dot   Home     World     Europe     Italy  
Flag Italy

Italy

Donadoni Shown The Door

   

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.)


Subscribe

 

rss icon Italy World Cup Blog RSS Feed

Print

Share

  • http://palermo.theoffside.com Steven

    Two words:

    Serse Cosmi.

  • Anthony

    Lippi is back!

    gazzeta.it

  • sofia

    LIPPI PLEASE!!!!

  • Hawk

    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…

  • http://juventus.theoffside.com alessio
  • Omar (ilRomanisti)

    This is beautiful.
    Finally.

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

    Forza Lippi.

  • -nickt.-

    LIPPI!

  • http://www.serieamerica.com Vin

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

    …and suddenly, we can dream about a repeat.

  • vigliotti

    Too bad cappello cant be the new coach.

  • Phil

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

  • http://www.mcalcio.com Marco Pantanella

    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… :)

  • kat

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

  • Hawk

    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

  • http://acmilan.offside.com gianfranco

    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!?

  • Hawk

    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

  • Marco

    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!

  • Hawk

    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

  • forzafrankie

    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.

  • Yi Da Li

    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!

  • http://None Robert

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

blog comments powered by Disqus
 

MORE EUROPE BLOGS

france
France World Cup Blog
1,026 articles | 12,643 comments
 
croatia
Croatia World Cup Blog
201 articles | 1,850 comments
 
czechrepublic
Czech Republic World Cup Blog
196 articles | 324 comments
 
england
England Football Team World Cup Blog
1,035 articles | 5,228 comments
 
germany
Germany World Cup Blog
687 articles | 5,278 comments
 
italy
Italy World Cup Blog
1,063 articles | 32,761 comments
 
netherlands
Netherlands World Cup Blog
2,566 articles | 73,523 comments
 
poland
Poland World Cup Blog
489 articles | 7,796 comments
 
portugal
Portugal World Cup Blog
562 articles | 10,664 comments
 
serbia
Serbia World Cup Team Blog
208 articles | 1,511 comments
 
spain
Spain World Cup Blog
347 articles | 3,327 comments
 
sweden
Sweden World Cup Blog
227 articles | 386 comments
 
switzerland
Switzerland World Cup Blog
270 articles | 452 comments
 
ukraine
Ukraine World Cup Team Blog
119 articles | 14,868 comments
 
greece
Greece World Cup Blog
231 articles | 217 comments
 
russia
Russia World Cup Blog
134 articles | 2,134 comments
 
scotland
Scotland World Cup Team Blog
129 articles | 124 comments
 
ireland
Ireland World Cup Team Blog
112 articles | 166 comments
 
norway
Norway World Cup Team Blog
16 articles | 8 comments
 
turkey
Turkey World Cup Blog
49 articles | 314 comments
 
romania
Romania World Cup Blog
78 articles | 281 comments
 
austria
Austria World Cup Blog
111 articles | 122 comments
 
denmark
Denmark World Cup Team Blog
72 articles | 149 comments
 
albania
Albania World Cup Team Blog
4 articles | 8 comments
 
belgium
Belgium World Cup Team Blog
49 articles | 59 comments
 
wales
Wales World Cup Team Blog
62 articles | 17 comments
 
bosnia
Bosnia World Cup Team Blog
52 articles | 112 comments
 
israel
Israel World Cup Team Blog
33 articles | 28 comments
 
slovakia
Slovakia World Cup Team Blog
18 articles | 20 comments
 
slovenia
Slovenia World Cup Team Blog
43 articles | 133 comments
 

CATEGORIES & ARCHIVES

 

 
Closer

Serie A News
Palermo Blog
Italy Soccer Jerseys
Italy Travel Guide
Juventus jerseys
AC Milan jerseys
Travel to an Italian football match
Tournaments
Euro 2012 Qualifying
Africa Cup of Nations 2012
UEFA Champions League
Europa League

Follow WorldCupBlog on Facebook   Follow WorldCupBlog on Twitter  
World Cup Resources
World Cup History
World Cup Legends
World Cup Memorable Moments
World Cup Photos
World Cup Videos