Fixing Calcio's Problems

The first time many of us realised that calcio was in decline was in 2009 when Serie A's two great stars- and Europe's best paid players at the time both disappeared off to Spain. The following year appeared to display a slow the trend. Many of us thought that there was never a problem in the first place with the return of Ibrahimovic and players such as Cavani choosing to remain in the league despite interest from abroad. In addition to this, new faces were brought in- Hernanes, Robinho and Krasic to name a few.

However a worrying trend started to develop, players such as Balotelli, Kjaer and Kolarov left the Bel Paese for colder climes. This year the trend continues first with Criscito moving to the bleak steppes of Russia and now in all likelihood Sanchez and Pastore following suit. This is a far more concerning precedent than those players who had left in their prime for megabucks the year before.

We fans of Serie A are being robbed of our future- Pastore and Sanchez in particular would be major stars of the league, in turn attracting the crème de la crème of young players who want to wear the same colours that their idols did. In the old days, when the summer transfer window opened a bigger Italian club would have just stepped up and took these players - allowing fans of calcio all around the world to admire their talents. This isn't happening and the next generation of stars, even if they want to stay in Italy, are being shipped off to Russia or even worse the the dull drizzle of Manchester.

This is just the latest problem facing Italian football- short term thinking by idiotic presidents who would rather make a quick buck than act in the best interests of Calcio. It can't continue and the Italian F.A needs to step in and do something before it's too late. There needs to be some sort of short term incentive for teams that sell inside the peninsula- particularly concerning young players. A FIGC tax on outgoing transfers concerning players under the age of 25? Bonuses to those teams that reject an offer made by a foreign club? Both should be explored.

It has been argued that youth- particularly Italian youth is not managed well enough. Surely if that is the case then the talent pool would be much greater with better management of youth. There have been many suggestions made- a reserve league, B-Teams, an Italian U21 side in Serie B. I think it would be best is to force Italian teams to better manage their youth with an obligatory 3 players under the age of 21 (2 of which must be Italian) having to play in every Coppa Italia Match. This could be extended to 1 player under the the age of 21 having to play in every Serie A game. A fair system which would undoubtedly put an end to the current rotting away of young talent in the league.

Another issue is the lower financial competitiveness of Italian clubs. There are some massive and obvious problems here concerning missed revenue- and the Italians really should take a look at the rest of Europe for answers. Firstly- everywhere you go in Italy you can see people selling copy shirts and unofficial merchandise in some cases in stalls right outside the stadium. Why is there no legislation in Italy where the clubs can stop people doing this? Millions more would be made if the clubs just had a monopoly on their merchandise like in England.

Second the stadiums. They're empty. Why is this? In the view of the target market, for various reasons, the tickets are simply too expensive for the product received. There's no more to say about it, the league should force those teams that are not selling out to reduce the ticket prices and huge drives need to be undertook to get people back into the stadiums. Sort out the hooligans, do better promotions for families, better publicize the football. Everyone in the world knows that Italy is a football mad nation but for some reason the stadiums are currently empty. With this ratified profits would go up and the league would obviously be more competitive financially. The image of the league abroad would also improve considerably- especially when viewed on TV. It is not good to watch these games on TV where all you can see of the atmosphere is a group of scruffy looking ultras in an abyss of empty seats.

Serie A obviously appeals chiefly to Italians but this forum is evidence that there is a market outside Italy. Solving the problems discussed would also act to slow down deterioration of the image of calcio abroad. I live in England- and every time I tell people I like Italian football they say something along the lines of “Oh why do you like that it's really defensive and boring.” Most of these people have never watched a game of Italian football since the mid nineties- when more English viewers would tune into Football Italia on channel 4 than would watch the Premiership.

The defensive system they are describing is cartenaccio which was phased out a long time before the heights of the nineties. Since then we've seen plenty of evidence that I won't even bother going into that Italian football is not defensive- in fact (don't quote me on this) but I've seen somewhere that Italian games on average actually have more goals than their English and Spanish counterparts?

So where has this bad image of the Italian style of play come from? The Media. I'm not going to go into conspiracy theories onto why I think it started but you see it every time you tune into a Champions League match featuring an Italian side. in the commentary itself, in the analysis, in the after match reports. People believe what they are told by the media so the FIGC should seriously consider legal action every time the foreign media publishes libellous comments like we hear in the British Media. It's not true and it's damaging to Italian football as a business, so why not? The result would of course be more revenue for Italian clubs- meaning we can better compete with the rest of Europe.

