TMW Radio
“Ithaca is always celebrating, because we’ve been partying in Castellammare for a month”: guest this morning on the show A Tutta C, broadcast on TMW Radio, he begins like this, smiling, the Juve Stabia coach Guido Pagliuca, which achieved promotion to Serie B on 8 April, four years after the last time. With the coach who has always compared the cadet series to Ithaca, home of the mythological hero Ulysses, whose exploits are recounted in Homer’s epic poem.
Pagliuca then continued: “I had the opportunity to coach an exceptional group, from a technical and moral value point of view, and I had the opportunity to work with a well-prepared Director like Matteo Lovisa, attentive to the human resource of the players he brings into the team. group: this has allowed us to always work with a smile, without pressure and therefore to make an important journey with the help of a President who has put us in the best possible conditions to work”.
Group, the C of Serie C, difficult and complex, but can it be said that there has never really been a real opponent of Juve Stabia?
“During the last preparation, with the sporting director and the president, we were looking for five teams to put behind us, and it wasn’t easy to see five teams in such a group that could stay behind us, that we wanted a quiet survival. But then, day after day , with a humble and hard-working society, and I also refer to those who worked behind the scenes and who are seen less but who also showed a great sense of belonging, we have done something splendid.”
How much did the club’s moves have an impact, before the final goal, such as its renewal, that of the DS and senators such as Gerbo and Mignanelli?
“The company was fundamental in everything, with these choices it gave serenity to all of us who worked on a daily basis. Gerbo and Mignanelli then masterfully ran a changing room, when I closed that door I was certain of having true values guided by expert people. And all of this had an impact.”
But let’s go to his staff: how was Pagliuca the coach born?
“I come from a career as a low-level footballer, I was a defender adaptable to a defensive midfielder, but at 26, thanks to Alberto Lazzerini I started coaching the kids of Cecina. I then studied, I updated myself, I met people, and also thanks to the hunger I have always had I started to create my own model which has changed over the years. At the beginning I saw a heartfelt football, the pitches were not beautiful and that made the difference, but when I arrived at Borgo a Buggiano. I opted for more quality football: in that period I went to see Zeman for a month and I started to like more proactive, positional football, made up of many principles and fewer schemes always the player, who is the one who affects the result and gives the coach the opportunity to propose his own ideas.”
The Pagliuca man is the one who however also has something else in life, football is not his entire existence. What does this represent in his being?
“Not having been a former footballer who could even afford to sit out a year and play minor leagues, I have always been careful, I have a dependent family and therefore I always try to maintain what my job is, having a family business is simpler, and initially I always chose something, so to speak, within driving distance. The culture of work, which I then brought back to football, I believe is fundamental, and it is something that my family has always passed on to me. experienced the world of work”.
But why has Serie B never noticed Pagliuca?
“The character aspect, which is something that holds me back and has held me back over the years, has a huge impact, as it should. And I followed a path supported by a Tuscan person, Fabio, who helped me a lot to find the right distance from what the event is, the match: a few years ago I lived with more emotion throughout the week, and when I arrived at the match I worked too hard on my balance, but I have to continue to improve a little more. to remove those too many disqualifications that I still get.”
If you had a magic wand, which coach would you go see for a week?
“Yesterday I spent the whole day with a collaborator of Maresca, who adopts a football of principles that I would like to propose and which I am studying, but which we have already done at times in Castellammare. But it is also a continuous study on De Zerbi, Thiago Motta , Sarri: they are coaches who give me a lot for my studies.”
Let’s move on to next season: what do you expect and who wouldn’t you like to meet given that the B team isn’t definitively made up yet?
“I’ll make a premise: the alchemy that was created with our people was an added value, the Curva Sud is a crazy thing and I would like to start again from this passion. Serie B is a difficult championship, we should maintain humility, even because complex teams have come down from Serie A, and now we risk one between Empoli and Udinese, other big teams, but we have an intelligent president: one step at a time, our goal will be to save ourselves.”
Let’s go back to C: how do you rate these quarter-finals of the playoffs?
“Having experienced Group C, I know that Avellino and Benevento are two strong teams, individually and in terms of structure and club, they have good chances. I was then very surprised by Torres, who did something really important. But I see Vicenza as the main candidate for promotion”.
Also in the playoffs are Juventus Next Gen, still in the running, and Atalanta U23: what do you think of the second teams?
“Making young people grow in a Serie C championship is very important, it gives the possibility of replacement in the categories above, and this year Juve and Atalanta have offered really good football. There we also saw the continuity with Gasperini’s football, done like this, it’s an excellent project for building players.”