Bologna are looking to Raffaele Palladino to help restore order to the chaos

After several seasons in which everything went according to plan – successes born of steady and rightly celebrated growth – Bologna have, for the first time, given the impression of having hit a bit of a snag. This comes in a season in which they are losing revenue from UEFA competitions: the Champions League in 2024–25, and the Europa League last season, which they secured thanks to their historic Coppa Italia victory under Vincenzo Italiano. The club has openly acknowledged the need to recoup the expenditure of previous years: “We need to review our costs a little; we want to run the club sustainably – for us, this is a year of rebuilding,” said chief executive Claudio Fenucci as recently as two weeks ago. But he also said something else: “Tedesco is a new manager and, like Motta and Italiano before him, he’ll need time. He’ll get it.” In the meantime, however, something must have happened that goes beyond the single point picked up in four matches by Bologna’s now former manager: the Rossoblù, despite having a squad of decidedly lower quality compared to that of two seasons ago, deserved more, ultimately let down above all by the turn of events in the matches against Lazio and Atalanta.

And yet, on the eve of the fifth matchday, Tedesco is no longer Bologna’s manager. For a club whose chief executive has explicitly set tenth place as the season’s target, his sacking following matches against Lazio, Atalanta, Sassuolo and Napoli seems so hasty as to suggest there was a certain disconnect between the manager and the squad, rather than an actual technical or tactical issue. Replacing him is a ‘top-class fixer’: for the third time in his career, Raffaele Palladino is jumping on a moving train. At Monza, whilst he was still in charge of the Primavera side, it happened after six matchdays; in Bergamo, following a good season with Fiorentina, after eleven matchdays; this time, after just four. His departure from Atalanta was, in some respects, surprising: his arrival had brought the Nerazzurri back into contention for European places, leading to qualification for the Conference League and a place in the Coppa Italia semi-finals, with the ultimate goal being missed only because of a monstrous performance by Edoardo Motta, who saved four penalties in the return leg against Lazio. Luca Percassi had spoken of him as a player destined for greatness, but relations subsequently soured: according to rumours from Bergamo, this was due to a less-than-enthusiastic response to the initial contract renewal offer. In the meantime, his name has been linked with some very big clubs, including the Italian national team amid the general upheaval following the Guardiola-Pirlo affair.

Palladino, meanwhile, is starting afresh with a Bologna side that will need to restore order, particularly in the dressing room, following the ‘Skorupski affair’ – his exclusion from the match against Napoli due to being late for a technical meeting, as admitted by sporting director Di Vaio – which has dominated the headlines in recent hours. But he’ll also have to do so on the pitch: in a single summer, Bologna have lost Lucumì, Freuler and Castro – the backbone of recent seasons – as well as the rebellious Rowe. A year earlier, Beukema and Ndoye had left; the year before that, Calafiori, Saelemaekers (at the end of his loan spell) and Zirkzee. Virtually an entire starting eleven has been dismantled. So now Palladino will have to do what he does best: make the most of what’s available, shape it and, this time, look further ahead too. His contract states he’ll remain at Bologna until 2029: if that’s indeed the case, he’ll be the one taking charge of what will be no easy task of rebuilding.