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Pallotta: “This season? It’s up to us.”

John Solano
I

Roma president James Pallotta appeared in a video on the club’s official website and was interviewed by midfielder Radja Nainggolan. Here is an excerpt of his words:

Did you ever imagine you would buy a European football club.
Are you serious? (Laughs). No way. Eight years ago I happened to look at Roma because a potential deal fell apart and a friend of mine who was working on a deal told me about and I thought that it might be interesting. Then when it happened again four years ago, it was the best thing I could’ve done.

What’s the best part about being president of Roma?
I would say the Roma fans in Europe are the most passionate people I’ve ever seen. That’s a good part of it. The second part is the organization itself. I’ve gotten to know a bunch of the players and the relationships with them are great. Even when a player leaves they’ll write me notes about Roma.

The worst thing?
When a player you like decides to leave for whatever reason or you have to make a decision to sell a player you like. Those are the toughest things. It’s the worst part of it.

How do you feel when you watch Roma games?
When I’m in Rome I don’t sit. I sit in seat 13 but I never sit. I’m always standing. When I am home I watch 3, 4, or 5 TV’s and I pace.

Do you dream of winning the Scudetto?
I have a lot of dreams of it. I dream about it all the time. I want to make sure we have a great organization. What I dream about is a great stadium and having everything around it. The Scudetti will come.

This season?
Everyone looks at Juve but I think, for us, it’s up to us. We have a great coaching staff. We showed what we can do last year in the second half of the season. It’s on us. We can’t have another stretch where we go 10-11 games without winning a match.

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