Archive for January, 2007
I ran into a very intersting article by Luca Manes on goal.com about Lazio president Claudio Lotito. Here it is and worth reading.
Last Saturday’s gruesome dismantling of Palermo was a big boost for Lazio’s hopes to reach Champions League qualifying stage. Despite selling a world champion asset like Oddo to Milan and having to come to terms with massive financial troubles, the Biancocelesti are very much alive and kicking. Much of the credit has to be given to colourful chairman Claudio Lotito, even though many Lazio supporters wouldn’t like to admit he’s doing a good job.
“Unfortunately referees are human beings too” is one of Claudio Lotito’s most celebrated quotes, idiosyncratic and a sign that he sees the world as an infinitely improvable place – as he also views his Lazio.
Since his 2004 Lazio takeover, the charismatic exec hasn’t hesitated to express his particular views on football matters, mostly without the self-censoring filter that many chairmen adopt. “I’m here because I want to make this environment [speaking about Italian football] a more moral place” is another nugget that many journalists latched onto. It’s no wonder the local media fell madly in love with him: Lotito’s such a character that in Italy there’s a stand up comedian impersonating him in a famous TV programme. His quotes are quite often very funny – both intentionally and unintentionally – and are also peppered with Latin words and idiomatic expressions that are not always 100% correct – and all the more amusing for it. Not to mention his mobile phone ‘fetish’, as he’s fabled to carry a small arsenal of cellular phones with him at the same time: the sound of the Lazio boss ‘ringing’ in several different tones is a common occurrence. Despite all his wacky habits and bizarre mutterings he was instrumental in saving the cash strapped Lazio, reaching a favourable agreement with the Italian IRS – the taxman demanding to claw in what the Biancocelesti owed. This allowed Lazio to pay back 170 million Euros in outstanding taxes in instalments over 23 years. Ca va sans dire (That goes without saying) that he’s a strong supporter of a cautious way of spending money (and has got some good friends among Italian politicians). Tightwad or Prudence personified? It’s a matter of opinion. To be honest, despite his self appointed role of “great moralizer” and his intention to “clean” Italian football (by the way, ironically enough, he owns a big cleaners company), Lotito got involved in the Calciopoli scandal. It has to be said that at the beginning Lazio was in hot water too. The Biancocelesti were ignominiously dumped down to Serie B, where they would play an unprecedented derby with newly promoted Frosinone (a nice city some 50 kilometres from Rome). Later judgments limited the Lazio punishment to a 3-point deduction and deprived them of the chance to play UEFA Cup, but Lotito could be relatively happy with those developments, his ban has been recently lifted as well and the worst avoided. Even though Lazio had to dribble many unforeseen difficulties, last summer Lotito managed to some good, coveted players: Ledesma, Makinwa and Mauri. This allowed him to make the deepest cut of all. This was getting rid of the cumbersome – yet idolised in some quarters – presence of Di Canio, not on the same wave length of coach Delio Rossi and of the rest of the management, while Liverani and Dabo were offloaded to Fiorentina and Man City. After a slow start Lazio gradually improved in form, reaching a peak with the 3-0 win in the Rome derby that hit favourites and sworn enemies AS Roma in the solar plexus. Now the team looks set to fight for a Champions League spot. They’ll have to battle for the major continental competition without their habitual skipper, though. World champion defender Massimo Oddo has been recently traded to AC Milan. Lotito got the money he requested (nearly 8 million Euros) which was quite a good profit considering that Oddo is no spring chicken – 30 – and he was eager to play at San Siro. That was also a key factor in the exec’s decision to let the right-back go without a tussle with the Rossoneri. “One must feel a Lazio player 24 hours a day” was Lotito’s quote on the story, a sign of an all-embracing concept of a team that he wants to nurture. So Lazio could earn the manna from heaven that the millions of Euros an opportunity to play in the CL gives. As Milan and Fiorentina are both weighed down by heavy points deductions and other teams are playing quite inconsistently, the Biancocelesti really have got their best chance in years. You would think Lazio supporters are over the moon with everything regarding their team, but that’s far from being true. They appreciate the team spirit, the efforts players are making and the ability of Rossi to coach them, but they actually hate Lotito with a passion – well, not all, but a sizeable swathe. The Olímpico is more than half empty (a couple of weeks ago for the Lazio-Milan game just 28.000 supporters bothered to show up, in a stadium with a 70.000 people capacity). Ultra groups (notably the Curva Nord Irriducibili – The Indomitable North Curve) don’t agree with the way Lotito is running the club and probably would like to have the same ‘fringe benefits’ they were supposed to have enjoyed during the Sergio Cragnotti golden era. Last year they supported a possible takeover launched by former Lazio superstar Giorgio Chinaglia and some unknown