THE WOLF'S DEN - Tana dei Lupi I

[Frenchesco]

I have seen the first half only but aside those two goals in 3 minutes ...well I thought we did quite well.
I know we certainly can not put the blame on that Morganti but pls...the ones who have seen the whole 90 minutes...the guy is really not helping us today once again right???
Today was the day where we should have won and could have been an important boost for the rest of the season. I do not know if I can allow myself to keep faith or what at this stage???...depressing!!! Will we even ensure to finish 6th??? This could be a disaster if we don't. Forza Roma!!!

[romawi]

Spalletti-Tare row escalates
Saturday 11 April, 2009
Luciano Spalletti was sent off for a scuffle with Igli Tare during the derby and accused the Lazio team manager of “threateningâ€

[Italiamia]

Talk about juvenile. Why do we get into a pissing match against an inferior team. Again I say. Lazie is one of the worst teams in Serie A and we played down to their level today. Instead of going out there and acting like professionals because we are playing for the CL, we lower ourselves and lose in the process.

[pocari_fenrir]

[Pauly W. Nuts]

[Italiamia]

[Pauly W. Nuts]

[Pauly W. Nuts]

[romawi]

[Frenchesco]

[Pauly W. Nuts]

[vtec]

[pocari_fenrir]

True, id figured everyone was all pro-Italian coaches around here. I could care less if they can dicipline Roma to expected standards. Tired of seeing Roma start off slow and uninterested.

[Italiamia]

If Guss Hiccup is the next Roma coach then I am gone. I hate that son of a bitch and there is no way I see this happening. Aside form the coaching situation, there is no way this Roma is ready to win anything. We have been plagued by a lack of mental toughness and a determination to win. Year after year after year it's the same shit. Last year, we draw to a relegated Livorno side at home. One specific example but we can all pick out games where we just lost the mental focus and threw away one scudetto after another. Just look back at all the second place finishes starting with last season.

I don't know really what to say. All I can give you is my personal experience growing up in Roma as a Roma fan. We have the emotion and the love for the team. Roman players, growing up as I did feel this emotion and love. But, we have a weakness as well. This emotion tends to manifest itself in behavior that results in a negative effect on the pitch. For some reason or another, otherwise professional and competent world class players get caught up in this emotion and it ends up like Saturday. We let a bunch of losers who cannot compete with us on the pitch to get into our heads and we fail to accomplish the goal. In this case, we are playing for a birth in the CL. As we can see, this not only affects the players, but the coach as well who was tossed from this game just walking out the tunnel for the second half. I don't mind the emotion. It defines Roma and its fans. But when it results in losing focus then we have problem. We have seen evidence of this for years now.

As fans we love the emotion and the unqaulified love we have for the team and the reciprocal love the players show for the fans. In Rome, money still has not become a barrier between fan and player. There is a connection that cannot be appreciated in other cities. Listen, we do not win. Roma, is not considered an organization with a significant winning history. But why do we have such emotion, support and love for this team. They disappoint us year after year. They give us nothing in terms of a winning tradition. Yet here we are, every year, standing in full support of our lovable but competitve losers. The fans and the atmophere at the Olimpico is really unmatched. I don't say this because I have a bias, but even the pro-british broadcasters during the Arsenal match recognised this and said as much.

Three scudetto since 1927? Are you kidding me. One Coppa dei Campioni or CL final? In 1984 no less and we lost on penalty kicks. Really, I have been a Roma fan since I was old enough to remember. I guess 8 years old. That is 39 years. I sat in the Curva Nord, yes Nord, as a member of the Boys Roma Ultras founded by Antonio Bongi, along with the R.C. Aurelia because the Curva Sud did not become the Curva Sud for Roma fans until 1977. The Ultra movement was then in its infancy. Then came the merger of all the Ultra groups, C.U.C.S., Fedayn, la Fossa dei Lupi, Pantere and Guerriglieri, along with other small groups.

