Roma could pave the way for foreign owners in Italy
The coming week could have profound significance for Italian football with Roma expected to start formal talks which could result in them becoming the first major Italian club to end up in foreign hands.
Roma might not be the first top-flight Italian club to have foreign owners but they will be by far the biggest, having resided in Serie A for all but one of the 78 years of their existence and having been the champions on three occasions, most recently in 2001.
Another Italian club, Vicenza, were under the control of ENIC, who own Tottenham Hotspur, between 1999 and 2005, and they spent some of that time in Serie A.
Former striker Vincenzo Montella has recently been put in charge of the Roma team. Photo: Getty
In recent years Roma have been the most prominent challenger to Inter Milan's supremacy in Serie A, finishing second during four of the last five seasons, but they have been in dire financial difficulty for over a decade.
At the end of last season, Roma owed various banks in the region of £340m, prompting the money men to demand their cash back rather than allow the club to live on the never-never.
Roma president Rosella Sensi, whose father Franco bought the club in 1993, effectively mortgaged the family petroleum company Italpetroli to the club's principal creditor UniCredit to clear the debts.
Since September, even though Italpetroli and the Sensi family still hold a controlling stake in Roma, it is UniCredit who calls the shots and they have been looking for a buyer, with the asking price believed to be around £127m.
Five potential buyers apparently came forward but the one that UniCredit chose to deal with was the American businessman Thomas Di Benedetto, a part owner of Fenway Sports Group, which is the parent company of the Boston Red Sox and Liverpool.
Di Benedetto has Italian origins and his ancestors came from Abruzzo, which, not surprisingly, he has been doing his best to stress in recent weeks.
"We will not be losing sight of the fact that we will act as custodians of this great team in the name of the citizens of Rome and all of the fans of Roma," said Di Benedetto.
But the response to the possibility of the stars-and-stripes being hoisted over the Stadio Olimpico has been very mixed.
A quick look around Roma fans' internet forums shows that after years of ridiculing English clubs for losing their identity under foreign owners, they are very aware that the boot is now on the other foot.
However, Sergio Rosi, the president of one of the biggest Roma supporters clubs, the Roma Club Testaccio, took a much more positive approach last month.
"If they bring money, let them come. The world changes and we can't go backward. They are not a group from the world of soccer but they have know-how," said Rosi, momentarily forgetting their potential new owner's Anfield connection.
"However, the Americans must understand one thing though: you can't buy only the team but you must also buy the image of Roma that we take around the world.
"We are a little sceptical, that's normal to be in the beginning, but I'm ready to attach the American flag to the club if the deal is confirmed."
What would any new owner make of the passion at the Stadio Olimpico? Photo: Getty
If, or more likely when, the deal does finally go through - and UniCredit chief executive Federico Ghizzoni said that it might be as much as a month before the sale is concluded - it will bring an end to a saga which dates back more than seven years.
Back in February 2004, then president Franco Sensi, who died in 2008, said that he was about to sell his stake to the Russian oil company Nafta Moskva.
With their debts then only about half of what they were last summer, Sensi claimed the Russians had offered £340m for the club.
However, negotiations broke down, unlike what had happened at Chelsea the year before, partly under public pressure not to let the club slip into foreign hands.
Once it became known that Sensi was looking for a foreign purchaser, Rome's mayor Walter Veltroni said: "I will do my best to make sure Roma remains for the Romans."
At least one thing at Roma that looks like remaining Italian for a little longer is the coach.
Former Chelsea boss Claudio Ranieri resigned just over a week ago after four successive losses and in came former Italian international striker Vincenzo Montella, a Roma icon after spending a decade at the club, and Fulham fans may also remember him for his brief loan spell at Craven Cottage.
"He accepted the position with enthusiasm and determination. I don't think he will limit himself to just riding out the season quietly but aims to transmit his mentality to the lads," said Sensi.
Montella did just that and engineered a winning start with a 1-0 win at Bologna last Wednesday, and followed it with a 2-2 draw at home to Parma at the weekend, a pair of results which saw Roma rise to sixth place and kept them in contention for European football next season.
