THE WOLF'S DEN - Tana dei Lupi II

[ASR1927]

I just posted links for the Coppa derby in the MM thread.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5&start=120

[pocari_fenrir]

Saw the match live and it looked like one we toughed out from start to finish. I think the scoreline was a bit fortuitous though as we showed them the difference of a larger side. Legitimate penalty, good tap-in from a spill and then outplayed on the counter. It didn't seem like we were overly sparkling in the match but the guys had a great game all around. Reviewed the player ratings from Goal.com and didn't quite agree with them. Don't understand why they're still on Taddei's ass when he did more with the ball than Perrotta did (tap-in aside). Both players look like bench material although i would question Perrotta's fitness in the future. I am convinced that Goal.com doesn't really watch most of the match. Juan not playing brightly AGAIN but De Rossi and Mexes showing us the great pair they were under Spalletti.

[RomaShield27]

[RomaShield27]

Wow, some nice results going our way today, we're now in third, three points behind Milan. Lets hope they don't get maximum points tonight, then, the cheatin cnuts.

Pocari, I also think the scoreline somewhat flattered us last night and we were quite fortuitous – indeed I was highly critical of our performance in the first-half when it seemed like Cagliari were the home team for large parts. I also thought the peno was very suspect, and still do. However, the second-half was a big improvement and overall you can't really argue with a 3-0 win at home to a decent side like Cagliari (despite Dumbadoni being in charge, they have some good players). I wasn't all that impressed with our starting line-up, though, and in particular the exclusion of Menez. Ranieri needs to stop changing our system and formation and build some consistency going forward.

On another note, I was quite happy to see the reactions of a lot of the boys last night. Sure, we were winning comfortably at crucial times, but when Totti – who had a a good game – came off he did so in a professional manner, and both Vucinic and Menez showed no signs of disrespect or petulance when they came on, and all three worked very hard when on the pitch. Totti even made a good sliding tackle at one stage to win the ball back. I wonder if Raneiri had a word or a meeting with them or with the team mid-week – maybe he did and it was highlighted and I just missed it in the media? – but there did seem to me to be a change for the better in the attitude of the players. Hopefully this is Ranieri asserting some control, or it could be the boys themselves realising they just have to cut out the bitching and the whining and just play football. Either way it was good to see and hopefully it continues.

[pocari_fenrir]

I didnt mind Menez and Vucinic sitting out most of this game. The commentator kept mentioning that we had a Coppa match with Juventus in midweek?? I didn't even realize how soon our Coppa games were coming up in the fixtures but if Ranieri wanted to grab hold of at least SOME silverware this season, we should spread the cover a bit. While it is frustrating to view these from a fan perspective, i think Ranieri needs to be more up-front about these tactical switches with the squad to avoid further petulance. It could clarify some priorities for our players on the pitch and have them sort out their differences with their footballing.

btw, i think Il Tempo nailed the player ratings best

[RomaShield27]

Oh that Coppa game is midweek? I forgot about that too. Wednesday evening, 19:45 GMT away to the Rubenti. Maybe Ranieri is employing a bit of rotation, but he does so much tinkering you just can't ever be sure what he's up to. A little bit more clarity wouldn't go astray alright.

So whats da bleedin craic with Mexes. Nothing done yet but lots of talk of agreeing a renewal soon. We need to get this sorted pronto.

http://romanews.eu/news.asp?pagID=74&newsID=10998
http://www.imperoromanista.it/notizia.php?newsID=5650
http://www.forzaroma.info/rassegna-stam ... usola.html

[red]

Juve-Roma is on Thursday, I think.

[RomaShield27]

Ah so she is, hy, thanks Red. I'll miss it so as I have football on Thursdays. Mickey mouse game anyway (in terms of it being against paltry opposition, of course, as opposed to it not being an important competition. The Coppa record shall be ours).

[red]

Roma should win, on the basis that Juve don't have anyone capable of scoring just now.

[Italiamia]

Does this look like a guy who wants to leave Roma:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvIjtCPDDbY


Oh, to be a footballer in these modern times. Talk about living the dream.

[RomaShield27]

Ha, thats a great video. How many footballers these days would spend their nights out with their friends signing their clubs anthems, I wonder? Even his moglie beside him was given it socks.

