In May 2021, the Friedkins caught everyone off guard. It seemed that Sarri was the only recipient of the bench, José Mourinho arrived. Almost unbelievable, also for the timing and the ambitions of a team that would soon be playing the Conference, the least prestigious of the three tournaments in Europe. Roma, however, had not won a Fairs Cup for a very long time, since 1960-61. The Coppa Italia was far away from 2007-08, the Supercoppa from 2007, the Scudetto from 2000-21, the year of the last Jubilee.
A three-year project, with Tiago Pinto as general manager to oversee market operations. The Friedkins have always been clear: “The deadlines are those, we’ll talk about it in three years”. In reality it didn’t go that way for various reasons, both with Tiago Pinto – who preferred not to sit still and wait for the owners’ obsessions, nor for the coach, sacked in January 2024 after two consecutive European finals. Already in the summer of 2023 there had been big problems with Mou, who complained about a late transfer campaign. More or less the same things as Daniele De Rossi, but when you don’t invest it’s also normal. This summer Roma invested. Badly or well, it’s not known, we’re on matchday four. But we know that De Rossi is no longer the coach despite a three-year contract.
Another three-year project? That was the intention. Instead, Lina Souloukou, CEO of the club since March 2023, has already changed three coaches in a year. She has almost eliminated the technical staff of the club, but also the management, since many have been fired, for good cause or not, with various work-related causes also by the employees. It is a clear restructuring, with the intention of taking more and more space at the expense of others. Right or wrong.
The reality is that at least the technical project no longer exists, net of investments. And there is no problem in sacking a coach with three years of contract, if the latter goes to a direct clash, in the open field. Souloukou herself at Olympiakos – where she was from 2018 to 2022 – has never sacked a coach, always keeping Pedro Martins. It is also true that the Piraeus club had won three consecutive Super Leagues.