Some weeks ago Serie A said goodbye to three teams which have all been lighting up the upper echelons of the Italian football landscape for different periods of time. Bari, Brescia, and Sampdoria might not be super powers, even if the latter has won a Scudetto and been in a European Cup final (this 1992 loss to Barcelona is still painful to me), but I didn’t expect myself to be in a situation where I would actually wish them all a good and long stay in Serie B. Here is why.
Bari
This is the easiest. Last year we saw a direct and positive side with Edgar Álvarez and Paolo Barreto up front and a very solid defensive line with Andrea Ranocchia, Leonardo Bonucci, and Jean Francois Gillet. This term however the demise was total. With Barreto injured and the whole central defence torn to pieces we never saw a team who really gave any impression of ambition. Bari had the chance last year with a good mix of talent and experience – but they blew it.
The old president Matarrese was on his way out and no one seemed to care for more than just another battle to avoid relegation. With hungry and well organised clubs as Siena, Atalanta, and Novara coming up it doesn’t feel like a great loss to see Bari go. It is of course a sad development for the fans and city of Bari, but I’m pretty sure that only a very limited number of travelling tifosi will miss the wind swept, humongous, and perpetually half empty San Nicola stadium.
Bari is one of those teams with a dire need of a new stadium suited for the need of small provincial club and not the needs of a long since gone world cup tournament. Hopefully they now get the chance, under a new management, to ponder the challenges ahead. Even if I’m generally a supporter of southern teams I wouldn’t mind Bari’s tenure in Serie B to be good, long, and constructive.
Sampdoria
My word… There’s so much to dislike at the moment in this club. Normally I quite enjoy Sampdoria and I’ve always been a fan of their local rivalry with Genoa, their logo sporting an old skipper, and their cool kits. This term however it all went down the drain. A lot of words have been written on the disaster that was last season. And lo and behold… here’s some more.
The sad thing wasn’t really to see Doria sent out of the CL by Werder Bremen, that could happen to any other club. The truly sad thing was the total lack of spirit shown by both the players, the president, and the coaches. The first half of the season was bland but seldomly has blandness been changed into such utter calamity as seen with Doria over the last six months. A team where all key figures either jump ship, force other key figures to do so, don’t field the best players, or break down crying when the walk down football’s Via Dolorosa has finally come to a long awaited end, and deserves to go down so bad. The blight was spreading into all corners of the poor club.
The people in Sampdoria have to do some serious thinking now that their city rivals’ totally eclectic squad policy has proven to be much more stable than their own. They have a good stadium, even of they don’t own it, and they do have some players with some quality in their feet if not in their head. I do however that they will stay down for at least two seasons. We need proof that you just cannot act like nothing matters and throw everything away without being punished for it.
Brescia
Brescia isn’t as bad a case as the two others and I won’t drag you through a long rant over minor details in a club that seems to have fewer troubles than their two relegation comrades. A few things do however irritate me quite a bit.
First of all Brescia is the epitome of a small town northern club. I personally think we have enough of those and I would love to see some of them replaced with more southern teams. Now at least they have replaced themselves with Atalanta and Novara after a bland campaign from a Brescia side where last year’s Serie B phenomenon Éder never got to show his qualities for real.
Apart from being generally bland they have also chosen to change the very same crest that I elected as the coolest in Italy in my “animals in football logos“. Come on guys – you’ve had it for 25 years, and just as it gains world fame on this blog you change it…
On top of my logo rant I might add that they also chose totally to ignore the joy I felt when seeing the clear connection between the logo and the kit. As a part of their 100 years anniversary they opted for getting rid of this wonderful design idea. Bad timing indeed. I hope Crotone, Reggina, Ascoli, or some other southern-esque clubs get promoted so the people in Brescia can rue their mistakes in the league where they, probably not coincidentally, hold the record for the most seasons.
Photo by Paolo Margari
