Vittoriosa Stars are confident that they are heading in the right direction after getting to grips with the financial difficulties that threatened to undermine their hopes of retaining their Premier League status.

This new-found optimism was palpable yesterday as Vittoriosa held a news conference to introduce Felice Bellini as their new director general.

Vittoriosa are hopeful that Bellini, who already has some knowledge of Maltese football through his previous connections with Qormi, will be an asset to the club who, in November, were forced to terminate the contracts of Brazilian defender Ramon and midfielder Marcio Teruel to reduce their wage bill.

Erskin Vella, the Vittoriosa Stars president, said the purpose of the news conference was to allow Bellini to clarify his situation in light of certain rumours about his work in Malta.

“Tomorrow (today) Mr Bellini will meet Chris Bonett (MFA vice-president) and Franz Tabone (MFA integrity officer) to explain the reasons for his presence here,” Vella said.

Vittoriosa officials stressed that the meeting with the MFA officials had been requested by Bellini and the club’s committee.

“I came to Malta initially because they (Qormi) asked me to get them some players,” Bellini said.

“My work for Qormi started after (Tommaso) Volpi had been appointed coach. They made a request for players and I brought the likes of Riccardo Innocenti, Marco Petrassi, Federico Santaguida, who has since joined Vittoriosa, Christian Terribile and Francesco D’Aniello, who has played for Empoli in the Serie A.

“After these discussions, there was a proposal to establish a co-operation rapport with the club and I accepted voluntarily because I like the Maltese championship and I felt at ease here.

“I want to thank Qormi for giving me the possibility to be here.

“I decided to join Vittoriosa after I met a very serious person, president Erskin Vella. It’s a difficult project. A permanent place in the Premier League is the club’s main target this season.

“Away from the field, I will do my best to lure investors to the club because without financial input, you can’t go forward.

“Investment is crucial and I have important contacts with a number of clubs in Italy.”

Vittoriosa Stars are second from bottom in the Premier League on 12 points, only one behind Tarxien Rainbows and three adrift of Qormi.

Bellini had words of praise for the work of coach Oliver Spiteri.

“Vittoriosa have a good coach,” Bellini said. “He’s working well. The players are in a very good physical condition and their organisation on the pitch is also optimal.

“This squad was built at the start of the season and it would be wrong on my part to suggest major modifications but if I can bring one player who can improve the team, I’m willing to do it.

“I’ve seen seven to eight matches this season. I saw Vittoriosa play against Qormi and Naxxar.

“I’m very optimistic because, as I said, the team is well-prepared physically. They missed several chances against Naxxar (Vittoriosa lost 1-0) but that means that the team is creating... they just needed to be more concentrated in front of goal.”

On the circumstances that led to his severing of ties with Qormi, Bellini said: “At Qormi, I don’t really know what happened. When Volpi was relieved of his duties, we were not informed.

“I have no contracts with Volpi. My job was to bring players, that was the only reason I came to Malta.

“I wanted to work in Maltese football because I like the environment.

“Lately, I’ve heard some rumours which really upset me. I want to make it clear that I didn’t come here to do strange things, I’m here because I love football.”

Asked to comment on widespread speculation that illegal betting is rife in Maltese football, Bellini replied: “People love the game because football is beautiful. I don’t like to talk about these things which also send out the wrong message to our children.”

Spiteri, the Vittoriosa coach, has done a good job in maintaining unity among his squad after the loss of Ramon and Teruel fuelled a wave of scepticism.

“We encountered a few problems in November,” Spiteri said. “When we prepared our programme at the start of the season according to the squad we had, we didn’t know what was going to happen in November.

“The club had to terminate the contracts of Ramon and Teruel who were two important players for us.

“Ramon was our captain and won promotion with the club. Finding replacements for two important players like Ramon and Teruel is very difficult.

“There have been matches when we played with one or two foreigners only but we still played our game and offered a challenge to most teams.

“The new foreigners can do better but we are heading the right direction. We are trying to bring in two players who can help us.”

Spiteri praised the committee’s decision to prioritise the club’s financial well-being.

“The club didn’t have the funds to keep paying Ramon and Teruel,” Spiteri said.

“I must say that the club, especially the president, had the courage to make this decision... he didn’t want to keep players knowing that the club could no longer afford to pay their wages.”

Goalkeeper search

Vittoriosa are looking to sign a goalkeeper after Jean Mathias Vella fell out of favour with Spiteri for disciplinary reasons.

“We need a goalkeeper as we only have two at the moment,” Spiteri said.

“We are trying to get a Maltese goalkeeper. We were very close to signing Manuel Bartolo (on loan from Valletta) but it didn’t happen for reasons beyond our control.”

It is believed that Vittoriosa are in talks with Sliema Wanderers to sign goalkeeper Glenn Zammit on loan until the end of the season.

Over the past few weeks, Vittoriosa have recruited Francisco Arriagada, from Chile, Ivory Coast forward Seydon Bamba, Sidibe Ousmane, from French Guinea, David Mitogo (Equatorial Guinea), who made his debut in last weekend’s defeat to Naxxar, and Italian Santaguida.

Marcelo Pereira, who has taken on the captain’s armband after Ramon’s exit, said Vittoriosa can hold their own against the majority of the teams in the top flight.

