There are not only the most celebrated Rino Gattuso, Roberto De Zerbi And Francesco Farioli to shine around Europe. In fact, in the small league of Gibraltar a young coach is showing off who in the British overseas territory concluded a globetrotting career as a footballer before moving to the bench, with a final year at Glacis United playing the dual role.
It’s about Michele Di Piedi who started from Sicily and soon headed abroad, first to England, where he was purchased at the beginning of the millennium by Sheffield Wednesday and then also wore the shirt of Bristol Rover and Norwegian Odd Grenland. Then the return to Italy and new experiences abroad in Lithuania, Myanmar, Venezuela, Portugal and finally Gibraltar which definitively adopted him.
At Glacis United the start was not the most promising with only three victories in 15 appearances as player-coach, but Di Piedi subsequently made up for it by leading the team on 42 other occasions obtaining a fourth and a sixth place in the regular season which were access to the ‘Championship Group‘, but above all the call in the summer from Europa FC, a team that has finished in second place in the last two years behind the usual Lincoln Red Imps and eager to return to triumph in the championship.
A choice that has paid off so far given that the black-green team is at the top of the table after seven matchdays and boasts the best attack on par with second-placed St. Joseph’s, with five wins and two draws – both coming in the last two outings – which have I was awarded the title of best coach in the championship for the months of August and September. In total in 21 benches with Europa Di Piedi achieved 12 successes and boasts an average of 1.9 points per game, thanks to a 4-3-3 which enhances the Labra and Vittorio Vigoloone of several Italians in the squad, who have now scored four times each this year, alternating at the center of the trident. Numbers that the black-green club hopes will last a long time to be able to return to celebrate a title that has been missing since 2016/17 or perhaps a Gibraltar Cup that has been missing since 2018/19.