Coaches bear the brunt of the blame for poor showings

Some club owners in Italy are renowned for having a short fuse when they come to deal with their coaches. The outgoing season was no exception as there were no fewer than 13 coaching changes in the Serie A.

Franco Colomba was the first to go as Bologna sacked him just before the start of the campaign.

He was replaced by Alberto Malesani who led the team to safety without any particular hiccups despite the club being docked three points due to financial irregularities.

Towards the end of the season, Parma gave Colomba an opportunity to bounce back and prove himself all over again.

Up to the 31st day, Parma looked heading straight to the Serie B notwithstanding the signing of new players in both transfer windows.

With Pasquale Marino in charge, Parma could only garner seven wins and 11 draws in 31 games but Colomba lifted their gloom as Parma went on to win 14 points from their last seven outings and retain their status.

Bari were practically doomed when new coach Bortolo Mutti was unveiled before the 25th day.

With Giampiero Ventura, Bari had taken the Serie A by storm in season 2009-10 but the same cannot be said of last term.

In fact, Bari were poor all season and never really got going.

They only managed 14 points in 24 games with Ventura and things did not improve too much either with Mutti as Bari remained rock bottom, managing just 10 points from their remaining 14 games.

Sampdoria were hovering just above the relegation trapdoor when they sacked Mimmo di Carlo after the 28th day (seven wins and 10 draws).

However, in their final 10 outings, Samp could only win five points under the charge of Alberto Cavasin and the once-mighty team eventually got relegated.

At Palermo, Serse Cosmi was a flop as with him around the side could only manage three points from four outings. Club supremo Maurizio Zamparini rectified his mistake and re-appointed Delio Rossi who led the team to the Coppa Italia final.

In similar vein, relegated Brescia sacked Giuseppe Iachini after 15 matches (three wins and three draws) and then turned back to him on the 23rd day.

In between, Mario Beretta could only lead Le Rondinelle to two wins in seven games.

Brescia were relegated in the end as Iachini’s return produced poor dividends – 14 points.

Gianpiero Gasperini, now at Inter, was sacked by Genoa after a long stint with the club.

Genoa were in the wrong half of the table (11 points in 10 games) when Davide Ballardini took over but finished a creditable 10th with 51 points after a more positive run-in to the campaign.

This time last year, Pierpaolo Bisoli had just quit Cesena after helping them to make a much-awaited return to the top flight after a 19-year absence.

Bisoli left to join Cagliari where he had starred as a holding midfielder in the 1990s. But his return was not a happy one as he could only resist 12 games (two wins and five draws).

Ex-Italy coach Roberto Donadoni replaced Bisoli and steered Cagliari to safer waters – 34 points in 26 games.

Marco Giampaolo was sacked for the second year running.

In 2009/10, he was shown the backdoor by Siena and last season, Giampaolo was fired by Catania after 20 matches (five wins and seven draws).

His replacement, Diego Simeone, a former Lazio and Inter great did quite well – 24 points in 18 games.

Rafa Benitez was, perhaps, the biggest coaching casualty of the past campaign.

The Spaniard had a tough act to follow as Inter had just won a unique treble with Jose Mourinho.

Benitez never really got the backing of the players and in January he was replaced by Leonardo who revived the team’s spirits and led the side to an Italian Cup triumph after beating Palermo in the final.

At Roma, Claudio Ranieri had no alternative other than to hand in his resignation following the Giallorossi’s 3-4 upset to Genoa on the 26th day, a game in which Roma were leading 3-0 midway through the second half.

Ranieri was said to have fallen out with the old guard, particularly Francesco Totti and Daniele de Rossi. Vincenzo Montella rep-laced the ex-Chelsea manager at the Roma bench.

Roma collected 39 points in 25 games with Ranieri on the side-lines. Montella led the team from the capital to sixth place after chalking up 24 points.