Factfile:
Founded: 1919
President: Marco Gatti
Manager: Luciano De Paola
Stadio: Leonardo Garilli
Nicknames: Piace, Biancorossi, Lupi and Papaveri
Welcome to the land beyond the wall, where Wildlings roam and each day is all about surviving until the next in a harsh barren landscape, with the ultimate goal of scaling an impossible peak in search of richer pastures. This is not what you think, this is Serie D.
Serie B has long held the moniker of being the purgatory of the Italian game, where big clubs have slipped and found themselves trapped without hope for years at a time. Yet it is a relative paradise compared to the dank bleak world of the fourth tier. A land where village clubs snap at the heels of men who once thought themselves to be among the elite but now find themselves discarded and forgotten by those they called equals.
It has been only 12 years since Piacenza Calcio beat the mighty AC Milan 4-2 on the final day of the Serie A season, but there fall since has seen this proud club suffer a fate worse than ever imaginable. Not only has their title of being the cities undisputed kingpins been snatched away they also lost the right to use the name that they proudly wore on their chest for 93 years.
Il Lupi (The Wolves) were founded in 1919 by a group of students and local workers and played their first ever season in Serie A in 1993 after beating Cosenza to confirm their promotion from Serie B the season before. Over the next 10 or so years the city that gave us the Inzaghi brothers (Filippo and Simone) fluctuated between Serie A and B albeit playing mostly at the highest level.
Famous for its staunch Italian centric outlook, the club did not field a foreign player until the 2000/2001 season, the club held its own at the peak of the Italian game when that very game was at the peak of its powers and considered to be the best in the world.
Good things never last though and with the slow decline of Calcio so came the decline of the Piace, relegated from Serie A in 2002 / 2003 and as of yet never to return the club spent the next eight years in Serie B. Teetering on the brink of financial meltdown the club were relegated again in 2010 / 2011 into Lega Pro.
Fortunes were not to improve and as performances on the pitch continued to make for bleak reading so did the balance books with the inevitable finally coming on the 22/3/2012, when the club was declared bankrupt. The team fulfilled its remaining obligations in the league before the club was officially disbanded on the 19/6/2012. The Biancorossi (The red and whites) were dead.
That same year not far from Piacenza little old Libertaspes Calcio were celebrating winning promotion from the Promozione to the Eccellenza little did they now that this was also to be the clubs last act of their existence.
Piacenza were just too big a club to be left fail and disappear off the map, but being re founded would more than likely mean having to start from the lowest level of the Italian league system the Terza Categoria, unless someone was able to come up with another way. It was simple really the other way was staring them in the face all along, why would the new consortium hoping to bring back Piacenza not just buy Libertaspes calcio and so they did. They then promptly changed the clubs name to Lupa Piacenza. Under Italian law when a club goes out of business they lose the right to use the clubs name for a number of years.
The re-founded Piacenza moved back into the Stadio Garilli, Piacenza’s traditional home, and started again in the Eccellenza Emilia-Romagna (The Eccellenza is Italy’s highest amateur level). It was to be a rude awakening for the club as they came face to face with tiny clubs from surrounding villages who treated Piacenza as their personal cup final.
The respect for the clubs famous name however meant they were still able to draw the best players from the surrounding region. That along with a loyal fan base, massive for this level, helped them to go on and win the league in a deal of comfort.
Over the summer of 2013 the club changed its name to Piacenza 1919 and was all set to take Serie D by storm. How hard could it be they were the mighty Piacenza for crying out loud teams at this level should be honoured to just to take the pitch against such an illustrious opponent, as it turned out it proved to be very hard as Piacenza struggled and never really got themselves involved in the title race.
What galled them even more than their own failings was seeing fellow city side Pro Piacenza sit proudly on top of the league. A position they were not to relinquish thus winning promotion to the Lega Pro for the first time in their history.
Like Piacenza, Pro Piacenza were founded in 1919 but were always a poor brother to their bigger sibling playing at the very lower levels. In fact the club was even Piacenza’s feeder team at one point in the 80s and now they were the club entering the professional ranks whilst Piacenza floundered at a semi-pro level.
It was unacceptable to the Piacenza hard core fan base, who refused to treat the two Derby matches that season as such. To them the only true Derbies were with Cremonese, Reggiana or Parma. They did not see Pro Piacenza as representatives of their city they were not true Piacentini.
Piacenza once more set themselves up for another attempt to escape the wilderness of the D this year, too little joy. Again they’ll once more have to visit an array of backwaters and conquer the local tribes if they want to be successful. It’s easier said than done ask Ancona and Messina not too long ago they were also in Serie A but only recently escaped Serie D after many years of trying.
The D cares nothing for reputation and history, it sinks it claws in deeper every year you fail to escape. Piacenza must release itself from its grip and climb the wall, whilst also knowing full well that the usurpers (Pro Piacenza) are using there stadium (Stadio Garilli) for their own needs.
Welcome to beyond the wall a land where only the insane visit voluntarily, Welcome to Serie D.
The post The Calcio nerd’s guide: Piacenza appeared first on Italian Football Daily.
from Italian Football Daily http://ift.tt/1Kka5jS
via IFTTT berita selengkapnya Follow @jadwalliga
