SPECIAL REPORT: The Gialloblu are over €100 million
in debt and could cease to exist at a bankruptcy hearing on March 19
unless significant investment is found
Upon arriving at Parma's sports centre in
Colecchio, it is impossible not to be struck by the sight of the
collapsing sign outside the entrance. Inside, coach Roberto Donadoni is
preparing his players for a match that may or may not happen. They are
training behind closed doors. The lack of support again seems painfully
apt. They are all alone. As captain Alessandro Lucarelli said recently,
"There is no club. Only Donadoni and us."
Attempts to watch them train are waved away by the wizened security guard at the front gate. He has the look of a man who has seen tough times before. But nothing like this. Tellingly, he won't even open his mouth, let alone engage in conversation. The fans are refusing to talk, too. The ultras group, Boys Parma 1977, are so sick of interview requests that they issued a statement last week begging the Italian press to do their jobs. They don't want questions from journalists, they want answers.
Donadoni, the players, the staff and the fans all feel the same way. They want to know why their beloved club is on the verge of collapse; how a club that enjoyed extravagant centenary celebrations in 2013 have been unable to pay their players, coach and staff since last summer.
They want to know why Hernan Crespo's youth team players are having to take cold showers at the sports centre because of a lack of electricity. They want to know how it has to come to be that Lucarelli and his team-mates are washing their own gear.
They want an explanation for the fact that while Donadoni trains his players at Colecchio, an auctioneers on the north side of Parma's city centre is trying to sell the bench from the training ground, medical equipment and various other items - and failing. Miserably.
The auctioneer appeals for someone to start the bidding at €2,000. "No offer once? .... No offer twice ... No offer - the item is reserved until next week." Those in attendance knew what they were doing. They knew that the bench will most likely be available for a far cheaper price at the open auction on Thursday, March 12. The refusal to bid is both shrewd and prudent - two words far removed from what has unfolded at Parma over the past couple of years.
Falling Apart | Parma's youth team have been taking cold showers due to a lack of electricity
It was already too late by the time Sandro Melli realised what was happening. Last summer, it dawned on the Parma team manager that he was on the footballing equivalent of the Titanic.
"I thought we'd sink with the first obstacle we hit," he told the Corriere dello Sport last week. "The iceberg was the Uefa licence."
Indeed, Parma qualified for this season's Europa League after a fine 2013-14 campaign that saw them finish sixth in Serie A. However, Uefa denied them entry into continental competition because of an unpaid tax bill.
Tommaso Ghirardi, who rescued Parma from financial problems when he took over in January 2007, was furious, claiming Parma had been the victim of a great injustice. "My staff have done everything by the rules. Only a fool would think that this is an act of cunning to save €300,000, after spending €13m and now losing €8m. We are good people who run a house in good order. But they have managed to push me away from the game. I'm done with football. I'm resigning as Parma president, and as of July 1 a new story will begin. Parma is now for sale."
The only thing was that no adequate offers were immediately forthcoming. Ghirardi eventually found a buyer in December - Cypriot-Russian Dastraso Holding Limited, who acquired Parma for €1, which was more than Ghirardi had paid out in wages since the previous summer.
Parma hoped that they had found their saviour in Rezart Taci, an Albanian oil tycoon who was eventually revealed as the primary investor. However, the players never saw him once. Lucarelli claimed that the only positive thing one could say about Taci was that at least he never promised them anything - which was precisely what he delivered.
By February, the situation had become increasingly bleak. Parma had been cast adrift at the foot of Serie A (they are currently 13 points from safety), with the players struggling to focus on on-the-field matters. "It's very difficult," teenage midfielder Jose Mauri said. "There are so many things going wrong. Luckily, the people here are calm and encouraging us. Thank goodness, otherwise we would go mad. I really don't want to go crazy thinking about all of the rumours we're hearing."