“The atmosphere has changed,” Pereira said. “We’re happy and with the new players coming into the squad, we can play without fear.

“We’re not as strong as Birkirkara and Valletta, but we can face the other teams with no fear.”

BOV Premier League statistics

Balzan: Armario Negrin 4 (1 pen); Darmanin 3; Micallef 2; Agius, Scicluna, Aboulezz, Bezzina, Pereira, Sciberras, Spiteri, Grima.
Red cards: Agius (vs Vittoriosa Stars), Vignaroli (vs Sliema Wanderers), Aboulezz (vs Mosta), Falzon (vs Naxxar Lions), Grioli (vs Naxxar Lions).

Birkirkara: Jhonnattann 9; Haruna 5, Temile 5 (1 pen); Fenech 4 (1 pen); Matheus 2, Vella 2; Toure, Zerafa, Vukanac, Herrera, Camenzuli.
Own goal: Camilleri (vs Valletta).
Red card: Bissi (vs Hibernians).

Floriana: Coronado 10; Muir 6 (4 pens); Diogo 3; Bogdanovic 2, Pisani 2; Casha.
Own goals: Doffo (vs Naxxar); Bonnici (vs Tarxien).
Red card: Edet (vs Rabat Ajax).

Hibernians: Edison 13; Failla 8 (5 pens); Cohen 6; Obiefule 4, Lima 4; Soares 3; Levnaic, Farrugia, Kristensen, B. Muscat.
Red cards: Pearson (vs Vittoriosa, vs Naxxar), Camilleri (vs Mosta); Levniac (vs Valletta).

Mosta: Piccioni 7 (1 pen); Fernandes 6 (2 pens); Kaljevic 3 (1 pen); Micallef 2, Messias 2, Grech 2, T. Farrugia 2; Brincat, Pereira, Silva Faria, Duriska, Martins.
Own goals: S. Gauci (vs Rabat Ajax), Bugeja (vs Qormi), Camilleri (vs Vittoriosa Stars).
Red cards: Ekani (vs Tarxien); Grech (vs Birkirkara).

Naxxar Lions: Gilmar 5 (1 pen); Scerri 4; Falzon 3, Rocha Da Silva 3 (1 pen), Thiago 3; Buhagiar 2; Ani, Bonnici, Evaldo.
Red cards: Drago (vs Sliema Wanderers); Buhagiar (vs Tarxien Rainbows), Del Negro (vs Vittoriosa).

Qormi: Effiong 6 (1 pen); Bajada 5 (4 pens); Innocenti 2; Sammut, Bugeja, Grech, Jorginho, Del Giudice, Gabriel, Nucera.
Red cards: Bugeja (vs Floriana), Farrugia (vs Floriana), Pisani (vs Sliema).

Rabat: Micallef 3, Pelaez 3 (2 pens); Carrillo 2, Licari 2; Avila Perez, Gauci, Azzopardi.
Red cards: Falzon (vs Mosta); S. Gauci (vs Qormi).

Sliema: Ohawuchi 12; Muchardi 5; Navarra 3, Bello-Osagie 3 (2 pens), A. Muscat 3, Cilia 3; Bianciardi, Gueye, Woods (pen).
Red cards: Gatt Baldacchino (vs Tarxien), Mintoff (vs Valletta), Scerri (vs Qormi), Rapino (vs Naxxar).

Tarxien: Ronaille 10 (2 pens); Jorge 4; Potezica, Martinelli, Mamo, Bonnici.
Red cards: Potezica (vs Hibernians), Jorge (vs Sliema), Lopes (vs Rabat), Vella (vs Valletta, vs Qormi), Mifsud (vs Naxxar).

Valletta: Denni 13; Nafti 6; Agius 3, Briffa 3, Mifsud Triganza 3, Fenech 3; Nyang 2, Caruana 2; Barry, Camilleri, Zammit, Romulo.
Red cards: Agius (vs Mosta), Denni (vs Hibs), Vandelannoite (vs Balzan), Borg (vs Naxxar).

Vittoriosa Stars: Guerrero 8 (1 pen); Pereira 4; Martin 3; Teruel, Samir Arab, Aguiar.
Red cards: Aguiar (vs Tarxien, vs Qormi).

Next fixtures

Saturday
Hibs Stadium: 14.00 Tarxien vs Vittoriosa; 16.00 Hibs vs Mosta.
Tedesco Stadium: 14.00 Floriana vs Balzan; 16.15 Naxxar vs Rabat.

Sunday
National Stadium: 14.00 Valletta vs Sliema; 16.00 Qormi vs Birkirkara.

Standings

	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts
Birkirkara	17	14	2	1	33	13	44
Valletta	17	13	1	3	39	12	40
Hibernians	17	12	2	3	42	18	38
Sliema	17	8	6	3	32	20	30
Naxxar Lions	17	7	3	7	23	24	24
Mosta	17	7	2	8	32	31	23
Floriana (-6)	17	8	3	6	26	23	21
Balzan	17	4	4	9	17	27	16
Qormi	17	4	3	10	20	31	15
Tarxien	17	3	4	10	18	34	13
Vittoriosa	17	3	3	11	18	37	12
Rabat Ajax	17	1	3	13	13	43	6