THE WOLF'S DEN - Tana dei Lupi II

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[red]

[Carlo Romano]

[pocari_fenrir]

[vtec]

[RomaShield27]

Busy today, few things...

With regard to the prospect of facing Ibrahimovic, I have to say I'm not all that concerned with him. Of course he is a threat and he is playing very well this season, but we can get Mexes to do a man-marking job on him, much like how Red said Chiellini did against him, and I'm confident that Philippe can get in his face and up his arse enough to nullify his threat (and as long as Philippe keeps his temper under control, of course). I'd be more worried about Robinho, to be honest, coming up against and running at Cassetti.

On Totti's future in the club, Carlo's point of "who knows just what a new management may decide on?" is a very relevant and interesting one. As we know, there is a good chance that our new management will be foreign owners like the Aabar group, and they could have a big part to say in how long Totti keeps on playing for. If Aabar bought the club and had a direct influence in the running of the club like we've seen with many of the foreign-owned clubs in the Premiershit, they could remove Ranieri at their whim and install a foreign manager of their choice, who could in turn not be sympathetic to Totti's age and reputation as a domestic manager would and could deem him surplus to requirements. People may argue that any potential Aabar ownership would have someone who knows Roma better (like Baldini) than they do to run the club, and while that may be true, there is just a big a chance of them sticking their noses in with issues like the manager and doing what I suggested above. We've seen in at Citeh when they fired Mark Huges and more recently we've seen in Blackburn when their new Indian owners inexplicably fired Big Sam.

Also on Totti, I was thinking why he takes the approach of been a stroppy fuck when he is dropped from the team. We've seen him a good few times this season kicking up a fuss and even last Saturday against Bari he was very petulant when he went straight to the dressing room for the last 10 minutes instead of sitting on the bench, and in the future and next season when he will likely have less a part to play you have to suspect his reactions will get worse. I realise he wants to go 'out on a high' (by winning the CL ahem) and said he will retire when he is no longer a key player, but I think its a pity he is going down this road as a player with such magical ability and pure talent as he does is a very rare thing and he would be well capable of playing until late into his 30's, but in a more limited role. The likes of Giggs and Scholes at ManPoo are great examples. Both are 36 (Giggs may be 37 even?) and yet are still key players for United, but both realise they no longer have the fitness to be in the team each and every week yet have a big part to play for United coming on the bench or being used in rotation. Totti could also do something like this for us, I think, but because of the reputation Totti has built as the greatest Romanista in our history he perhaps can't see himself like this, which is very unfortunate, for us and for him.

[ASR1927]

More vague info about the sale of AS Roma. From Football-Italia

Developments in plans to sell Roma.

The bank in charge of selling Roma has let it be known that a number of clients are 'very interested' in buying the club.

Unicredit currently have a majority stake in Roma after agreeing a debt resettlement package with the Sensi family in the summer.

Rosella Sensi is still nominally Roma's President but the club has been up for sale for nearly six months.

Unicredit have used Rothschild to find a buyer for Roma and it appears that their search has generated a great deal of interest.

Yesterday Italpetroli, the holding company run by the Sensi family, released a statement detailing that the club's accounts had been handed over to a 'limited group' of interested parties for due diligence.

Piergiorgio Peluso, the person responsible for Roma's sale at Unicredit, admitted as much this afternoon.

“There are [buyers] for Roma and they are very interested,” he said. “They are all doing the due diligence.”

Asked about the secretive way in which Roma's sale is being handled, Peluso replied: “That's absolutely not true. It's an absolutely transparent process. They are doing an in-depth examination [of the accounts].

“It's a complex operation and this explains the postponement which is also linked to the Christmas holidays.

“Anyway, there are buyers and they are very interested,” he concluded.


So the gist of the article is that there are people "interested" in buying Roma but proceedings will be delayed till after Christmas.

[Giacomo]

[RomaShield27]

Of course, but thats a different matter. My point was that a common trait of foreign ownership is for them to stick their noses into matters they have no knowledge in simply because they can.

[stefano]

I think that tends to be a common trait in ownership at large.

[RomaShield27]

Yeah I know, but I think its fair to say that your local club owner in Italy or England or wherever would know more about football in that country than, say, some Sheiks or Americans or Indians. I had to laugh today when I read the reason that the new Blackburn owners fired Sam Allardyce because they believe the club should be fourth or fifth in the league.

