Roma president James Pallotta spoke to Roma Radio today. Here is an excerpt of his words:
They say there is a conspiracy against Di Francesco (laughs).
There is this tendency in Rome, especially from the media, to make things up, it’s like they wake up in the morning and need to invent something. Today, in amazement I read something that was written by a certain journalist. Before I get into the details, I would like to challenge him face to face to prove that what he wrote is the truth. If he can prove it, I’ll be happy to take him to dinner and give him $50,000. I’m really fed up with this tendency to make things up.
What do you really think about Di Francesco’s work and the team?
After the match with Atletico, they (the media) saw me coming out of some room and complimenting everyone, Manolas and Alisson. I congratulated everyone, including Monchi and Di Francesco. There was not a single negative word. The only complaint I expressed was our play in the first half, where there should have been a penalty, which was maybe even the case in the second half. Everything else I said about everyone was all positive. I am extremely pleased with the work of Di Francesco, there is a lot of calmness. This is also due to the work of Monchi in the last four months. I ask the journalist who wrote that to prove the opposite, it is just I annoying. It’s completely fair for the fans to think that there are some who want to bring down the club and team. If I have to intervene on a daily basis to refute these allegations I will do so. I have no problems at Trigoria. We are working hard, they’re doing a good job, we have an excellent technical staff and the best sporting director in the world. We won at a tough place against Atalanta, and against Inter we dominated for 60 minutes and there should have been a penalty. We could have been up 2 or 3 to 0 before the Inter goal, unfortunately, it ended badly. Atletico Madrid is amazing, it is difficult to play them, we played a good match, thanks to our excellent goalkeeper. But 0-0 is a good result in the Champions League, just look at the results of the other Italian clubs and realize that it is not bad. We have confidence and some players are coming back. Since I have been President of Roma, we have never had such a complete roster.
Can we say that the next month will be crucial for the future of Roma? Do you want to send a message to the fans?
I do not want to look at just next month. We are trying to build something sustainable. We are doing very well on and off of the pitch. In the coming weeks, positive news regarding the stadium should come. We have a good manager. We can be excited for next month. I trust the strong and long term system we are building here.
If you want to work every day we are here to help.
I’ll repeat my challenge to the journalist, if he is able to prove the negative things I said, I will be happy to meet him. I’m fed up with what’s happening. These journalists do a disservice to our fans, who are the best in the world.
