Traitors and the betrayed at Malagò against Galliani

It is not a question of betrayals and traitors. It is simply the fact that, in a hundred days, Giovanni Malagò has lost the support of players and managers – that is, 30 per cent of those who had voted for him. He has not survived the mid-term elections, to use the American term. He had been elected with 68.58 per cent of the vote; now, even if he has the support of Serie A, he risks failing to repeat that feat and seeing his tenure as commissioner come to an end.

What did Malagò do to lose all the support he had? He simply acted like Malagò – that is, on his own terms, without listening to those trying to pull his strings from the right or the left. This approach allowed him to successfully govern Italian sport, where there were dissidents (Barelli and Binaghi), but they were not enough to derail him. Football, however, is unforgiving. There is too much money at stake, and too many prima donnas in action. The Maldini-Leonardo-Guardiola-Pirlo saga, the appointment of Diana Bianchedi as head of the national team delegation, that of Mancini as manager, and even that of Beppe Signori as head of the Under-20 delegation, have not gone down well with everyone; in fact, some people have become downright angry.

Calling Marotta a traitor, however, makes no sense. The Inter president may well be the master strategist of Italian football, but he was not the one who led the revolt, even if his friend, Minister Giorgetti, may have asked him to. Those who have betrayed Malagò – if we can even speak of betrayal – have so far been the players’ association led by Umberto Calcagno and the coaches’ association chaired by Renzo Ulivieri, who have declared their electoral support for Adriano Galliani, a new member of Enotria (just to be on the safe side). The decisions of Abete and Marani, who lead the amateur leagues (34 per cent) and Lega Pro (12 per cent), as well as Serie B, which accounts for only 6 per cent, are still awaited. Disappointed by Malagò, the players and coaches have opted for a tried-and-tested choice: the 82-year-old Adriano Galliani, who is naturally also favoured by the government majority. The ‘new’ is on the rise, in short. A characteristic of our sport that continues to rely on the great leaders of the past and fails to renew itself. After all, the next term will last only two years, until the Los Angeles Games. Then we’ll see. Although the stakeholders should not harbour any illusions: Adriano Galliani may know football better than Malagò, but he is certainly not the sort of executive who allows others to dictate his course.

Malagò failed to realise that football is a nasty beast, harder to manage than any other sport. He had miraculously managed to get everyone on the same page, starting with Serie A, which had never been so united when it decided to back him in the summer. But those who vote for you then want to be listened to, or at least consulted. Thus came the rift within the Serie A League and, above all, the revolt of two other constituent bodies which together account for 30 per cent of the votes. Commissioner Malagò is at serious risk of being ousted just as he had begun to breathe new life into the national team. It would be yet another embarrassment for Italian football, which in a matter of months would be seen as the worst kind of turncoat. A further risk looms on the horizon: if a new president is not elected, the organisation could sink into another period of administration, and Malagò would no longer be calling the shots. The role would then fall to Buonfiglio or Carlo Mornati. In short, the risk exists of having to start from scratch yet again in less than a year. In the meantime, there would be a European Championship to organise and a World Cup qualification campaign to prepare. In short, it is the same old story. To spite one’s wife, one would end up… Well, you get the picture.