But the rumours continue to persist in the Italian media that Montella is still just a caretaker coach and Chelsea's Carlo Ancelotti will be at the helm of Roma for the start of next season.
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~54~RS~)
Hi, I'm Phil Minshull. I've lived in Spain since 1997 and covered Spanish football since the first day I got here. My blog aims to provide some insight into what's happening in La Liga, and there is much more to it than only Real and Barcelona, as well as elsewhere around Europe.
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Roma have been poorly financially managed in an attempt to remain with the other big boys of European and Italian football.
They are now trying to bail themselves out by getting a new sugardaddy, precisely when it is about time Totti needs to leave.
The new manager will struggle with player power, and should Ancelotti succeed as potential new manager, Totti needs to be gone quickly, not the scheduled 2014: he has proven he cannot cope with a strong player contingent in the dressing room at Chelsea.
Thing is, that will happen when pigs fly.
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Roma tried to live the dream, and continually challenge at the highest level. They've realised though that this is not financially viable. However, while other big clubs in Italy went broke and are now finally bouncing back (Lazio, Parma, Fiorentina), Roma had Capello in charge, who decided to keep investing.
As for the Totti thing, he needs to take a leaf out of Del Piero's book and stop whinging like a baby every time things don't quite go to plan.
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Is this a signal that the Americans have decided they want to control a European Super League which they will model on the NFL?
I hope not, but if all the clubs sell to them, then who can stop it?
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@3 I dont think this will ever happen, TV money in europe isn't as good as the EPL so where is Blatter's or UEFA's cut? Plus a super league would efectivly kill all hope and survival of any "lower league" team.
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I hope that Ancelotti remains in the EPL personally. I like him as a character, he is straight up and honest in how he comes across. He won the double last season which proves his quality, and did it with Chelsea scoring a phenomenal amount of goals.
The Chelsea problems this season have happened in and around Ancelotti, I don't think any fan could criticise the manager, and with Torres and Luiz ready to go from next season they will really kick on. Ramires is another who I think will start to perform next season.
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How is it that British clubs are so vilified for debt when the likes of Roma and Valencia are drowning in it? They whole culture of overspending was in Italy well before British clubs.
Also what happens if a company owns a stake in both Liverpool and Roma? What if they played each other in the Champions League group game (or more likely europa :P) and one stood to gain a lot more from winning? Surely there must be rules to prevent such a situation!
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While you have to admire the stance of Roma fans who want the ownership of their club to remain in Italian hands, they will surely accept that they have to move with the times and take whatever is on offer to remain competitive.
They will look, in particular, at English clubs and see the ridiculous sums that need to be spent to attract top players. While this may come back to haunt some of these clubs in future, that sadly, is the current situation.
As for Ancelotti to Roma, seems like a pretty good outcome for all parties, Chelsea included.
http://footballfutbolfitba.wordpress.com/
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@6 (I think)
There are definitely some UEFA or FIFA rules which stop you owning a 50% stake in more than one European Club, not sure how it works, just remember that Abramovic was under the spotlight a few years back to see exactly what stake he had in Spartak Moscow when they were drawn together.
But in theory, if somebody were the largest stake holder in two clubs but owned less than 50% in one, FIFA could not intervene.
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rjaggar wrote:
"Is this a signal that the Americans have decided they want to control a European Super League which they will model on the NFL?"
I think it's got more to do with the fact that the Americans have finally realised that US football is never going to be huge outside North America; globally, the money is in our version of football.
neiljwhitehouse wrote:
"@3 I dont think this will ever happen, TV money in europe isn't as good as the EPL so where is Blatter's or UEFA's cut? Plus a super league would efectivly kill all hope and survival of any "lower league" team. "
I dont see a European Super League either, but for a different reason. In a league of say 18 clubs, however big they are, only the top 5 or 6 will make money in any one season (usually the ones going for the title). Apart from their own fans, who will pay to watch the teams in 16th, 17th and 18th?
Incidentally, the big clubs won't care about 'lower league' clubs. One of the intentions of the EPL, as stated by Martin Edwards, the then MUFC chairman, was that all the clubs not in the EPL would 'go to the wall', so that football fans would have to spend their money on the clubs in the EPL (originally intended to be only 10 clubs).
