Sampdoria: A downfall like no other

The Serie B regular season drew to a close on Tuesday evening with ten matches all kicking off at the same time. But one ended slightly later than the other nine, the match in Castellammare di Stabia, where Sampdoria needed an away win at Juve Stabia to have a decent hope of avoiding relegation.

If ninety timid minutes weren’t enough to convince you that Samp were doomed, the absence of real drama in injury time said more than words could. Their chance had passed them by ten minutes earlier when M’Baye Niang’s timid effort rolled into Demba Thiam’s arms. 

A year on from saving Empoli, the enigmatic striker produced a moment that some might use to scapegoat Sampdoria’s relegation but, realistically, the ship had sailed. It was merely a moment that manifested the lack of direction that has decayed this club from the top down. Not just this season, but across several years and different regimes.

When the final whistle blew at Romeo Menti on Tuesday, the presiding feeling in the away end appeared to be that of fate. The ever-present Blucerchiati fans had once again travelled in numbers, hoping to defibrillate their club into producing a performance worthy of their support. But it wasn’t to be.

While the relegation from Serie A in 2022/23 prompted anger and protests from Samp fans, this latest failure provoked disappointment, not anger. Two years ago, it was club owner and president Massimo Ferrero that was to blame, having racked up considerable debts and dawdled when presented with reasonable opportunities to sell the club to someone, anyone who looked remotely bothered about running a football club.

The group who took over from him in summer 2023, Gestio Capital, promised great things, but they never materialised and it feels as though the approach of over promising while under delivering meant Sampdoria went into the final day of this season with trepidation rather than anticipation.

Gestio Capital - led by Matteo Manfredi and Andrea Radrizzani, initially - benefited from overwhelming public support after ‘saving’ Sampdoria from bankruptcy and presenting themselves as saviours. Initial signs were positive, agreeing a manageable debt restructuring plan while also hiring Andrea Pirlo as manager.

However, they spent much of last season in the bottom half, even in the relegation zone at times. Behind the scenes, Radrizzani had exited stage right, despite being the face of the previous summer’s takeover, and things were going a little pear shaped.

A remarkable run in the final ten matches of 2023/24 saw Sampdoria reach the Serie B play-offs, where they lost to Palermo. Last summer prompted a shift within the boardroom, as Manfredi - the ‘new’ president - replaced key staff hired by Radrizzani with those he preferred and they began an aggressive recruitment strategy that saw them sign experienced talent like Lorenzo Venuti, Massimo Coda, Simone Romagnoli and Gennaro Tutino. 

Along with a resurgent Andrea Pirlo at the helm, everything pointed towards a run at the top four this year. After all, they did have the second largest wage bill in the division this season. 

But it wasn’t to be. Pirlo was sacked after three winless matches to start the season and his replacement, Andrea Sottil, didn’t even make it to the end of 2024. Leonardo Semplici came in, a move that might have been impressive eight years ago. 

More recruitment came in January, players with Serie A and B experience as the club still aimed to reach the promotion play-offs. Alessio Cragno, the experienced Serie A goalkeeper arrived from Monza when Samuele Perisan - their fourth starting ‘keeper of 2024/25 - suffered a season ending injury on his debut after arriving from Empoli. 

Cragno was joined by Giuseppe Sibilli and Remi Oudin, two attacking midfielders destined to reignite the spark in attack after Gennaro Tutino suffered his own serious injury, thus denying him the chance to match his total of twenty goals from last season.

The theme of injury is a recurrent one in Sampdoria’s season and whether that’s down to bad fortune or a greater issue in physical conditioning is hard to know. During Radrizzani’s brief tenure as president, an eight-match winless run prompted him to call the medical and fitness staff in for an ‘emergency meeting’ to discuss the player’s condition and request an explanation as to why there had been so many injuries.

But that was last season, under a different coach, president and considerably different playing staff for the most part. Injuries happen and Samp failed to deal with them when they came along. 

Pietro Accardi had his first summer as sporting director after taking over at the end of 2023/24. He had to have been happy with the work he’d put in. Sampdoria had signed two of the three top goalscorers in last season’s Serie B in Tutino and Coda. The gritty Romagnoli and Venuti commanded respect as defenders.

But Romagnoli tore his Achilles after eleven matches, Tutino’s injuries are documented, Venuti barely made an impact and Coda’s legs have finally started to give out just as he equalled Stefan Schwoch’s record of 135 Serie B goals. 

Last season’s play-off run was built on big performances by Patjim Kasami and Fabio Borini as they supported striker Manuel De Luca. The former two have little more than 600 minutes between them this season while De Luca joined play-off bound Cremonese in the summer as Accardi felt he’d upgraded the attack with Tutino and Coda.

Alas, no. But you have to wonder if their marquee summer signings had any hope of making a real impact when they’re faced with four different coaches across the season. Sottil appeared to have found the formula, winning four of his first six matches but found himself out of a job after going six without a win in early December. Semplici didn’t win any of his first seven, and was only victorious twice in sixteen matches.

The damage was done by the time Alberico Evani took over as part of what I’m calling the ‘Samp Avengers’, the group of club heroes that arrived in April to save the club. Evani sat in the dugout with assistant Attilio Lombardo, while Roberto Mancini appeared as some sort of consigliere to Manfredi in the stands and boardroom. It was all a bit Roy of the Rovers, a bit desperate.

In the end, Sampdoria did something no other big club in Italy has: suffer relegation to the third tier on the pitch. Napoli, Parma and Fiorentina have all been there through bankruptcy at one stage or another, but none fell so far through sporting failure.

However, bankruptcy has been the club’s sword of Damocles for the past two years and the lack of transparency in the club’s accounts and ownership means Sampdoria fans are likely to remain in the dark until the deadlines come around to submit financial viability information to Covisoc, the regulatory body.

The millions flowing into the club from Singapore, through Tey Wei Jin and associates, it will be interesting to see if that tap keeps running. Without it, the immediate future of Sampdoria would have been much more uncertain given the estimated figure is around €40m.

But will they want to continue shovelling cash into the financial furnace that is Serie C? And then again to get them out of Serie B? If €40m got them relegated to the third tier, what would a return to Serie A cost?

Who knows. For now, everything remains in the dark to those who matter most: the fans. They’ve followed their team up and down the country, turned out in numbers at Luigi Ferraris for all nineteen home matches in this woeful season and will probably continue to do so next year in the third tier. There’s no return on investment for them, unless you consider the emotional side. And even then.

Sampdoria’s fans will remain even after Manfredi and his friends from Singapore scuttle off onto their next business venture. They daren’t leave it as the wreckage it currently appears to be as football fans - especially in Italy - rarely forgive and they certainly don’t forget.