Walter Sabatini spoke today for his final press conference with Roma. Sabatini has officially rescinded his contract with the club and leaves with a mixed bag of successes and failures. Here are his words:
“Whatever is said today is not a final, definitive assessment because this team will continue to be ‘mine’ for a while yet. I might not be here physically anymore but my soul will be here. Roma have a competitive team and a fantastic coach in Luciano Spalletti.”
“I’ve had a long run here, five years, and I’ve been constantly assessing things. We have a set-up that works perfectly, although it’s true the Roma fans haven’t been able to celebrate a Scudetto victory. That was the dream and one we were able to feed on a few occasions. That’s the greatest disappointment I leave with. I’m not ‘angry’ about it, just very sad and it’s a feeling I’ll probably never get over, unless of course it happens this season.”
“Everything I’ve done in the last five years was dictated by the fact that I was the sporting director of Roma. Roma have had a competitive team for several years, finishing second twice and third last year thanks to the arrival of a magnificent coach and a squad of great players. I remember the wins, such as the 2-1 derby victory when Ibarbo, who some dubbed a flop, broke forward allowing the much-maligned Iturbe to break the deadlock in a match which assured us Champions League qualification.”
“I remember lots of other things like Bradley’s goal at Udinese, our ninth win in a row, followed by a tenth straight victory against Chievo with a goal from ‘the odd man out’ Borriello, as I labelled him in my first press conference. I also have some bad memories like the Coppa Italia loss which was cathartic however, changed my state of mind and gave me fresh impetus. Up until that moment, I thought we played football in a certain way. Straight after that match I thought that we needed to change approach a touch and we did so successfully. The fact we never won the Scudetto will haunt me for the rest of my days unless this team does something unexpected. I’ll still feel a part of it when the team win or lose.”
