Nobody knows who will be Roma's next coach

Exactly two decades ago, the Giallorossi were going through a similar nightmare as today. Club owner Franco Sensi found himself in severe financial trouble, fell ill, and could no longer manage the club, while his daughter and wife were not up to the task. The club was in disarray, with chaos in the locker room and a revolving door of coaches. Today, it sounds unbelievable, but Roma—with Francesco Totti, Daniele De Rossi, Cristian Chivu, Antonio Cassano, Vincent Candela, Vincenzo Montella, Christian Panucci, and Alberto Aquilani—fought for survival until the penultimate round of the championship.

This is why a cold sweat covers many when they look at Roma’s current lineup and realize there isn’t a single person in Trigoria who could prevent a total collapse. If Roma, under the Sensis, who loved the club so much they jeopardized their family wealth, and with the stars mentioned, risked relegation to Serie B, what can be expected of today’s team led by Mancini, Cristante, and Pellegrini? An additional chill comes from the schedule awaiting Roma after the November break in club football. The Giallorossi face Napoli and Atalanta in Serie A and Tottenham in the Europa League. This could sink the ship in European competition and pull it toward the bottom in Serie A. The only reassuring factor is that the league is much less competitive. In 2005, Bologna with 42 points, Brescia with 41, and Atalanta with 35 were relegated to Serie B. This season, if current trends continue, 34 or 35 points should suffice to stay in Serie A. The Friedkins are, to put it mildly, peculiar people. They’ve invested nearly a billion euros in Roma and behave as if the club is an afterthought.

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The club’s organizational structure lacks coverage in all key areas, and even less significant roles are held by inexperienced or inadequate people. Sporting director Florian Ghisolfi is entirely undermined and mocked. Not only was he not informed of De Rossi’s dismissal and Ivan Jurić’s appointment, but the interpreter hired by Roma didn’t translate what he said from French to Italian. Moreover, he still doesn’t speak Italian, a major handicap since he’s required to communicate with the media and the public. For instance, Ghisolfi said yesterday that firing De Rossi was a mistake, but the interpreter didn’t translate this, as if no one else understood French and the interview wasn’t live. The Friedkins have avoided the Eternal City for months, aware of the atmosphere awaiting them at the Olimpico and in the city and deciding not to come to Rome. The long honeymoon between fans and the club, largely thanks to Mourinho, has ended. With José and De Rossi, the Olimpico was sold out for three years, but against Bologna, many fans started leaving the stadium near the Tiber halfway through the second half. Jurić’s dismissal was prepared before the Bologna match, evident from the announcement released just half an hour after the game. Knowing the procedure and work style, it’s clear the statement wasn’t written after the painful defeat. Moreover, Jurić had been informed in advance of what awaited him, so he didn’t give the usual mini-interview required by DAZN before the game.

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The carousel of names for Roma’s coach, general, and sporting directors, and board presidents is spinning faster, with more candidates joining. This inflation of names comes from the fact that none of the journalists have direct or even close contact with the Friedkins. All information is filtered by managers or directly interested candidates, each spinning the story from their perspective, interpreting tentative interest or casual contact as the start of negotiations. In any case, the circulating names show that shots are being fired in all directions, using the usual technique of listing ten names, then focusing on the one correct guess and forgetting the other nine missed.

For several days now, the media has mentioned Roberto Mancini, Massimiliano Allegri, Edin Terzić, Frank Lampard, Rudi Garcia, Graham Potter, Claudio Ranieri, and of course, Daniele De Rossi, despite Ghisolfi’s repeated statements that the former Roma captain will not return to the bench and that his dismissal was recognized as a mistake. Whoever is chosen will face a very tough task, as there isn’t a single stable or healthy element in Trigoria. In other words, the next Roma captain will be exposed to the storm, without the support of the club's owners, without a management team backing them, and with players who sense the ship is sinking. The Friedkins continue to rely on companies or agencies that use algorithms and artificial intelligence to select management, coaches, and players, failing to grasp that football’s popularity lies in its unpredictability, even for the most advanced computer systems. Football is the only sport where money, quality, and power don’t automatically yield trophies. The sooner the Friedkins realize this, the better it will be for both Roma and Everton.

Jurić enters the history books as Roma's worst coach in the last 20 years, with an average of 1.25 points per game. The Croatian coach found himself in a situation far bigger than himself and ended up a collateral casualty of the club’s deep crisis and loss of direction. To be fair, he contributed to his fate with illogical choices for starting lineups and conflicts with Roma’s best and most charismatic players, from veterans Cristante and Mancini to the star Paulo Dybala and even German football legend Mats Hummels.