Today, AS Roma’s Board of Directors met: the main order of business is the approval of Umberto Gandini as the new CEO of the club. Here are various talking points of the meeting.
Roma director Mauro Baldissoni: “Hello and welcome, I will assume the chairmanship, I bring you the greetings of the club who are not in Rome and can not participate.”
Shareholder Franco Angeletti takes the floor: “First, I wanted to send warm wishes to Florenzi, come back soon my old friend. To start, the budget does not meet the economic and financial equilibrium. You said there was no other stadium you’d like to play in (against Porto) if you weren’t able to play at the Olimoico. You said: ‘We have prepared for this match with Porto for 8 months’, you could have kept quiet. One thing I notice that there is a lot of bonus data, what did Zanzi do to warrant a €150,000 bonus? As for Sabatini, I can say that he has won nothing in his career. He had a lot of flops. The contract of De Rossi is about to expire, his last renewal was suicide and his contribution has been lackluster, even against Porto it was very negative. The years have passed, he is a shell of himself. But he will be a great director. Spalletti will be renewed? I will end with this: Forza Magica!”
Shareholder Fabio Palma: “How should Roma become a great team by acquiring players that are scraps of the big clubs? What sense did it make to buy Vermaelen? We buy him and then we have to skimp on the renewal of Manolas. No team has been built on the scraps of others. In the past we have had Baptista and Cicinho and now we also have Dzeko, who, fortunately, is playing well now. We are still convinced that this is the right policy? The huge political business that Sabatini did with agents? Roma was built by taking good players: not just a couple of tweaks. Our youth sector is one of the best, but it hardly exists, the youngsters are given away for little money or never used. If we consider the last 25 years there are only 3 players we have used: Totti, De Rossi and Florenzi. The fact that Massara is the heir of Sabatini makes me tremble: Sabatini bought only foreign players.”
Baldissoni responds: The bonus of Zanzi was paid on account of what was once the contract with the previous CEO and the termination of his contract. With regard to players on loan, for some, there is a contribution by the loaned club to the their salary. Gandini will respond to the advice that the powers will give him, all the management of Roma will respond to him. In general, all the other comments will be evaluated by the appropriate agencies. The Olimpico? We want everything to return to normal. The Stadio della Roma? We’re in an advanced stage and we anticipate being there for the 2019-2020 season.