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Lazy journalism about Roma's debt
http://swissramble.blogspot.com/2011/01/hope-springs-eternal-at-roma.html
They don't have debt of £340 million, their parent company does and hence why they are being sold off as they are still a valuable asset
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Something needs to happen at Roma. They failed to capitalise on the easiest title races in history, when Juve, AC Milan et al were effectively out of the running and now appear to be going backwards at an alarming rate. They have consistently lost top players to their nearest rivals (Samuel, Mancini, Chivu with Mexes now being linked with Milan and Vucinic also being linked with a move). They have gone from needing 1 or 2 players to challenge domestically and even in the Champions League to about 4 or 5.
As stated above, it would be nice for Roma to remain in Italian hands, but the EPL has shifted the goalposts financially to a ridiculous extent. I think the world footballl bubble will burst one day, and (hopefully) the billionaire owners will get bored and let real football people get on with it. Until then, this seems to be the only viable way forward.
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PS - #1 Totti is a legend. He could have demanded a move years ago, but stayed loyal. I think it would be appropriate for the club to reciprocate.
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Sorry but this is shoddy journalism. There are some big factual errors in this story. Roma do not owe anyone 340 million. Italpetroli owed 340(ish) million and Roma is a subsidiary of Italpetroli. I use the past tense as Italpetroli was officially signed over to the bank for assett stripping to repay the Italpetroli debts. So, to state that Italperoli was sold to pay Roma's debts is incorrect.
Roma, until approximately 18 months ago was in very sound financial shape and didn't owe anyone a euro and was the perfect example of a self-financing club at the highest level. The problem with the formula is that it relies on CL qualification to work.
The missed CL spot for last season cost the club a lot in financial terms and Aquilani's sale to Liverpool was largely agreed to fill the financial hole left by playing EL instead of CL
Also the knock-on effect of that missed qualification as well as massively reduced ticket sales due to Serie A's waning popularity and ridiculous tessera del tifoso (football fan's compulsory ID card) are being felt only now with a projected 40 million euro loss for the current financial year.
I'm delighted to see coverage of my team on the BBC but it's a pretty delicate moment for the club and getting the simple facts of the transaction right would be appreciated.
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Didn't Gadaffi own a stake in Juventus at one time?
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
I've never really understood why some people insist on obsessing over the nationaility of a club's owner - surely if he has the funds to support the club and he respects it in the same way that the fans do, it is irrelevant if he is Italian, American or Martian? (ok that last one would raise a few eyebrows)
I saw my club saved from the brink last year and hope that this takeover happens for Roma, it is not an easy experience for fans to be reminded of their clubs financial plight on a regular basis (I suspect many Lazio fans are currently enjoying alot of laughs at Roma's expense).
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Aarfy_Aardvark - save 606,
Gadaffi still owns a stake in Juventus. God knows what will happen there.
A new owner could maybe endear himself to the fans by taking in someone like Candreva, Rome born player who could be a long term replacement for either Totti or Pizarro, even he'll never be as good as Totti was. Roma also have some very talented young players that may be less likely to be snapped up by Man Utd or someone else if the club can give them a better offer, or as good an offer.
I think anyone related to this Boston franchise is probably going to better and more respectful for Roma than the average likely candidate.
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alseno
People care about the nationality of the owners, mostly because local buyers are less likely to willingly ruin the club's identity or leave them with enourmous debt. They may have to face the fans after they leave, the Glazers for example are unlikely to have to when they retreat back to the US.
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Personally I feel that a European Super League could be so hugely lucrative for UEFA and/or FIFA it might be impossible for them to resist. Imagine Man U playing Barcelona one week, AC Milan the next then an 'english derby' against Chelsea. There could be a promotion/relegation system where the top teams left in the domestic leagues have to play end-of-season play-offs against eachother to gain promotion, and the bottom teams in the Euro super league would have to play the following season back in their domestic league.
No doubt this would make the rich clubs richer and the poor clubs poorer still, but there's also no doubting that there would be huge demand for it globally. They'd love it in Asia and perhaps it would crack the USA market! And I guess the teams competing in the Euro league could still compete in their domestic cup competitions.
