As the Juventus players left the pitch in Munich on Wednesday night after a soul crushing defeat. It is not beyond the realms of possibility that somewhere in the small Ligurian town of Novi Ligure, Piero Lo Gatto got up off his seat and went over to turn off the TV.
Who knows, maybe in that moment, after watching multi-millionaires play the game at the highest level, his mind may have turned to what awaits him and his players this coming Sunday. For it is a big weekend for Lo Gatto and his team. One that pales in comparison to what took place at the futuristic Allianz Arena, yet perhaps lacking no less in importance.
The week before Lo Gatto’s, Novese outfit had been whacked 6-1 by Caronnese in Serie D Group A. Three of the goals coming in the opening 14 minutes leaving the rest of the match to be nothing more than a training session.
The result left Novese 19th in the table and occupying the second of two automatic relegation places. There nearest rivals Fezzanese remain two points above them but even if they do manage to catch them they are still a further 16 points back of 14th place Ligorna 1922 who sit just outside the relegation play-off positions, with only seven matches remaining.
Amazingly the defeat was not the low point of the weekend for the Biancocelesti. The following day seven players decided enough was enough and left the club citing the fact that their salaries had reportedly not been paid for months. This at a level where money has the potential to make and break families.
Novese are a club edging ever closer to the precipice, a journey that has been in process for quite a while now but one that has been sped up since November of last year. Around this time the club which had been under the ownership of Emanuela Giacomello and Renato Traverso was sold to a Raffaele Retucci who took control of 80% of the club’s shares. Not much is known of Retucci other than the fact that he is a director of a small company and is from the southern town of Castellammare di Stabia.
Getting back to the sale of the club and the word sale itself which is nothing more than a misnomer as Retucci took over the club pretty much free of charge but was saddled with the club’s hefty sums of debt. The remaining 20% of the shares continued in the hands of Renato Traverso.
As things continued to go from bad to worse on the pitch it became even clearer that things off it were worse than what many had initially thought. On Tuesday the 23rd of February 2016 the club’s offices in the Piazza Dellepiane in the town were raided by the Guardia di Finanza.
Witnesses at the scene reported seeing the Police leaving the building with boxes of folders. Minority shareholder Traverso was also asked to attend the scene while the raid was being carried out as the whereabouts of Retucci could not be ascertained.
When quizzed on the nature of the search Traverso stated that he did not know the reason behind it but did say that it was accounting documents that were being taken. The club was in complete disarray, rumours began to spread that some foreign consortium was set to invest in the club. However, their knight in shining armour has so far gone no further than being a rumour.
The Mayor of Novi Ligure Rocchino Muliere has even taken it upon himself to investigate further what is going on at the club. As for the players on the pitch it would be crazy to say that the financial matters are not effecting them.
Two days before the raid on the club’s premises they had earned a well-deserved point drawing 2-2 at home to Ligorna. In the aftermath of that match Lo Gatto speaking to the local press said “We are alone with no company (Society) but we have decided to continue until someone comes forward. We will play with heart and we will play to honour the city of Novi Ligure, and above all we will play to win.”
Honourable words they may be but this is a team that has been let down and those that do end up walking away like the seven who done so only last week are not to blame and their honour by no means should be questioned.
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94 years ago this tiny northern club did something truly remarkable, they won the top flight of Italian football for the one and only time in its history. Even all these years later it remains an immense source of pride to the fans. The clubs crest still has on it in the top right corner the small shield given to league winners with 1922 written above.
That title success gives them the right to take their place on the Roll of honour beside the likes of Juventus, Milan and Inter and nobody can ever take that away from them.
The Old lady’s dream of European success is done for this season but we all know they will be back again in hunt come next year. As for Novese when they take to the pitch away to Derthona this weekend their future is all together less clear.
The great thing about calcio though is that the greats refuse to just die off, refuse to go down without a fight. And come this Sunday another great of the Italian game will go and do exactly the same. Sure it may not be the champions league on a Wednesday night but Novese will face their fight like the champions they are.
As Juve walked from the pitch in Munich their battle gallantly fought but ultimately unfruitful, some 580km away the men and women of Novese donned their own armour in preparation for an all to different battle. The battle for survival.
The post Novese: Kings of Calcio never die appeared first on IFD.
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