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Donadoni Shown The Door

June 26th, 2008 | By: chris | 20 Comments »

Na Na Na Na, Hey Hey Hey, Goodbye

“The Italian Football Federation would like to confirm that Donadoni’s contract has been allowed to expire.”

“President Abete met Donadoni today in the FIGC’s offices and during the course of the meeting they reviewed the work done over the last two years and the European Championships.

“While stressing his sincere respect for Donadoni on a personal level and appreciating his hard work and professional conduct, the President informed the Coach that the FIGC didn’t intend to continue his contract.”

I have to admit, on some levels I was quite frightened this wouldn’t happen, because the FIGC is the same organization which hired him, after all (along with a slew of other stupid decisions). Well thank the heavens for good decision making. Now we can only hope they put on their thinking caps and grab a guy with actual qualifications this time around (no, Roberto Mancini doesn’t count).

Of course, the strong belief is You Know Who will make his triumphant return shortly. We can only hope.

(Just wanted to get the news out there. Will conjure up some potential replacements for discussion later.)

Tags: Euro 2008

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Comments

By Steven | June 26th, 2008 at 11:07 am

Two words:

Serse Cosmi.

By Anthony | June 26th, 2008 at 11:32 am

Lippi is back!

gazzeta.it

By sofia | June 26th, 2008 at 11:35 am

LIPPI PLEASE!!!!

Posted from Canada

By Hawk | June 26th, 2008 at 11:40 am

I wonder how many minutes will pass until Chris posts a post about Lippi getting reassigned…which he did. Like 5 min ago.
http://www.skysports.com/football/euro2008/story/0,23063,11966_3742835,00.html
-hawk
good news for Italy

I am with Spain, so I know how it feels to underachieve…

Posted from United States

By alessio | June 26th, 2008 at 11:56 am

Hawk’s right, it is official.
http://www.figc.it/it/204/19113/2008/06/News.shtml

Posted from United States

By Omar (ilRomanisti) | June 26th, 2008 at 12:02 pm

This is beautiful.
Finally.

Now anyone BUT Roberto Mancini. Please not him. He’s even worse than the Don.

Forza Lippi.

By -nickt.- | June 26th, 2008 at 12:02 pm

LIPPI!

By Vin | June 26th, 2008 at 12:13 pm

“I am very, very, very happy,” Lippi said. “I am also very motivated.”

…and suddenly, we can dream about a repeat.

Posted from United States

By vigliotti | June 26th, 2008 at 12:39 pm

Too bad cappello cant be the new coach.

By Phil | June 26th, 2008 at 12:40 pm

I thought Dona did a good job but whateva. Lippi took a sabbatical I guess

Posted from United States

By Marco Pantanella | June 26th, 2008 at 1:06 pm

I (almost) always supported Donadoni’s choices during these last two years (or at least tried to justify them somehow, even when his weirdest tactical decisions were inevitably bombarded by Chris and the other Offside writers) but all things considered, I have to admit Donadoni’s coaching experience was probably insufficient to guide Italy to a major tournament. Ultimately, that’s what caused the Azzurri’s downfall at Euro 2008, and even though we did only lose in penalties, the type of play we exhibited throughout the tournament was far from being extraordinary. When you have the likes of Buffon, Pirlo, and Toni on the team, you’re expected to do much much more.

Now, the Don has stepped down and Marcello Lippi is back, which can only mean good things for Italy, but one thing is certain about Roberto Donadoni: he may not be a brilliant tactical mind, but he is one hell of a gentleman:
-He is not getting a cent from being fired. When he and Abete discussed contract renewals before the tournament, he specifically refused any monetary compensation should his contract be terminated.
-For someone who (for two years straight) always has had to live in Marcello Lippi’s shadow, Donadoni was always very graceful about it. Even when they asked to comment on his successor (before Lippi was announced) he said: “The press has been talking about Lippi for the past two years, I am not here to tell others how to behave. (…) I did not ask Abete whether he had met with Lippi, everyone is free to decide as they please. I’m not going to comment on others’ behaviours, I don’t want to be lacking in tact”.

Chris said:
(Just wanted to get the news out there. Will conjure up some potential replacements for discussion later.)