Being a lowly Gillingham fan, I hope this doesn't happen, but the bigwigs at FIFA must be looking at ideas like this and thinking how much more money they could make out of it.
Also, I've tried it out on the Playstation and it is lots of fun!
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'I think it would be appropriate for the club to reciprocate.'
In this day and age, one shouldn't expect a club to do so and rightly so
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I feel this will be good for Roma. They have consistantly come second for the last decade and need an injection of cash to help bring in new players and pay off their debts.
11.
Clubs in Italy aren too bothered about selling their players to their rivals as long as they get a good price for them. It is good business as you are more likely to get a better price.
Ancelotti will be the next Roma boss. Rijkaard will be at Chelsea next season - I have it on good authority :)
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@ dallew
Candreva is a decent player and would make a good squad player. Menez has the potential to be Totti's successor - though not a replacement - but he needs to sort his head out.
As for the young players I wish it were the case but it's impossible. English clubs can offer sums of money which Italian clubs are specifically not allowed to do by Italian law therefore the Italian clubs can only rely on the player's loyalty.
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Would love to see Totti come, but he's the Gerrard of Roma! I've got a soft spot for Roma, wish them all the best for the future no matter what happens!
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It is sad, football on the continent has so much more 'soul' than here in England. The fans have much more of an identity with their clubs. The football is about how good you are at football not how fast you can run or how strong you are which is why great players like Totti, Del Piero, Inzaghi etc can all still play in Italy.
I hope leagues like Serie A, Bundesliga, and La Liga don't lose thier identity, they are still just as good as the premiership despite what the media in this country would have you believe, there is just more money over here in England so we get the hype.
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"20. At 1:18pm on 02 Mar 2011, 11_Giggsy_11_dont_save_606 wrote:
'I think it would be appropriate for the club to reciprocate.'
In this day and age, one shouldn't expect a club to do so and rightly so"
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-Thats the last thing I'd expect to hear from someone with your user ID!
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21. At 1:50pm on 02 Mar 2011, David Rolls wrote:
"Clubs in Italy aren too bothered about selling their players to their rivals as long as they get a good price for them. It is good business as you are more likely to get a better price."
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I appreciate that top Italian clubs sell between each other more regularly than they seem to in other league - players switch between Milan and Inter far more easily than between Man Utd and City for example. It was pretty obvious however that Roma were selling because they were broke rather than because it was a particularly good deal.
PS am glad to see that nobody picked up on my "deliberate" (ahem!) mistake - Walter Samuel did of course go to Inter via Real Madrid. To back up my origianl argument, Emerson and Cafu are 2 more players who left Roma for their direct championship rivals.
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25. At 3:44pm on 02 Mar 2011, Ferry_Arab wrote:
Emerson and Cafu are 2 more players who left Roma for their direct championship rivals.
____________________________________________________________________________
Wrong again! I'll grant you Cafu, but did Emerson not leave for Real Madrid too?
Go on, try again... ;o)
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#24 Though they have supporters from elsewhere, Arsenal has long boasted loyal supporters & play a better class of football than anywhere outside Barcelona & possible Real Madrid on a good day. Have you watched Serie A recently? It's static, pass-pass-pass, sideways and back, without excitement or much skill. Players like Totti, Baggio, Del Piero aren't being replaced. The best side in Italy at the moment, AC Milan, are a bunch of geriatrics, who, like Inter, have been shown up for what they are by Spurs - who terrified their Italian opposition with power & speed - but also skill. If you want to see skilful contests - I don't think there's anything to beat the EP & the Bundesliga.
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diverepublic
I did not know that about young players - explains a lot.
But Candreva is still short of his potential, no? Agree on Menez I think, though still wonder if he'd be best playing wide.
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These blogs (phil Minishull's) are very often full of errors - I wonder if he does it on purpose to increase the number of comments?
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@ #1 - I might tend to agree with Roma being financially mismanaged, but what you say of Ancelotti is utter nonsense. Man United fans trying to show us they know about football, and yet again come up with utter rubbish.