[pocari_fenrir]

is this light at the end of the tunnel?? or the welcoming mat to another shithole??

http://www.football-italia.net/jan25n.html

[ASR1927]

Very interesting and long article about Roma's finances and the clubs potential if sold to the right owner.


http://swissramble.blogspot.com/2011/01 ... -roma.html

[ASR1927]

According to forzaroma and all the usual Roma sites the American group Unicredit is meeting with in New York is headed by Thomas Di Benedetto. He is apparently worth $640 million himself. Here is an executive profile I found of him.
http://investing.businessweek.com/busin ... ONIX%20INC

It seems Unicredit want to remain a minority holder of AS Roma.

Below is the article from forzaroma.info. If anyone could possibly translate the gist of it I would appreciate it.


(Milano Finanza - C. Augelli) - Si chiama Thomas R. Di Benedetto, americano, 61 anni, di Boston. È lui che si è innamorato della As Roma qualche mese fa e ha deciso di mettersi a capo di un gruppo di «amici milionari» per portare a casa quel deal che nel 2008 era sfuggito a George Soros.
Sotto una New York imbiancata dalla neve e ai piani altissimi di un grattacielo che si affaccia su Park Avenue, potrebbe essersi scritta una delle pagine più importanti per il destino della As Roma. Da una parte Paolo Fiorentino e Piergiorgio Peluso di Unicredit, con Roberto Cappelli, l'avvocato di fiducia, e dall'altra Thomas Di Benedetto con i suoi advisor finanziari e l'avvocato Mauro Baldissoni, dello Studio Tonucci. Se, come pare, l'incontro, che mentre andiamo in stampa è ancora in corso, avrà esito positivo, quello che doveva essere un semplice meeting interlocutorio potrebbe invece portare ad una svolta decisiva nel destino della squadra della Capitale.
Del resto a Unicredit il progetto sembrato talmente serio e finanziariamente strutturato da decidere di rimanere nella nuova proprietà con una quota di minoranza. Per diversi mesi il nome di Di Benedetto è stato tenuto segreto, per evitare, come è successo in passato che la trattativa potesse fallire. Ma chi è questo signore di origini italiane? Partner dal 1978 dei Boston Red Sox è stato uno degli investitori che ha portato la squadra dalle serie minori allo sport professionistico. Una importante esperienza nel settore sportivo, ma anche nei fondi di investimento, nel marketing, nel settore dei media e nello sviluppo di progetti edilizi di alto valore. Un professionista dello sport, anzi del management sportivo. Sposato con cinque figli, vive tra Miami e Boston e adesso potrebbe dover prendere casa a Roma. Presidente del Boston International Group dal 1983, presidente del Junction Investors, chairman del board di Jefferson Watermann, ha trascorso quasi tutta la sua vita a sviluppare progetti di altissimo livello legati allo sport e al business sportivo. Ora si è convinto che la As Roma, per lui e per un ristretto gruppo di imprenditori in alcuni settori chiave, dal marketing al real estate possa essere il futuro.

[ASR1927]

Update: From La Gazzetta dello Sport.

American dream for Roma Unicredit in New York for talks

The banking institution's top brass are in the States to wrap up a deal with the consortium that has put forward the most convincing proposal. The bank may stay on as a minority shareholder. Baldini and Sabatini expected to feature in the club's new hierarchy, but not Rosella Sensi, who says: "A great future lies ahead"


ROME, 25 January 2011 - "I hope, but I'm sure, that a great future lies ahead for Roma. I hope the work we have done in the last 18 years will continue and bear fruit." That is the wish of Roma president Rosella Sensi, who is set to step down as soon as the sale of the club is completed. A club with which Rosella has a long and deep relationship, as she recalled speaking to Italian channel Radio2 about the Sensi era that began with her father: "When Roma lost we weren't allowed out in the evening. When they won, we could ask him for a treat on Monday. Have I ever had a boyfriend who was a Lazio fan? I only found out afterwards. And I was never able to tell my dad." Now it seems the club's recent ups and downs are drawing to an end.

the promised land — They landed at dusk, just as the sun was setting over the Hudson and Manhattan was emptying to get dinner ready. Rome was already tucked up in bed and about to start dreaming the American dream, hoping that this time it might come true. UniCredit's top brass - Chief Operating Officer Paolo Fiorentino, Head of Investment Banking Italy Piergiorgio Peluso, and Roberto Cappelli, a lawyer from Studio Grimaldi - have been in New York since yesterday evening. Today, in the offices of an investment bank in Midtown, they will meet the US investors ready to buy out Roma football club.


