Parma FC is no more; its legacy lives on.
The Italian tragedy of the season has completed its fifth act, but the play continues under the name of Parma Calcio 1913 after having been bought over by Guido Barilla, head of the the international pasta giant of the same name.
The club has a history of rapports with Italian grocery firms: up to its insolvency in 2007, it was owned by dairy giants Parmalat, who are reported to be involved in the board of the new club alongside representatives of the engineering firm Dallara and sports brand Erreà. Also attending in the preliminary meetings was Marco Ferrari, a former Parma player himself.
After years of financial exploitation under former owner Leonardo Ghirardi, who built the club up to impressive heights after its insolvency in 2004 with a 6th place finish in 2013-14. Despite qualifying for the Europa League and boasting an impressive squad including Marco Parolo and Antonio Cassano, UEFA denied Ghirardi’s team a licence for European competition for unpaid taxes.
Despite Ghirardi’s claim that they had been penalised for €100 000 out of a €26m bill, he resigned and is now accused of fraudulent bankruptcy, having accumulated estimated debts worth around €110m. It is not nearly as much as the debts accrued – and subsequently resolved – under the reign of Parmalat, which were almost triple that sum.
The club, which had been operating under the name of Parma AC, was declared insolvent as a direct result of the parent company’s insolvency, but they had sufficient financial pull and sporting strength remaining to attract new investors. Ghirardi took over in 2007 after a few years of struggle in Serie A, despite Alberto Gilardino scoring 23 goals two seasons in a row, bringing him a €24m move but relegation for his team-mates for the first time since 1991.
During that purple patch, Parma won the UEFA cup twice, including a historic 2-1 aggregate victory over Juventus in 1995. Peaking at the same time as Serie A in general, their squad boasted a number of stellar names to be made at other clubs.
Parma XI vs Marseille UEFA Cup Final 1999 (by Zotteteen1 – Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons)
Hernan Crespo was one of the most prolific signings under Ghirardi when he returned at the end of his career, becoming Parma’s top scorer for the fourth time. The legendary Argentinian, whose playing career spanned the continent with spells at Chelsea, Inter, Milan, Lazio and River Plate, was initially “very, very” optimistic about the new president (click the link for a superb analysis of Parma FC’s demise within the framework of a struggling league via The Guardian).
Ghirardi’s takeover was the beginning of the end for Parma as they knew it. The club was sold for €30m and the new president invested the same amount again into the squad, but a suspiciously excessive flow of young players (a total of around 260 transfers in the summer of 2013) combined with an elusive approach to paying the players was the clue nobody wanted to see. The next two times the club was sold on, the fee was €1: it was a game of hot potato that was always going to be dropped eventually.
This season, the benches were put up for auction to the general public; they had to forfeit one match and postpone another; top-paid player Antonio Cassano resolved his contract halfway through the season in disgust; rumours flew around of unpaid gas bills. Relegation to Serie B was inevitable, taking an average of 0.5 points per game and conceding 75 goals in 38 games.
What was less of a matter of course was the re-auctioning of the club. When nobody stepped forward to relieve Parma of their debts, it was announced that they would be completely dissolved, their stadium and all their assets sold and they would be allowed to start from the amateur league Serie D.
Instead of taking this route, Guido Barilla and co. took advantage of a clause in the FIGC (Italian football federation) constitution which allowed local companies to take over immediately pending a bid, for which there was no competition.
In the pits of Parma’s despair, fans could regard this takeover as a bright light at the end of a fairly miserable tunnel with the new owner’s recent words conveying Parma Calcio 1913’s aspirations to stability, not necessarily success – probably exactly what is needed right now.
But while takeovers can often inspire excitement under normal circumstances – look at the milanista twitter hashtag #BeeLieve to see the ecstasy it can inspire – the gialloblù ultras will be forgiven for not leaping off their sofas in delight at the news, firstly because they have nowhere to go – the Stadio Ennio Tardini, their 90 year-old home ground, is being sold to the council.
Secondly, it would be the third takeover in a year, the first two of which were worth a measly €1 each and neither of which had any impact on the club’s downward spiral. Yet perhaps now, with nowhere lower to go and more importantly with local, emotionally invested investors instead of foreign multinational firms, any cynicism will be proven unfounded in the years to come.
Should the people of the city still be intent on tutting at the club’s ownership, they can literally take matters into their own hands with a crowdfunding scheme which is touted to raise a total of €500 000 – not much for a football club perhaps but consider that this is the amateur league. For as little as €500 (supposedly the minimum investment), any curious party could contribute towards a communal stake in the club, giving them the chance to have a say in their team’s management .
The slate has been wiped clean, and things can only get better. Parma Calcio 1913 seems to be a club based on local values, on local people and, crucially, on transparency. And even if we don’t see the yellow and blue crest in the top league again for many a year, football hipsters of the world – and, naturally, all the team at IFD – will be wishing this historic club a speedy recovery.
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