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#27 stop repeating this myth that Milan are a bunch of old players. It was true a few years ago, but not now. You obviously haven't noticed all the new players they biught this season.
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#26
Emerson went from Roma to Juventus in 2004, and then left Juventus for Real Madrid in 2006 when Calciopoli struck. In 2004 I recall Roma were keen to sell him to Real Madrid, but Emerson wanted Juventus, and got his way as his contract only had a year to run.
As for the present day Roma, they remain a strong team, but are always one game away from a crisis. Whilst Claudio Ranieri was no long term solution as coach, I don't think he was entirely responsible for what's gone wrong recently. The club is clouded in uncertainty with them not knowing who the owners will be, and some of the players not knowing much longer they'll be playing for the club.
They'll be challenging at the top again next season, provided the takeover goes through smoothly, and they don't lose any key players.
I'm generally against foreign takeovers, as I feel in a lot of cases the owners have tended to buy the club because it's fashionable, or to make money for themselves, instead of any love of football. I'd always feel safer with an owner who you know has the importance of the club close to heart.
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Im sorry but all of you brainwashed English fans probably believe that Italian football is static becuase of what the major teams play in Europe where they are often far more scared of losing than keen on winning, thus producing defensive football.
Serie A may not be as flamboyant as La liga or EPL but this is because all the teams can actually defend and prioritse that ove unlike the former leagues where all the clubs, with the exception of the top ones, are simply clueless at the back which leads to ludacrous scoreline.(I dont need to give examples) And AC Milan are hardly are bunch of "geriatrics"...
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#33
Some might say Udinese winning 7-0 in Palermo is a ludicrous scoreline.
I admire your point though, and I like the fact Serie A has plenty of unpredictability about it, unlike some other leagues.
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I really miss Gazetto 'Gol Accio' on Sunday lunchtimes. Someone bring back the good old days please...
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Course, every owner wants to make money, but they aren't all "sugardaddies". The success of the club is a matter of personal pride and acheivement, as well as a source of enjoyment.
The people of NESV may not be football fans, but the likes of Henry are absorbing themselves in football. They will make the club successful, because they understand sports. I presume that the Roma bidder is in the same boat. He will take to Henry, who is committed to only spending what you earn, increasing revenue vastly, keeping the fans happy, good football that the fans enjoy and can relate to and a youth policy.
Good luck to Roma. I hope they, and Italian football recover from the financial mess it is in. Italy is vast in football history, its' a shame so much has gone wrong so fast. I think that maybe the PL will go the same way.
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Its sad but in truth football is going the way of whoever's got the richest owner, wins.
As an objective outsider, I've always felt that whilst the influx of foreign owners has possibly improved the overall quality of the EPL, long term it is going to ruin English and possibly European football.
I suppose now that the EPL market is saturated pretty much in terms of places for foreign owners to buy, they might look elsewhere to other leagues, whether Italy, Spain, Germany etc. On the one hand, the extra money and possible level playing field might improve the game, on the other hand its just going to underline further that football these days is all about who has the fattest wallet.
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As a Brit/ Sheffield Wednesday fan living in Italy, some of these comments are plain daft. On average, the technical standard here in Serie A is way better than most Premiership matches but, clearly, as Spurs v Milan showed, not as athletic or physically strong - except Inter under the Special one with Muntari, et al. For further evidence, watch, say, Stoke v Bolton and see how bad that is.
However, what is dire in Italy is the stadium attendances and atmosphere - we need to get people back into the grounds, preferably without the rarely-used running tracks.
And the model for all non- elite clubs,including Roma, is surely Udinese. About the size of Rotherham, Udine will boast a Champions League team - again - next season, even after another player bought for virtually nothing, Sanchez, is sold for over £25 million (see today's BBC transfer gossip). And some of this will fund major stadium re-development, while no doubt they will find another young jewel.
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In many ways foreign ownership could actually be preferable, especially in the case of Roma.
- Foreign owners are motivated by money, their goal is to either turn the club into a profit-making going concern or to increase the value of the club significantly in order to make a lot of money when they sell.
- They are less likely to be influenced by 'fan' views and more influenced by the balance sheet, this is important for Roma.