What do you think should be done to clear up calico’s problems?

thank you bro for your brilliant post... don't get me otherwise. i am a die hard serie a fan from Bangladesh but i also think that serie in it's decline. 20 years ago if you asked someone whom he wants to pay for then he must have told the names of milan, roma or juve...i saw that Ricky Alvarez saying that playing for inter was his dream as he supported inter as a child...i guess he was born in 1988 and that time serie a was the best league in the world... i saw that some football pundits are considering that as a good omen for serie a but i would take that otherwise... if Alvarez, class 1988 says something like that then do you expect a future football star class 2006 to name Milan or Inter as his dream team? i guess he would say the names of Real, Barca or Manu... why this is happening? players like Sanchez and Pastore are using serie a as their stepping stone before moving to Real or Barca...pastore and Cavani dreams of playing for barca and Real respectively... do you know the reason? it's both financial and technical... great players like to express themselves... Barca plays the best football in the world and every youngster dreams to play for Barca... why there is no Juve, Milan and Inter? it's just about quality of football...sorry to say


secondly, no one wants to watch serie a in our coutry... why? it's because the stadiums are nearly empty, prehistoric stadiums and crowd antics. where in EPL the crowd in the stadiums alone increase the value of the match several folds (i won't argue about the quality of the matches as i am not a specialist)... i saw that della valle and zamparini are crying for new stadiums and the councils aren't giving them the permission to build a new one... who would want to play in a near empty ( actually 20000 average in a 38000 capacity stadium) stadium that hasn't been renovated since 1932... i don't blame pastore for using palermo as a stepping stone...

thirdly, peoples related to calcio consider themselves to be too smart...they think that serie a is still the best league in the world... they are living in a world of dreams in fact...youngsters are leaving serie a, there is no money available, corruption, violence, politics and what not.... every league has it's own problems but the problems of serie a are increasing each passing day and they are not trying to solve that...

20 years ago serie a was reliant on tv money and still they are... where as teams like bayern are generating 130 million in commercial revenue, our beloved juve is only making 40 million per year (let alone the stadium revenue) ... how do you expect to compete with teams like real and bayern? but some teams are trying to break that tradition notably Napoli who generate more money from commercial aspects than their tv revenue...wish all others could follow the suit of napoli...the solution should be to attract the neutral supporters... i guess few years back barca were the 15th richest club in the world and now they are 2nd... one may ask the reason... it's simple- they play the best football in the world which has helped them to merchandise their brand all over the world and they have proved that teams can win playing beautiful football...

in all fairness, the future looks bleak but i am still hopeful...hope that one day Roma would be considered as the team playing the best football in the world... Juve will named as the richest club in the world, Milan would win 3 UCL on the trott, Inter would win serie a with an average age of 24 years...

it's all dream...but i wish they come true...

(i haven't posted this comment in order to defame serie a ... i think serie has it's own charm and beauty. but i am one of 100)

i They're empty. Why is this?

1. Stadiums are large. Bari, a Serie B club has 58,000 capacity stadium, for example. They tend to look empty.

2. Traditionally, when I was a kid, mostly men went to watch the games. They were played after the Sunday family lunch and the men and some 14 and up sons would go to the games. The women had no interest in calcio and stayed behind and gossiped while cleaning up. Calcio was a very serious thing back then, it wasn't just "fun" that kids or women could enjoy. The men would seriously discuss tactics, substitutions as the game went on (and sometimes fight), they didn't want any interference from children or wives/girl friends.

This has been changing but it will take time before it becomes normal for families to go to the games, especially at smaller provincial venues.

3. The games are no longer shown for free on RAI. People that pay Sky or Mediaset a subscription don't go to games unless it is a special game. It would be like throwing away money.

wigglesworth wrote:i They're empty. Why is this?

1. Stadiums are large. Bari, a Serie B club has 58,000 capacity stadium, for example. They tend to look empty.

2. Traditionally, when I was a kid, mostly men went to watch the games. They were played after the Sunday family lunch and the men and some 14 and up sons would go to the games. The women had no interest in calcio and stayed behind and gossiped while cleaning up. Calcio was a very serious thing back then, it wasn't just "fun" that kids or women could enjoy. The men would seriously discuss tactics, substitutions as the game went on (and sometimes fight), they didn't want any interference from children or wives/girl friends.

This has been changing but it will take time before it becomes normal for families to go to the games, especially at smaller provincial venues.

3. The games are no longer shown for free on RAI. People that pay Sky or Mediaset a subscription don't go to games unless it is a special game. It would be like throwing away money.

Good point the last one. Stations like Mediaset and Sky (and Dahlia until this year) have had a huge effect on attendances. Like you said, people who pay these rather pricy subscriptions won't go to the stadium as often as they used to. But of course, the league is not really able to eliminate the effect of these stations as they have many subscribers and much control.

