad, leading the youngest squad in the league – with an average age of 23.4, ed. – are all sources of great pride. It’s been an extraordinary run, achieved on a limited budget.” The 12th-highest-spending club in the division in terms of wages. “Sometimes that magic happens which seems inexplicable, yet reflects so much sacrifice.”

According to Castagnini, the number one factor lies off the pitch: “Ownership. Reaching Serie A four times with four different managers and sporting directors cannot be a coincidence. Now an American group has also come on board here,” having acquired 80 per cent of the club’s shares, “but for over two decades, Frosinone has been a well-run club under the Stirpe name. A management team that allows you to work effectively, that gives you freedom and trust. That makes it easy to create a healthy atmosphere, guided by their principles – which, as the facts show, are spot on. The fans, too, are extraordinary: they don’t create tension and always fill the stadium. The whole city appreciates us; they sense the dignity and professionalism of our club.” A happy place, then? “Yes. For these people, seeing the commitment is enough to accept whatever the result on the pitch may be. Including the disappointment of our last Serie A campaign: here, there’s always the strength to start afresh.” The next challenge is survival: something never achieved in the Gialloblù’s history. “I don’t like calling it that. We don’t need to save ourselves from anything or anyone: the important thing is to keep working on our principles, without fear, using our own approach. Then the pitch will tell us who we are. We’re ready. And as the chairman says, the new investment from the United States isn’t a problem, but an asset. We want to keep growing.”

Without ever losing its identity. In an ailing Italian football scene, terrified of fielding youngsters coming through the youth academies, Frosinone stands as a shining exception. “Never be afraid to give young players a chance,” emphasises Castagnini. “We don’t look at their age, but at the physical and character qualities of our players. We support them by trying not to let an off day weigh them down: you have to be allowed to make mistakes, even in this sport. Yet there’s a great deal of hesitation within the game: a common problem in our country, I’d say, because abroad there’s certainly plenty of scope for the Under-age players.” According to the sporting director, inexperience is by no means a burden. “I look at the players who come here to Frosinone: they’re hungry, they deliver and they don’t let us down. We just need to convey the conviction that we’ll let them play. That’s something that has to come from the top, from the chairman down. Sometimes you get results, sometimes you don’t. In any case, for us, this is the normal way forward.” So could other clubs already be taking the same bold approach as Frosinone, without waiting for the reforms everyone is calling for? “Especially for clubs of our size, I don’t think there’s a better way to grow: young players are an asset. I’m thinking of all the times this year we’ve faced teams much older than us. If they don’t win, it often spells trouble. For us, however, the future lies ahead.”