Il re è morto, lunga vita al re! Only 37 years old, this is just De Zerbi's 3rd coaching stint, his others, a season for a Serie D (amateur) team and then 2 seasons at Foggia, a Lega Pro side (one of his many teams as a player, the one where he made the most appearances), where he succeeded in winning a knockout cup that league does this past season, also finishing second in their group of the league, but missing out on promotion in the playoff final. He was fired in August after, appropriately and forebodingly, disagreeing with that club's transfer strategy. He apparently turned down an offer from newly promoted Serie A side Crotone earlier this summer. Color me skeptical that a basically brand new manager is the right choice to steer a team of inexperienced players to safety. On the other hand, I'm equally skeptical that there are any experienced managers left in Italy willing to take a call from Zamparini. Other managers in Palermo's recent history with no experience in Serie A include last years string of caretakers (Viviani, Bosi and Tedesco), all of whom took the place of Schelotto who would have also been a new Serie A manager. Not much to say there. Gennaro Gattuso who had no coaching experience when he took charge of Palermo's Serie B season, got 10 points out of the first 8 matches, then got fired. and Devis Mangia, who also took over from the youth team, appointed after Stefano Pioli got fired before the Serie A season even started, and who got 20 points in his 15 games as manager, including winning the first 6 home games of the season. However getting knocked out of the Copa Italia and losing to Catania in back to back games proved to be his downfall. As I've said before, he is one of the three past Palermo managers I would have liked to see get more of a shot, and who I'd like to see come back. Moral of the story is, even by Zamparini's standards, none of these managers seemed to have a particularly long leash. Don't be shocked if De Zerbi doesn't make it to Januayr
Salaries coming out for Serie A today. De Zerbi not the lowest paid coach, but he's closer to the bottom than the top.
Sounds like De Zerbi will still be around for the game against Cagliari monday. I would be surprised if he makes it to the week after if they lose that one too... If thats true, it might bode poorly. Palermo made it all the way to January 11th last season with only two managers....
De Zerbi was given another vote of confidence today (probably not entirely misplaced. I don't think anyone could do better with this squad). But a few rumors have already cropped up about a possible return of Ballardini. Wouldn't be the first, or even tenth, time that Zampa fired someone right after a vote of confidence, sometimes without another game even taking place. Though to be honest, if he gets the sack, I'd rather Zamp find a way to convince Iachini (already sacked by Udinese this season) to come back, rather than Ballardini
I liked Iachini a lot more than Ballardini- wouldn't be surprised to see either back given Zamp's history...
I saw something in Italian about a press conference this week? Can't be good news for De Zerbi. The team has seemed pretty listless all season- they haven't just been losing, but they've been playing some really boring soccer, imo.
http://www.football-italia.net/94949/palermo-keep-de-zerbi They announced they are keeping de Zerbi. Which means he has a week or two at most, probably. All it will take is one big loss. My guess is it will be after they are knocked out of the Coppa Italia. However, he has managed to outlast ex-Palermo manager Serse Cosmi, who was fired from neighboring Trapani, who sit in dead last in Serie B (22nd place), also having only 1 win, but having managed 5 more draws than Palermo.
Zamp's official line is that De Zerbi wanted to be fired in order to get the big pay-out he will now be due. Thats certainly a new one http://www.football-italia.net/95068/zamp-‘de-zerbi-wanted-sack’