[Giacomo]

Glazers have Ferguson, Hicks/Gillet had Benitez, Abramovich had Mourinho and has Ancelotti. All excellent coaches.

In all likelihood, no foreign owner = Roma becomes a mid-table club.

[pocari_fenrir]

Well, when you have foreign ownership, it's people with huge payloads that dump funds into the club. The thing is, they expect results and expect them fast. If things don't work, the easiest scapegoat is the coach, not the players. This could hurt Roma because im sure we all know by now that Roma's trouble was never entirely on the coach, but the players themselves. For some reason we have trouble with motivation, being clinical or losing our heads. It would be best if we can get somebody that can get into our players' heads and motivate them, be it coach, owner, sporting director or caretaker.

[Giacomo]

More than anything Roma needs more and wiser investment in the squad. Roma does not generate sufficient revenue to sustain large enough investment, so all it can do is hope for an owner who can re-capitalise by injecting money.

However, re-capitalisation will not be possible from summer 2012 onwards, or rather it will be but in decreasingly limited amounts until 2018 when it will no longer be possible, so the challenge is to generate more revenue, which requires three developments: new stadium owned by the club, improved branding and better merchandising. I would be suprised if there is an interested Italian buyer able to finance this.

[RomaShield27]

Why would recapitalisation no longer be possible in the future? What exactly does that mean? To be honest I'm not sure what the term 'recapitalisation' means when associated with Roma. I agree that Roma needs a new stadio of its own, and the same could be said for all Italian clubs across the board really. It is the best way of generating revenue, as a more modern and comfortable stadio would bring more fans. I can't see why any potential Italian buyer, or any current club owners for that, matter, would not be able to finance a deal a to build a new stadio. Clubs all over Europe have done it without being hugely rich. Improved branding and marketing and better merchandising is certainly needed at Roma, without question, but I don't see how or why you'd need rich foreign ownership to do that. Roma could hire my 11-year-old nephew who is a whiz on the computer and it would rapidly improve its branding and marketing around the globe.

Vucinic at all yesterday and is still suffering with a thigh strain and so remains a doubt for Saturday, which is not good. Hopefully he'll be recovered enough to be able to play some part. He would be an important player along with Menez on the counter-attack against them which is often our best chance of victory in this fixture. He would also come up against Abate at right-back who he could skin several times over before the he knew what woz goin on. Don't think JS is going to recover in time, but Riise is back to 100% fitness and will be there. Now all we need is Cici bombin down that right-wing and we'll win easy.

[vtec]

[vtec]

[RomaShield27]

[ASR1927]

From goal.com just to counterbalance the Anchelotti has an agreement with Roma post I made back a bit....

Carlo Ancelotti Claims He Will Stay At Chelsea Until 2012

Chelsea coach Carlo Ancelotti has excluded a quick return to Serie A, insisting he will remain in London for at least two years and help guide his team back to the pinnacle.

Ancelotti has come under scrutiny following Chelsea's poor run of form. Reports in Italy suggested Roma were tracking the coach, who is a club and fan favourite following his time there as a midfielder.

However, no room to move is in view for the coach as he has pledged his allegiance at Stamford Bridge.

Speaking to Il Corriere dello Sport, Ancelotti said: "Will I stay until 2012? At the moment until 2012. Have I spoken with Roman Abramovich over a new deal? Not yet. Now is the time to reshape Chelsea in the Premiershit and I can assure the team is better compared to what it was some time ago."

The former Milan coach believes a long line of injuries have led the Blues machine to veer off course. But Ancelotti feels they have not been totally thrown off the Premiershit yoke.

"What is our problem? Injuries. We lost players like tender Alex, John Terry, Michael Essien, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba. Replacing them was not easy," he said.

"Trouble in the dressing room? I would say there isn't any and the relationships are good."


As always with these things in football... God only knows what is true.





[Deini]

We must be really in dire straits when Unicredit is going to pay the loans.

http://www.vocegiallorossa.it/?action=r ... izia=11088

Saturday the game against Milan. Shame I'm going to miss that one . Mother celebrating her 50th birthday.