Hungarian businessmen. A lot of speculation went on but no real offer was made, and in the end last October Chinaglia and other eight men were hit by an arrest warrant for extortion. It turned out four of the arrested were capitifosi (leaders of organised or uniformed fans’ groups) who made some physical threats to Lotito and his family to force him to sell Lazio to Chinaglia. Scary stuff. Waiting for a final word on that unpleasant story, we can just remember that fans show their discontent by not singing at the Olimpico or not even turning up en masse. And that’s another adversity Lotito and his side are trying to overcome. Will the tifosi biancocelesti (the Black-and-White faithful) ‘forgive’ their chairman if the Champions League anthem is blaring from speakers at the Olímpico and the team in powder blue is really a contender? Nobody knows, but we’re looking forward to a brand new Lotito quote – in all its marvellously surreal originality – to celebrate that achievement. Could this be the season that the Romans are led back to greatness by a real General or will Lotito fall on his own sword? We’re approaching the denouement…
Palermo – Lazio: 0-3 (Rocchi 45 and 73; Siviglia 53)
I will divide this match on three different phases:
1. From the start until the 20-th minute:This is a period of time when Palermo was dominating, overrunning Lazio and outplaying, creating chances at every attack towards Peruzzi`s goal. They had faster midfielders and very difficult to match-up pair of strikers like a tall Caracciolo and fast and sneaky Di Michelle. Also, Guidolin is a smart coach and he probably instructed his team to attack from the very beginning, score onceor twice and then close the match in a routine manner. Lazio on the other hand was playing their worst football since losing to Catania and there was hardly anything positive until the 20th minute. Palermo even managed to score once but their goal was dissallowed with no reason by the linesman. This could have killed the match knowing that Palermo have a fantastic record when playing at home.
2. Minute 20th, end of first half:This is a period when Lazio started to calm the match down and passing better, being more in ball possession and occasionally creating half-chances. Palermo was become less and less dangerous. To make it even better for Lazio and horrible for the home team, Rocchi scored from close range just before the half-time whistle.
3. Second half:This was a one way traffic: a completely new Lazio, in perfect control of the match whithout letting Palermo create anything, despite Guildolin making all three substitutions by 70th minute. Then Siviglia nailed a header from a close range after a very good cross from Ledesma. This goal basically killed the match, just like Guidolin admitted. Palermo created nothing until the end of the match while Rocchi scored another one from the penalty spot to make it even a sweeter win.
All in all, this was an interesting match in which Lazio could have lost easily if Palermo were the first to score. Man of the match for me: Sebastiano Siviglia. For fantastic defending and decive goal.
After being linked to AC Milan in almost every transfer window previous two years, Massimo Oddo is finally returning to the club where he started his career.
After months of tough negotiations, Lazio president Claudio Lotito and Milan vice president Galliani, finally agreed the terms of the deal: Milan will get Massimo Oddo in full ownership, the player will get a 4 years contract and will earn more than he used to at Lazio, and the latter will receive 7,750.000 euros and full ownership of youngster Pasquale Foggia.
Oddo was yesterday at Formello to say good-bye to his Lazio team-mates, before joining his new team-mates at Millanelo.
I take this opportunity to wish Massimo all the best and thank him for spending some fantastic years with our beloved club Lazio.
Massimo Oddo has confirmed that a January move to Milan is very much on the cards for the Lazio captain.
“There’s no point hiding from the fact,” he told local Lazio-based radio programme ‘La Voce della Nord.’
“There is an important offer from Milan on the table and therefore my future at Lazio is in doubt. In any case, we need to find the best solution for everyone.”
The Rossoneri have been interested in the right-back, who they see as the heir to Marcos Cafu, for several years.
Following his part in the 2006 World Cup victory, Biancocelesti patron Claudio Lotito slapped an £8m price-tag on the 30-year-old and talks stalled, but hopes of a January agreement are still high as far as he is concerned.
“Obviously, I’d like for Lazio to also be satisfied with an eventual deal, so the decision won’t just be a personal one from me.”
It’s believed Milan have offered £4m cash plus the services of talented youngster Pasquale Foggia.
Oddo started his career in the Rossoneri youth system and has been at Lazio since 2002, where he joined from Hellas Verona.
After almost a week off, this afternoon, Lazio players and technical staff returned to Formello to get back to training. Actually, on January the 5-th, the team is off to Dubai to participate in a tournament together with other big teams such are Santons (Brazil) and Bayern Munchen and Benfica.
This tournament will serve for good especially since Lazio faces a tough beginning to the second part of the season with teams like AC Milan and Palermo (immediately after the last first round match against Siena at Olimpico).