What have I seen since this time? Two scudetto and one loss in a european final in 1984. You can have the Coppa Italia. Nice, but I get no real pleasure out of winning that competition. I have seen legendary Roma players come and go. My favorite, my idol and the one of the few men that I can say I truly admire and worship: Ago Di Bartolomei, and he's been dead for 15 years. I can say I saw Bruno Conti, Sebino Nela, Roberto Pruzzo, Francesco Rocca, Giancarlo DeSisti and many others. I have seen owners come and go. The best in the modern era, even though he never saw his team win a scudetto, Gaetano Anzalone. Truly a man ahead of his time. He, before any other owner in Europe saw the where the sport was heading. He was the first to really market a team. Yes, he used nearly nude women to market Roma in the 70's but it was part of a vision that only he saw at the time.

Even then, Roma, as an organization was having financial problems. Anzalone knew you just could not count on ticket sales alone to finance a winning club. So, he was the one that marketed the lupo, the wolf. He chose the Trigoria as the home of the squad and built those facilities that we now associate with the club. He saw the future of merchandizing. Why do I say all of this? Because Anzalone knew what it would take to finance a winning club. I say this also because we have fallen so far off the vision of this great man that for all of his foresight, Roma, as an ongoing organization, has become nothing near what was contemplated by Anzalone. In fact, we lack the vision in an age where merchandising and marketing mean big money and serve to finance winning clubs around the world. This is our history, and what do we have to show for it? Nothing, few scudetti since Anzalone was the owner and he never experienced a scudetto. He sold the team to Dino Viola before our second scudetto.

Why do I say all of this? Why? Because I have seen a great vision for Roma. I saw it three decades ago. What I see now is so far astray from the original vision under the current ownership that it makes it impossible to have any confidence going forward into the future. What we have now is a broken organization. One that survives on limited funds because the personal business of the ownership has impacted the health and viability of the football club. I see no end to this continued languishing into mediocrity. I see no emphasis on development of Roman or Italian youth whom we throw away like a disposable razor. I see a failure of ownership to really to really take the step to create a winning organization. Sure, we have won alot of games over the past few years. But, what have we won? Where are we going? We have regressed. We have taken several steps backwards with what is now an aging team who cannot stay healthy with no money to create depth. It is a familiar story that we have seen since our last scudetto.

What does the future hold and where do we go from here? I suppose what I am saying is that we need a few world class players to come to Roma or we need to develop some players already in the system. We need some leadership to create a winning mentality. We need players who can focus on the goal, and not get into juvenile arguments with inferior opponents. We need professionalism and a determination to win. We need a complete change in mentality and focus. If we are to be a top club then we need to start acting like one and in my opinion that begins with ownership.

Vieni con me amore, sul grande raccordo anulare che ciconda la capitale...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-hlsK3n ... re=related

[romawi]

Well said, Gio. Ownership of this team needs to change, and it needs to happen soon. The thing is though, we've been saying this for years now and it doesn't seem like it will happen. This team has potential to be a top team, but for some reason our owners don't seem to know how to take advantage of that. Its not difficult really, I mean you don't have to do much to market a team like Roma.

I'm gonna have to disagree on the strength of the team. I think this is a pretty strong team we had. Not strong enough to win the scudetto, but good for a top 4 finish. We were a few players away from having a complete team after last season, and we did nothing in terms of bringing those players in. We have another shot at doing that again this year, but we will most likely fail to do anything about it. Really, aside from bringing in some of the players we already own (Curci, Rosi, Antunes, Okaka, and maybe Andreolli), we need three players to complete this team. If we can get a good backup CB, a MF, and a CF, then I think we will probably have what it takes to win the league, especially since we won't be playing in the CL. Three new players and bringing back some of the players we already own is what its going to take.

[Italiamia]

[vtec]

[red]

[Pauly W. Nuts]

[Pauly W. Nuts]