- NESV have a proven track record of handling sports teams, not necessarily football, but they have serious commercial muscle and will be able to increase commercial revenues significantly.
Of course there are plenty of negatives, but not every club has someone amongst its fans who is a) rich enough to take control and b) clever enough to make both the balance sheet and the fan-club bond strong together. It appears to be one or the other in this day and age.
Which brings me to my final point - the top end of European football has been commercialised to a crazy level, Roma must make this move simply to keep up. I wish them every success.
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@Ferry-arab sorry friend but i should remind you this about Totti.he is a class act a legend a magical player.about him remaining at Roma??
as u said he is a legend and a prince oops sorry king in Rome.so why would you want to go somewhere else??? i love him as a player very much but not as a human being.he hasnt got character at all.i dont like an existence of player power at any team.its disgraceful.
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"Im sorry but all of you brainwashed English fans probably believe that Italian football is static becuase of what the major teams play in Europe where they are often far more scared of losing than keen on winning, thus producing defensive football."
Exactly, the way alot of English fans judge foreign leagues and players is watching them in the champions league and internationals etc. Many pass judgment without actually watching the league. Serie A is far superior to the premiership in terms of technical play, but premiership has a fast pace and much more emphasis on physical attributes. Spain is similar to Italy but with less emphasis on organising the defence and Germany is somwhere in the middle. All great leagues to watch and not much between them in terms of quality it is just down to personal taste.
I dislike it when people rave about how unpredicatable the premier league is, but simply ask yourself when was the last time anyone other than Chelsea or UTD won it? I think you will find it was the last time someone other than Madrid or Barca won La Liga. In that time the Bundesliga has had a few different winners, as has italy if you count the stripped titles. Then I would also say look at the number of different teams the leagues have had in the champions league in that time.
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Thomas Di Benedetto, American with Italian roots. Not quite the same as a rich Arab prince taking over, is it!?
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I am sorry but some of these comments regarding how much better the 'soul' of Italian teams are compared to English are laughable.
Do you know what the average crowd is for Coca-cola championship match is?? There were 8 clubs in the Coco-cola champtionship that had average crowds above 20,000 last season! And you think fans identify less with their clubs in England compared to Italy?? What a joke...
Have you ever been to a Liverpool derby, Birmingham derby, Millwall vs West Ham, Newcastle vs Sunderland?? There is pretty strong identification there, believe me. In fact, besides some of the large central london clubs - I would challenge any continental european club to compete for how passionate their fans are... wake up
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"I would challenge any continental european club to compete for how passionate their fans are"
And how many foreign games have you been to see? I am not talking about attendence levels here, all that shows is the depth of pockets. Old Trafford is near capacity each week but how many of those are passionate supporters, I don't mean local I mean real fans.
You talk about passion look how many people leave premiership games with twenty minutes to go when their team is losing even by just one goal, or how flat the atmospheres are inside the stadium even on derby days. A half empty stadio olympico during a Roma game makes more noise than a full Old Trafford or Stamford bridge.
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#34 a very true point, Udinese winning 7-0 at Palemo was a big shock but on that matter, Udinese play very exciting attacking football, based on a similar model to Barcelona and i very much hope they qualify for Champions League next year where they will be one of the teams to watch.
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Roma is my favourite.
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As previously mentioned Roma is financially mismanaged in the mistaken belief that they are on the same level as clubs such as Real Madrid, Man U, Milan and Barcalona. They cannnot afford the same depth of players required for top European competitiveness.
This is not to take away anything from the history and spirt of the club and fans but is reality.
Having foreign investors is what is needed but with that a change and more realistic view of what the club is capable of reaching with its limited resources and fan base. (Compared to the European biggies) A plan based more on the Aresenal/Shakhtar model (young players and home grown players from a very good scouting staff) As a result it is not realistic for Ancelotti to be considered as the coach considering his compensation package. (Don't forget he left Milan as a cost cutting measure by Berlusconi) IF the deal goes through the new owners need to clean house and Totti should step aside for good.
Good luck to Roma and what the future holds since a healthy AS Roma makes for a better serie A and Italian football.
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