City Football Group and Palermo: The Weight of Expectation
As a Leeds United fan, I’m familiar with the burden of expectation and what it must be doing to Palermo right now.
A city of around a million people, a club with European football in its recent history. It’s no wonder that City Football Group (CFG) bought the club in the wake of its promotion back to Serie B in 2022.
For Palermo and its rather large fanbase, this probably felt like a seminal moment in the club’s future.
An imminent return to Serie A. Money flowing into the club. A helping hand from their newfound friends from Manchester via Abu Dhabi.
Palermo fans may point to Girona, their footballing step-brothers, who look set to play Champions League football for the first time in their history, largely thanks to CFG’s influence.
Two years later, the Rosanero find themselves limping into Serie B’s incredibly competitive playoffs; and few would have them as favourites to reach the promised land.
So what, if anything, has gone wrong? It would be wrong to accuse them of complacency or having made a series of recruitment errors, neither of which the modern CFG are known for.
For all their (alleged) faults, they have made a habit of harvesting a bounty of talent for the clubs within their web.
Palermo fans may point to Girona, their footballing step-brothers, who look set to play Champions League football for the first time in their history, largely thanks to CFG’s influence.
However, that journey to the top was not without its moments of doubt and pain. Relegation, multiple underwhelming seasons in the second tier; a tale that will sound all too familiar to those in the Sicilian capital.
Reading the comments under Palermo’s posts announcing their shock 4-3 loss to Pisa on Easter Monday, one could be forgiven for not realising this was a team that had been playing in Serie D four years prior.
The manager and sporting director resigned in protest at CFG' transfer strategy.
A club of Palermo’s standing should never grace Italy’s third tier, never mind the semi-professional Serie D, but the same could be said of Parma and Bari, two sides who befell the same fate.
In May 2019, despite qualifying for the Serie B playoffs, Palermo were relegated to Serie C by FIGC, the game’s national governing body, who cited “administrative irregularities”. As always in these scenarios, the financial situation failed to add up.
Salaries had not been paid for three months and the €500,000 fine imposed by FIGC went unpaid, and before long, Palermo declared bankruptcy.
It had been rumoured two years previous that then owner Maurizio Zamparini was keen to sell up as the club were tumbling towards the abyss, and perhaps the instability that followed sealed their fate.
Having reformed in Serie D under the stewardship of Dario Mirri, they returned to the second tier in June 2022 having come through the brutal 28 team Serie C playoffs, powered by a 29 goal season from Matteo Brunori, their current club captain.
Both summer transfer windows since CFG’s arrival saw transfer activity that could be considered significant by Serie B standards, as the club built a team around Brunori’s goals.
CFG’s aggressive strategy ticked off manager Silvio Baldini and sporting director Renzo Castagnini in July 2022, who both resigned in protest at players being signed without their approval.
CFG were overly patient, based on a zealous belief that their recruitment strategy and footballing philosophy would be enough to conquer one of Europe’s most attritional leagues.
Baldini’s replacement, his ex-player Eugenio Corini, arrived with the memory of promotion to Serie A at Brescia three years earlier and set about integrating CFG’s signings and playing football the ‘City’ way. In essence, 4-3-3.
Having just missed out on the playoffs in 2022-23, the pressure on Corini to deliver promotion will have been a huge weight to carry throughout this season, and it played its part in seeing him sacked a few weeks ago.
Despite being comfortably inside the playoff places, Corini’s job security has been non-existent since winning only once in an eight-game run between October and December 2023.
A late Jacopo Segre winner against Pisa at La Favorita, the iconic home of Palermo, saved Corini’s job, but it was the aforementioned 4-3 loss in the return game that sealed his fate.
While it would have been easy to sack Corini back in December, prior to the first Pisa game, it may have been a case that CFG were overly patient, based on a zealous belief that their recruitment strategy and footballing philosophy would be enough to conquer one of Europe’s most attritional leagues.
It almost worked, however, as another aggressive transfer window in January brought new hope of automatic promotion.
Venezia was likely the last chance for Corini to convince his bosses that he could take them higher.
Along with defender Salim Diakité and winger Chaka Traoré came Filippo Ranocchia, an attacking midfielder from Juventus.
Four million euros, a fee only surpassed in Serie B this year by Como’s purchase of Gabriel Strefezza for double. A statement of intent.
After four goals and an assist in his first eight games, Ranocchia suffered a muscle strain before Palermo’s crucial home game against Venezia last month. A win in front of 27,000+ at La Favorita would have sent them into the March international break in contention for automatic promotion.
However, Venezia floored them with a heavyweight of their own, as the league’s top scorer Joel Pohjanpalo added another two goals to his tally along the way to a 3-0 win.
The Pisa loss came after the international break, prompting the end of Corini’s time in pink. Palermo lead 2-0 and 3-2 before succumbing to defeat that day, a fourth loss in five games and proof that Venezia was likely the last chance for the manager to convince his bosses that he could take them higher.
His replacement, Michele Mignani, must right the ship in time for the playoffs. Draws against Sampdoria and Cosenza do not inspire hope that this is a team reborn, but one must allow him some time.
This is a league that cannot be tamed, and that wealth certainly does not guarantee success.
A switch to a back three has prompted a total shift in role and responsibility for most of this Palermo side, which still looks rather fragile, having surrendered the lead in both of Mignani’s games.
Five games left to arrest the slide and get everyone fit for the playoffs, especially Ranocchia. Starting with Parma this Friday, Mignani must light a fire inside his team.
He came agonisingly close to consecutive promotions with Bari last season, taking them to the playoff final and leading by virtue of finishing higher in the league table, before Leonardo Pavoletti scored Cagliari’s winner in the dying embers of injury time.
Presumably, nobody told CFG that Serie B would be easy; and if they did, they were lying. This year’s edition looks a little like Squid Game, a battle to the end with many casualties along the way.
Cittadella briefly occupied 2nd place in early January, now they sit outside the playoffs. Sampdoria spent the first half of this season in the relegation zone, yet currently occupy the final playoff place (8th).
This is a league that cannot be tamed, and that wealth certainly does not guarantee success.
The expecting Palermo fans will demand better, and likely demand promotion from their club this season, but the realistic neutral would be very unlikely to put their money on a Sicilian success.
Even Como, who came into the division with Palermo in 2021, have had to spend more than double the outlay offered up by CFG, only to find themselves a mere three points ahead of Venezia in 2nd.
Palermo have come a long way since declaring bankruptcy in 2019, thanks to a little help from their new friends, but they clearly have some way to go before they can call this project a success.
Perhaps they can kick into gear in time for the playoffs, but they will have Catanzaro plus two of Venezia, Como and/or Cremonese to contend with.
The expecting Palermo fans will demand better, and likely demand promotion from their club this season, but the realistic neutral would be very unlikely to put their money on a Sicilian success.
CFG bought into one of Italy’s more unique clubs, in one of the nation’s biggest cities, and now more than a million people expect. Time to deliver.
