Former Roma coach Daniele De Rossi dismissed after four league matches – Ansa
Romanity, tradition, the Boys from the South, old Cucs, Captain Future… “Daje Roma. Yeah, okay!”. The capital’s radios are buzzing, and the heated debate welcomes the unanimous opinion and the angry and heartfelt outburst: “Damn them… They sacked Daniele!”. On that yellow-red mural traced at the beginning, there is the writing DDR, which for a Romanista is not the sign on the Wall that divided Berlin, but simply the world champion Daniele De Rossi. From Captain to “Mister Future” since last January 16 when the Friedkin family called him to take the place of the former “Special One” José Mourinho. Now DDR is also an ex, and his resistance on the spiked bench of the Olimpico has crumbled after just 4 league matches. It was a long process; his tenure in Trigoria lasted exactly nine months. And it was clear by summer that he wouldn’t eat panettone or even stop doing cacio e pepe dinners with the team. The back-and-forth with Dybala, who was destined for the Arabs and then stayed by force. A market in which he made it clear to the owners that he was not worthy of a team aiming for the Champions League and that at best this Roma would again secure 6th place. The fatal moment came with the 1-1 draw at Marassi against Genoa, the third draw in 4 matches, with a heavy defeat in between against the little big Empoli, which meanwhile also held Juventus to a draw. But this doesn’t concern the American numerologists and statisticians. The American managers borrowed by football, who know less than nothing about it, do not wait. And if those at Milan were capable of firing Paolo Maldini with an algorithm, those at Roma needed only a goodbye and thanks to De Rossi, who departs with a contract that theoretically would expire in June 2027. In his place, the hunt for a successor sees an ex coach of Lazio, Stefano Pioli, in the lead. Someone who won a surprise championship with Milan but then last season had to bite his nails to stay on the Rossoneri bench. If Pioli or someone like him arrives in place of DDR, with the current standings it won’t be hard to do better, but how long can it last with these ruthless financiers devoid of football? Even for De Rossi, it was quite easy to make people forget the charismatic Mourinho – who had completely lost control of the team – and to make the fans fall in love, who have always seen in Daniele, the history and tradition of the club. But for the Friedkin family, history and tradition is something that goes from Lincoln to Kamala Harris passing necessarily through Wall Street, not from Trastevere to the Grande Raccordo Anulare. “Have they ever sent you to hell?”, the Romanista Alberto Sordi would now sing to these heartless yankee billionaires. “We are the history” could be claimed by a “core de Roma” like De Rossi. But history, in the football of foreign multinationals, remains behind the door. In Trigoria, it seems that they have even forbidden a totem like Bruno Conti, another world champion from ’82 and for decades the soul and mind of the yellow-red youth sector, from entering and having lunch with the current staff. The eighth king Francesco Totti (world champion with De Rossi in 2006) has not been called by any of the owners of Roma to assume any role since he tearfully said goodbye to his people in 2017. Roma may be for the Romanisti, but in order to work with a coach born and raised in Trigoria from now on, one will have to appeal to the White House.