The ax fell on Thursday. While he was holding pole to take over from Laurent Blanc at Olympique Lyonnais, Gennaro Gattuso saw his compatriot Fabio Grosso pass him in front at the last minute. No gifts between Italian world champions. The former AC Milan barker had undoubtedly felt the tide turn a few hours earlier, when, suddenly, he no longer heard from John Textor at all. However, he had given his agreement.
The 45-year-old technician was then the last candidate still in the running, before the name Fabio Grosso appeared. There was something going on behind his back. In Lyon, we hesitated for a long time over his candidacy. While some were in favor, this was not the case for everyone. Others feared the intrusion into the club of Jorge Mendes, his agent, but also his past experiences which do not all speak in his favor and his volcanic character.
“Gattuso, 10 years of bad benches: the phone no longer rings”
Go to Grosso. Gattuso, himself, remains at the dock and he would not have really appreciated the Gones’ way of doing things. This can be understood. La Gazzetta dello Sport sees something else there; a major disavowal which says a lot about the trust that clubs have in the ex-Azzurro international. “Gattuso, 10 years of bad benches: the phone no longer rings”, strikes the daily with its pink pages in its Saturday edition. For the newspaper, the coach is at the bottom of the wave and does not really have the skills to bounce back.
“In the middle of his life as a coach, Gennaro Gattuso is weighed down by the shadow of incompleteness, of a career which – the bad choices, the stumbles here and there, the unclear objectives – has failed.” In addition to this murderous – and slightly exaggerated – observation, La Gazzetta recalls past and often failed experiences such as with the Greeks of OFI Crete where he paid certain salaries himself, and at Valencia where he only took 19 points in 20 La Liga matches. There will still have been Naples. Ringhio won an Italian Cup there in a complicated context due to the players’ strike against Ancelotti, and whether we like it or not, indirectly participated in the Scudetto last May.