The banking institution negotiating the sale of Roma. Reuters
final sprint — It's a meeting that could be the final, decisive stage. UniCredit have been negotiating for months with the American consortium, which presented what they consider to be the most convincing of all the offers they received. But the due diligence carried out on Roma's accounts has put the Americans' enthusiasm to the test. Taking over a club with a debt of 35-40 million, especially with UEFA's Financial Fair Play on the horizon, is not a matter to be taken lightly. The need for such heavy investment immediately after taking over must have caused them to consider things more carefully, and that is why Unicredit is prepared to leave some of its capital in the club and stay on as a minority shareholder - without Rosella Sensi - and decide at a later date whether to keep the shares or sell them on to a Roman investor. It's an option that appeals to the Americans and it is one of the topics that will be discussed today. On the table will be the work carried out by the two parties' advisers, Rothschild for UniCredit and PricewaterhouseCoopers for the Americans. Mauro Baldissoni, a lawyer from Studio Tonucci who was also involved in Soros' attempted buyout three years ago, will also be at the negotiating table on the buyers' side. Assuming the last few sticking points are resolved today, another meeting may follow quickly with the final offer. We're into the final sprint: the deadline remains 31 January.

clear plans — The team of investors is a mixed bunch: head of the group is a Bostonian and ex-shareholder of Red Sox baseball club, while the other members hail from a variety of backgrounds, from telecommunications to construction companies and security firms. They have a long-term project: to turn Roma into a modern "media company" built on the team's on-field performances but one that will eventually exploit the Roma brand - marketing, merchandising, a stadium fully owned by the club (not a conditio sine qua no), but also development of the club's youth sector with a Barcelona-style philosophy overseen by Zeman. The club's future management structure also seems clearly defined, with Franco Baldini as general manager and Walter Sabatini as sporting director, while the dream names for the role of coach are Guardiola and Ancelotti. As his colleagues were flying to New York, here in Rome UniCredit Chief Executive Officer Federico Ghizzoni announced: "We're working hard for the good of Roma." And Michel Platini was forced to clarify: "UniCredit have never put pressure on me to favour Roma in the Champions League." Bar talk. The real match is being played in a New York skyscraper.

[romawi]

I don't like the fact that we're not being told exactly who these people are. Other than that, the new plans sound too good to be true.

[maro]

Perhaps, finally, this really is the real deal but I just can't be bothered attending too closely to anything until something's actually finalised. I can't help feeling there are still a few more twists and turns around the corner.

[romawi]

I'm not expecting anything to happen until the summer when it will, in true Roma fashion, negatively affect our transfer campaign. They're saying a January 31 deadline, but as you said, there will still be a few more twists and turns around the corner, and I wouldn't be shocked if things drag on way beyond that date. This is Roma after all.

[RomaShield27]

Whats that, we're close to being bought, a deal is gonna happen...!?!??!?! LIKE OMG@!£!*&@!

Meh... like the lads, its hard to believe or trust any of this stuff until something concrete actually happens. We've seen it all many times before.

You all know my skepticism toward foreign ownership so without knowing much about this story or the people involved I'd just like to say a big 'no way fuck off ye foreign bastardos keep yissis'r dolla's and keep Roma Italian'.

Who are these blokes? Who is this American consortium? Who is this Thomas Richard Di Benedetto? Can any of our residents American's shed more light? I've read he has also some part of NESV, the organisation which bought the Cunts, and it all sounds like one big investment scheme or franchise operation or something suspecty like that. Some of it sounds promising altight ("Unicredit is prepared to leave some of its capital in the club and stay on as a minority shareholder - without Rosella Sensi - and decide at a later date whether to keep the shares or sell them on to a Roman investor."), and some of it sounds horrendous ("turn Roma into a modern "media company"). WTF like.

[Jamoldo]