[attach id=258324 size="medium"]Palermo’s Edgar Barreto (left) battles for the ball with Claudio Marchisio, of Juventus.[/attach]
Maurizio Zamparini has only himself to blame for seeing Palermo lose their Serie A status for the first time in nine years.
The 71-year-old supremo failed to provide any sense of continuity to his team after effecting four coaching changes throughout the past season.
Palermo started with Giuseppe Sannino but he only lasted three matches as he got dismissed following back-to-back defeats to Napoli and Lazio.
Gian Piero Gasperini was given the job and the former Inter coach survived 20 games (three wins, seven draws and 10 defeats). Still, Palermo never got going and were constantly in the mire of relegation.
Alberto Malesani, who had led Parma to UEFA Cup success in 1999, replaced Gasperini for only three games.
Successive draws against fellow strugglers Pescara, Chievo and Genoa marked the end of Male-sani’s tenure who left the Sicilians deeply rooted at the bottom end of the standings.
Gasperini was reappointed but his second spell was even shorter as a goalless draw with Torino and a 2-1 home defeat to Siena marked the end of his stint in Sicily.
Sannino was back in charge and after a 2-0 defeat he managed to lead the side to a five-match positive run (three wins and two draws). This was a streak that included impressive wins over Coppa Italia finalists Roma (2-0) and Inter (1-0).
That turned out too little too late though to save Palermo as defeats to Juventus (0-1), Udinese (2-3), Fiorentina (0-1) and Parma (1-3) sealed their fate.
Zamparini has now named Gen-naro Gattuso as the new coach.
However, it remains to be seen whether the former Milan midfielder will be able to convince the Palermo boss to give him enough time to change the club’s fortunes.
Coaches’ fate
In similar vein, Siena’s change of coach – Giuseppe Iachini for Serse Cosmi after the 17th day – was not enough to help the Tuscany side, who started the campaign with a six-point penalty, to avoid the drop.
Pescara were the only promoted side to be relegated last month as Sampdoria and Torino both extended their Serie A stay.
Pescara, the 2011/12 Serie B champions, replaced Zdenek Zeman with Giovanni Stroppa.
They also lost the services of Marco Verratti (PSG), Ciro Immobile (Genoa) and Lorenzo Insigne (Napoli).
Pescara, who finished bottom with only 22 points, were the weakest Serie A side last season as their restricted budget hindered them from bolstering their squad adequately.
Stroppa, a former Foggia player under Zeman, stepped down after seeing Pescara beaten by Siena on the 13th day (three wins, two draws and eight defeats).
Former Lazio defender Cristian Bergodi was then unveiled as Pescara’s new coach.
Bergodi resisted 14 games (three wins, one draw and 10 defeats) as he was fired after the 27th day. The Bruno Nobili-Cristian Bucchi tandem took charge for the remaining 11 games but Pescara’s fate had already been sealed.
Zeman’s second stint with Roma was a complete flop.
He was eventually sacked after the 23rd day (10 wins, four draws and nine defeats). Under Aurelio Andreazzoli, the team from the capital improved and finished sixth in the Serie A and reached their 17th Coppa Italia final – the first since 2009/10.
Chievo were simply heading nowhere under Domenico Di Carlo.
A 2-0 home win over Bologna augured well but this success was followed by five straight defeats. Ex-club captain Eugenio Corini took over on the seventh day and steered the side to a creditable 12th place with 45 points.
Similarly, Cagliari sacked Massimo Ficcadenti after the sixth day (two draws and four defeats) and instead appointed the Ivo Pulga-Diego Lopez tandem. The Sardinians finished 11th with 47 points.
After a promising start, Sampdoria experienced a nosedive and Ciro Ferrara was replaced by Delio Rossi at a time when they were in deep relegation trouble with 18 points in 17 games.
The Blucerchiati eventually finished 14th with 42 points.
Genoa had three coaches in the outgoing season.
They started with Luigi De Canio at the helm but the ex-Udinese coach was sacked after the eighth day (two wins, three draws and three defeats).
Under his successor Luigi Del Neri, formerly of Genoa’s eternal rivals Sampdoria, Genoa did not improve (two wins, two draws and nine defeats).
Eventually, Davide Ballardini, who had already coached Genoa in 2010/11, chartered a safe way through troubled waters for Italy’s oldest club.