Hammer Time | Only three pieces of Parma property were sold - two buses and a van
In such circumstances, it was hardly surprising that star striker Antonio Cassano and Italy international Gabriel Paletta departed in January. Those that remained desperately hoped that Giampietro Manenti's acquisition of the club - again, for a single euro - on February 10 would finally solve their problems. However, Lucarelli revealed that he and his team-mates felt doomed from the moment the new president turned up for a meeting with the players and showed them a bank statement that he claimed proved that he had €100 million to invest in the club, and thus wipe out all of their debts.
"We looked at one another," he recounted to the Gazzetta dello Sport, "and said, 'We're ruined!'"
Manenti promised to clear the club's debts before February 16, the date upon which the players would be free to rip up their contracts and seek employment elsewhere. However, the deadline came and went. Manenti claimed that the money had been transferred. But it has yet to arrive.
As a result, Parma's plight has only worsened. The home game with Udinese on February 22 was called off because there was no money to pay for stewards. The trip to Genoa on March 31 was postponed because Lucarelli and his colleagues refused to play.
“I hope we can return to playing, but if we stop then it’s not down to us, all we’ve done is one protest," the defender stated.
Lucarelli and his players want to know how those who mismanaged Parma were allowed to get away with doing so for so long. "Things have been strange for two years. The club always tended to pay our wages on the deadline day. That made us suspicious," the 37-year-old told the Gazzetta dello Sport.
And then there was the Uefa licence. And then the one-point deduction for failing to pay staff. All of which begs the question as to why the situation has been allowed to deteriorate for so long? Why did nobody in power take heed? Why did nobody worry about what might happen next?
"The Lega and the FIGC haven’t protected us, nobody has come here, not [FIGC President Carlo] Tavecchio, nor [Lega Serie A President Maurizio] Beretta, just two lawyers," Lucarelli fumed last week. “We’ve been alone for months, since Ghirardi ran away. They’re all guilty, Ghirardi first, [ex-CEO Pietro] Leonardi, the institutions which have allowed this to happen, then Manenti, then Taci ...
“If you allow a club not to pay wages for seven months, and change presidents several times in a month it means there are some gaps. If no-one helps us, it’ll be declared at the bankruptcy hearing on March 19 we won’t exist anymore. I hope that doesn’t happen, we want to play until the end.
“We hoped for real help from those governing us, but they’ve all woken up now. We want protection all around. We don’t want to be carried until the end of the season, we want them to help us not to die."
Benched | The seats from the training complex will go under the hammer again on March 12
Kit manufacturers Errea have stepped forward and promised to cover the costs of Parma's next two Serie A fixtures, against Atalanta on Sunday, and at Sassuolo on March 15. Lega Calcio will meet on Friday to discuss the situation, with FIGC president Tavecchio claiming he has a plan. However, it still seems to be far too little, too late.
Furthermore, there are those that have no sympathy for Parma, with Cesena president Giorgio Lugaresi admitting that they have no interest in putting money towards a bail-out. Lucarelli, though, can see the bigger picture. “It’s Parma in this situation now, but I hope it never happens to Cesena. It’s not a question of money; we’re also trying to help players in the lower leagues.
“We want a change of rules, monthly checks to make sure a situation like this never arises again, and a long-term commitment for Parma. I’m afraid that they [the authorities] just want to get us through to June, to avoid trouble with the TV rights and then abandon us to our fate.”
More importantly, Lucarelli has acknowledged that this is not about affluent footballers going without money. This is about a community being stripped of something which binds it together and, more importantly, many of its inhabitants losing their livelihoods.
"Making the club fail means sending home at least 200 families who work for Parma," he added. "I am not thinking of the players, but of those who are supposed to get wages of €1,000 per month. We feel this responsibility on our shoulders."
However, Melli believes that the club's employees and supporters will, rather sadly, have to accept their fate.
"Do you remember what happened on the Titanic? Those in first class were saved; the rest were left to die."
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