After nine years in Serie A, Sicilian club Palermo finally ran out of lives as last weekend’s 1 – 0 away defeat to Fiorentina confirmed their relegation to the second tier.
It was a challenging campaign for the Aquile as just six wins all season proved disastrous.
But the finger of blame can be pointed squarely at the club’s owner, Maurizio Zamparini.
He might have been the man who funded their rise to Serie A but this self-confessed manager-eater makes Chelsea’s Roman Abramovich look like Mahatma Gandhi when it comes to hiring and firing head coaches.
Since Zamparini acquired the club in 2002 he has made 44 managerial changes, an average of four managers per season.
But what is more ludicrous is the fact that he can fire a manager early in a season and then re-hire the same person months later as if nothing has happened.
One could argue that Abramovich is doing the same by contemplating the return of Jose Mourinho but that is in unique circumstances and goes against the general trend.
In contrast Zamparini’s pattern of behaviour is far more alarming.
It all started with current Udinese boss Francesco Guidolin. The man who led Udinese to the Champions League qualifiers after finishing third in Serie A last season, was first appointed as Palermo coach in January 2004.
His first stint lasted 18 months – a lifetime by Zamparini’s standards. Sacked in June 2005, he would be reappointed in June 2006, only to be sacked by April of the following year.
But Zamparini still wanted him back for a third and fourth stint. Guidolin would be hired and fired a further two times in 2007.
And Guidolin is not the only one to suffer this love-hate affair with the owner. Giuseppe Sannino started 2012/13 as Palermo coach. But he only lasted for the first month of the season before he was cast aside in favour of Gianpiero Gasperini who in turn lasted six months until February when he was replaced by Alberto Malesani.
Zamparini showed admirable patience before sacking Malesani within a month. And who did he turn to?
The man who Malesani had just replaced, Gasperini.
But hold on, there’s more!
Gasperini was sacked less than a month after his return.
And guess who replaced him.Giuseppe Sannino, the man who had started the season on the Palermo bench.
And with just one game of the season to go, Zamparini might still find the time to chuck him out of the Stadio Renzo Barbera.
It’s not just the sackings that make the owner stand out. Some of his quotes range from the bizarre to the downright petrifying. Take the following for example:
In 2003 an obviously angry Zamparini once said in reference to his players: “I will cut off their testicles and eat them in my salad."
In 2005, after a 2 – 2 draw with struggling Treviso, Zamparini was at the end of his tether with his players, saying that he “hoped to kick each one of them in the backside.”
In 2007 he made insensitive remarks about former Romania, Chelsea and Juventus striker Adrian Mutu, saying, "Craftiness is a Romanian characteristic, they have it in their DNA. They developed it as part of their survival instinct."
His apology was not as well thought out as one would imagine: “I didn’t mean to offend Adrian Mutu when I called him a crafty, little gypsy.”
In 2008 he claimed that his Palermo team was “not a group of men, it is a team of girls”.
In 2011, he claimed that his then manager, Delio Rossi, “had no balls” after a 7 – 0 defeat to Udinese. Rossi was promptly sacked.
Two months later, in true Zamparini style, Rossi was rehired. By way of explanation, Zamparini lovingly claimed: “Rossi is like my wife, I want him all to myself”. Zamparini divorced Rossi one month later and kept the club by way of alimony.
His ire has also extended to referees. After a defeat to Sardinian Serie A side Cagliari, he said: “We should put all the referees in prison.”
A truly charming man! If he wasn’t constantly threatening to neuter his players or casting aside his managers on a whim, you would almost feel sorry for him as he and his club face up to life in Serie B.