Less work for you now I guess…

By kat | June 26th, 2008 at 1:15 pm

At last! What took so long? They should of booted him right after the 3-1 defeat to Hungary.

By Hawk | June 26th, 2008 at 1:16 pm

It took about 2 hours and 35 minutes.
I expected much less Chris…
You wrote the post right after they sacked Donadoni so I assumed…
Anyways
Congrats Italy fans!
Welcome back…
-Hawk

Posted from United States

By gianfranco | June 26th, 2008 at 1:22 pm

Marco, i thought the Don showed class with the no compensation gesture and it goes to show you the type of person that he is. I hope he finds success coaching, heck he may even take over Roma if Spalletti leaves!?

Posted from United States

By Hawk | June 26th, 2008 at 1:27 pm

I REALLY hope Spalletti dosn’t leave!
And it would be really bad for Roma is Donadoni is their coach because Donadoni couldn’t succeed (even a little) with a team of the worlds best players so how is he going to succeed with Roma? Roma’s strength is telepathy-like teamwork and Totti, not big names or individual talent.
Spalletti is a coach that brings good (not amazing) players and makes them read each others minds and he makes good buys (vucinic).
GO ROMA
GO BARCA
GO SPAIN
-Hawk

Posted from United States

By Marco | June 26th, 2008 at 1:30 pm

No Doubt Donadoni is a gentlemen, hard headed like most of us italians but a gentlemen nonetheless. His fall was two fold. 1st following Marcello Lippi was doomed to fail 2nd rookie coach, too young, not enough experience. Made a lot of decisions based on media speculation. I hope he goes now and gets hired by a top club and leads them to glory for many years, builds up confidence in his decisions and experience and comes back in 10-15 years and wins us a world cup. that would be sweet justice.

Today those that initially hired donadoni should have been sacked.

Now to Lippi. This man is perfect for the national team. What makes this sweeter is if the azzurri go up against 1) Ireland and the Trapp 2) England and Sir Fabio. Two great rivalry matches. This is now a very exciting time, I wish it was the world cup which would be starting in august rather than the beijing olympics.

We’re gonna now see the start – or rather restart of something special.

This also guarentees us the end to two or three players on the national team. Ambrosini, Di Natalie and Panucci will most likely no longer be selected for this team. But we’ll see.

Anyway fasten your seat belts its gonna be a great ride!

By Hawk | June 26th, 2008 at 1:34 pm

Panucci and Di Natalie were good for Italy in the troubled times of the Euro 2008. Panucci was pretty solid, and he would score when Italy needed it.
Di Natalie was pretty good against Spain and very good in the pre-tournament games. Toni didn’t play well either, that dosn’t mean you kick him out…
I agree that Ambrosini and Quaillarela (don’t know how to spell his name) have to leave… they are surplus.
-Hawk

Posted from United States

By forzafrankie | June 26th, 2008 at 2:12 pm

I hated Donadoni’s first lineup against the Dutch. But after that I agreed with almost all his strategic moves. I agree, not a fan of Ambrosini, or Di Natale, they will be gone, as will Panucci due to age. The Spanish loss was so painful to watch. We had 0 creativity without Pirlo. But the defense was old school Azzurri and their best performance of the tourney. Anyone else done with Perotta? I like Grosso, Zambrotta, and Chielini in the back. Pirlo, DeRossi with a couple other pieces in the middle and Toni and Cassano upfront. But I agree Cassano may not see much more time with Lippi taking over.

Posted from United States

By Yi Da Li | July 6th, 2008 at 5:48 pm

Robert you said: “Donadoni was not popular from the start. He was criticised in another blog for calling “only” 7 defenders? LOLF Jesus. how many defenders do u need? Of course ….. I forgot the decription of italian football ….. 1 goalkeeper and…… 10 goalkeepers. LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL”

While Italy called only 7, Spain had 8 Defenders:

Raúl Albiol
Fernando Navarro
Carlos Marchena
Carles Puyol
Joan Capdevila
Sergio Ramos
Álvaro Arbeloa
Juanito

Robert, slap yourself in the face!

By Robert | July 7th, 2008 at 6:00 am

Better slap yourself matey. To make yourself wake up from the sleep you are in. Kicked out mate:)

Comments are closed