Player power was a key factor behind the resignation of ex-Roma coach Claudio Ranieri late Sunday.
Earlier in the day, Roma were leading 3-0 away at Genoa but the team had a sudden collapse and instead of building on that advantage, the Giallorossi ended up on the losing end of a 3-4 scoreline.
Roma looked in control but only until Rodrigo Palacio started Genoa’s incredible fightback. He found the back of the Roma net on 52 minutes and after that the visitors slipped into oblivion.
Roma’s fourth straight defeat, following crashing setbacks to Inter (3-5) and Napoli (0-2), in the Serie A, and Shakhtar Donetsk (2-3) in the Champions League, made Ranieri’s position even more untenable particularly the way the defeat at the Marassi stadium came about.
In 2009/10, this same bunch of Roma players, excluding top close- season signings Marco Borriello, Fabio Simplicio and Adriano, were ushered by Ranieri from the bottom rungs of the Serie A to a runners-up spot.
This season, Roma alternated between some truly remarkable outings, culminated with merited wins over Inter, Milan, Juventus, Lazio and Bayern Munich, and dismal performances which brought about disastrous defeats against unfancied opponents in the shape of Cagliari, Brescia, Palermo and Sampdoria.
During the final minutes of Sunday’s match, the subdued attitude of some Roma players epitomised the internal rifts inside the dressing room, clearly suggesting that the rapport between Ranieri and his players was non-existent.
Many, including Ranieri himself, interpreted the Marassi debacle as a clear no-confidence vote by the players in their coach. It was no secret that he was not a favourite with some of his key players including team captain Francesco Totti.
Buoyed by their astonishing comeback last season, Roma, a club that has been up for sale for several months now, kept hold of their prized assets and also added five more players to increase Ranieri’s options.
In line with this strategy, Ranieri started adopting a rotation policy. At Roma, no-one had a secured starting place now and as a result Totti was often dropped to the substitutes bench.
The situation did not go down well with the captain and others, including Borriello.
The ex-Milan hit-man was seen complaining from the sidelines during Roma’s home defeat against Shakhtar last week.
He could not fathom how Ranieri had relegated the side’s most prolific striker this season at a time when Roma needed his goals.
They say coaching is a challenging career but in Italy they also contend that coaching Roma is even more difficult.
The supporters are so demanding. So much is their thirst for success that one of Fabio Capello’s most famous quotes is: ‘A single scudetto in Rome is worth 10 in Milan or Turin’.
When Ranieri took over from Luciano Spalletti, he had described the Roma job as a dream because for him football was all about passion. On top of that, he was coaching his favourite club for the first time.
On Sunday, Ranieri had to quit his dream job. Now his successor – the relatively inexperienced Vincenzo Montella – has a mammoth task in front of him.
Montella’s reign will officially start today with Roma’s game in hand, away at Bologna.
How long will Montella survive is not sure as the fans will now augur that the players will do the talking on the field of play while hoping that the prospective new owners will finally seal the deal to start a new era at one of the most glorious clubs in the Serie A.