1. Alberto Zaccheroni (53 years old, ex-Torino)
An authoritative and respected mentor led Toro three days before the start of the championship, replacing Gianni De Byazi. The legacy of Dzaku went to a completely competitive composition. In the summer, the Turin team joined Fiore, Barone, Pankaro and Abbyati. Each of them in different years performed in the “Squadra azzurra”. It seemed that the “garnet" forces to complete the tournament in the European Cup zone or near it.
However, the start was a failure - only 8 points in 11 rounds. At that time, club president Urbano Cairo strongly supported Zaccheroni and assured that victories would come soon. Indeed, over the next 5 games, the team grew rich by 13 points. But success was not developed. A black line of six fiasco in a row deprived Cairo of patience. Although the coach himself maintained a commendable calm: “I would have made a huge mistake if I had stopped believing in my abilities. In the past, I always managed to achieve my goals.”
Here Zaccheroni was clearly pre-decorated. Recognition came to him in the second half of the 90s, when significant results were achieved with “Udinese” and “Milan”. The Friulians in 1997 and 1998 finished the championship fifth and third, while Milan won the scudetto in 1999. In that year, by the way, Zaccheroni was recognized as the best coach of the country. His calling card is a 3-4-3 set, which has brought luck more than once.
But the second Milan season did not work out for Dzak, and his career went down sharply. His experience at Lazio and Inter was short-lived, where in both cases he was replaced by Roberto Mancini. Now - the resignation of “Torino”. Apparently, the coaching thought of Zaccheroni remained in the last century, and he has a shortage of fresh and progressive ideas. In Turin, as always, he used his favorite scheme, to which everyone had long ago adapted and found more than one antidote to her.
2. Giuseppe Pillon (51 years old, ex-Chievo)
Last spring, he was considered one of the most promising and dynamically adding specialists. Pillon gained fame thanks to the provincial Treviso raid from the fifth division to an elite company, where he made his debut in the 2005/06 season. True, already without his leader, who moved to Verona and headed “Chievo”.
The promotion went painlessly, as evidenced by the high 7th place, which in the wake of the “Mujigate” was transformed into the 4th and unexpected ticket to the Champions League.
The tale broke off suddenly and cruelly. The deafening failure at the start of the season (departures from the League qualification and the first round of the UEFA Cup plus a miserable point in the first six rounds) predetermined the fate of the helmsman. Apparently, he simply lacked the experience of forced summer training. Pillon first encountered a situation where it was required to bring the team to the combat level not in September, but by early August.
3. Stefano Pioli (41 years old, ex-Parma)
In the summer of 2006, the nature of the personnel changes at Parma hinted: the main goal will be to maintain a residence permit. The assets of the departed Marchionni, Corradi, Bresciano, Fabio Simplicio and Paolo Cannavaro had 35 of the team's 46 goals in the 2005/06 championship. In addition, the Parmesans lost their key destroyer - Bonera. On the other hand, many skilled players were among the recruits. However, the whole ensemble in “Parma” did not work out.
The reproaches for this were addressed to Pioli, who was dismissed after 22 games. He took Parma in the offseason and spent his debut season in Serie A.
The former coach of “Modena”, it seems, was not ready to manage an elite club. A terrible start (one point in six matches) surprisingly coincided with a phenomenal performance in the UEFA Cup, where the “djalloblu” won five victories in a row and after the second round of the group stage they guaranteed access to the 1/16 finals.
Alas, that was little consolation. The problem was Pioli's vibrations. He constantly shuffled the composition and did not radiate due confidence. The coach seemed to be afraid of something, and it was surprising. After all, he is a native of Parma, played a lot for the club of his native city. In addition to the Pioli footballer’s track record, such addresses as Juventus and Fiorentina. In other words, series A is a familiar world to him.
But it was felt that Pioli was uncomfortable. Disorder reigned in his household. After a little more than half the way, the coach involved 26 players! One of the first decisions of the new head of the club, Tommaso Girardi, was to point Pioli to the door.
4. Marco Giampaolo (40 years old, "Cagliari")
The steering of the islanders also disappointed Sardinian club president Massimo Cellino. He fired the coach in mid-December, but still at the end of February he gave him a second chance.
Giampaolo made a name for himself last season when he blinded a solid middle peasant from a newcomer to the Ascoli division. A team from the Marche province was compelled to be content with crumbs from the lordly table - in Ascoli Piceno gathered players with experience of playing at the highest level, but for various reasons who were left out of sight of other clubs of series A. Before the 2005/06 championship, the names of Parola, Guan, Paci Domizzi, Comotto, Foggia, Fini, Quagliarella (the list goes on) were little known to ordinary fans.
The more qualitatively the work of Giampaolo looked. By the way, most of the young specialist’s colleagues (starting with Fabio Capello and ending with his bosom friend Roberto Mancini) on the eve and after the matches with Ascoli paid tribute to the opponent and noted the well-set game according to the well-established scheme. Meanwhile, the coach himself, who spent the first year in the elite, at that time had not even managed to finish advanced training courses, and therefore the team was formally led by his assistant Massimo Silva.
Having moved to Sardinia in the offseason, Giampaolo lasted until the resignation of 16 rounds. The breakup occurred after the December fiasco in a meeting with Udinese, which became the fourth for the islanders. At that time, less often, “Cagliari” lost only “Inter” and “Roma”. Another thing is that the Sardinians made a lot of draws and did not get hold of a supply of points.
Giampaolo laid a strong defensive foundation, as evidenced by five dry draws and a boring game style, which brought some results. In particular, the Cagliari asset has a 10-match unbeaten run, as well as world honors with Inter, Milan and Lazio (away) plus Victoria over Palermo and Sampdoria.
However, President Cellino wants more, no longer remembering that last year the team almost broke up with Serie A.
By the way, then the boss’s impatience was expressed by three (!) Resignations for the season. He finally guessed by putting Nedo Sonetti on the captain’s bridge. An experienced coach brought the Sardinians out of the basement and extended their life in high society. Today, Sonetti works at Ascoli, a club that he successfully managed in the 2005/06 season ... Giampaolo, who was returned to Cagliari earlier this week. Will it convince this time?
Denis ORLOV