Also, good point with regards to the size of the stadiums. Serie A now has the reputation of having empty stadiums, but this is not all true. Our stadiums have huge capacity and, as most fans enjoy going in the curvas, they give the illusion of being empty. Now, attendances could definitely be better, but they're not as bad as they appear.

Wiggles = God !

In all seriousness tho

You guys forgot to mention the tracks and gates they have in the stadiums and how their most out of date. Another reason for lack of attendances.

Bari is a big city similar in size to liverpool in the uk. The S San Nicola is slightly larger than anfield and goodison but then remember that theres 2 big teams in lpool only one in bari. Their stadiums are always full.

The only solution is to charge cheaper prices and people will come.

1. Calcio's problems? You take out a super power in Juventus and you weaken the league a lot. We've always contributed so many players to the national team, and we still do despite us becoming 7th in the previous two seasons. Juventus used to attract a lot of star players to the club, and it wasn't that long ago when we featured in 3 Champions League grand finals in a row. They tried to kill off our club- the club which has been overwhelmingly the most successful domestically. If the same thing happened to Real Madrid or Manchester United or Bayern Munich then the quality of their respective leagues would also considerably drop. I think it's very sad that Juventus aren't a force in Europe at the moment.

2. Stadiums? Hell, if we won the hosting rights to Euro 2016, then that would have solved a lot.

3. Foreigners. I could start a whole argument, but I won't. All I'll say is that if you put a foreign player on the pitch, he takes the position of what could have been a young Italian player. And it's average/mediocre foreigners that hurt us the most.

mezzogiornese wrote:Bari is a big city similar in size to liverpool in the uk. The S San Nicola is slightly larger than anfield and goodison but then remember that theres 2 big teams in lpool only one in bari. Their stadiums are always full.

The only solution is to charge cheaper prices and people will come.

Uh no? Bari has a population of 300,000... Liverpool is more of an urban city, Bari does not even compare.

As a mezzo barese living in what is striclty classed as merseyside i will tell you that liverpool and bari are very similar. The met area of bari has like a million people. The province of Bari even more. The city of liverpool itself is a bit bigger but only due to where the city boundaries are drawn. Bari is at the heart of a massive urban area. Liverpools met area must have around the same amount, if not smaller.

Anyway this is all terminology and no substance - why is it important that the cities are similar? One has 2 teams with full stadiums, one has 1 team with a half empty one.

Liverpool is like Genoa... Bari, is a bad comparison.

Have you ever been to either Bari or Liverpool Sciacca?

As I said I live in Merseyside (the county of Liverpool) and am half Barese so I think I am quite knowledgeable about this. As far as I know you are from a Sicilian family living in Canada. I know you’re a fiery character from reading your posts, but there’s no need for being so harsh with me when I have done nothing to deserve it.
Replying with sarcastic comments like "uh no?" trying to imply that I am too thick to form a well rounded opinion doesn’t help anything in the thread and just provokes ill feeling.
Back to the topic, let me summarise why I think they are good cities to compare:

Both Port Cities – (Port cities seem to produce a certain friendly type of people- Both scousers and Barese are famous for being friendly) No robbing jokes here please :p
Similar Sizes- Especially Met. Areas = Similar sized potential stadium able fan base.
Local teams have similar sized stadia-
Stadio San Nicola- 58,270
Anfield- 45,276
Goodison Park- 40,157
Total Liverpool - 85,433
Both historically cities with very poor inhabitants . Can’t find any figures on GDP on both but if you don’t believe me google poverty then either city.
So the difference is- why are Liverpool stadiums full but Bari stadium not?

Of course Liverpool have a huge overseas fanbase but the same cannot be said for Everton and the majority of the tickets I believe would be sold to people from within the Liverpool Met. Area.
Bari are now again in Serie B but their attendances during the 2 years in Serie A were still low.

You have to admit that , gone are those days when Roma and Lazio had 60000 nd 45000 average attendances. People in Italy are no more interested to go to stadiums to support their teams. Rather they enjoy it from the comfort of their room...

I don't agree with that. I think people are still interested it's just far too expensive.

In fact I've been to Bari 4 times in my past time as I also have friends there. So yes I know what I'm talking about.

Well not Liverpool so not as much as me, signor.

Anyway there's no point in arguing about that.

Pastore is set to be the latest to leave, even though like Balotelli, he wants to stay in Italy. Hopefully Zampa will show that he's not a total bellend and sell to an Italian side for a decent price like he did with Cavani.