TMW
During the Social Football Summit 2024 currently taking place at the ‘Olimpico’ Stadium in Rome, the CEO and general director of the Palermo Giovanni Gardini. Here are his statements collected by correspondents of TuttoMercatoWeb.com: “The City Football Group bought Palermo because they believe that Italian football is a reality to be further developed, they considered Palermo the ideal place in terms of fans and commercial development after the teams they already had in England, Spain, France and Belgium. Palermo was purchased in Serie C, the category was not important because the project is far-sighted and long-term results are sought. Palermo is an opportunity to play football at an industrial level. We are certainly less than 50% of the way there, it is difficult to quantify the potential of a city like Palermo. It has a catchment area in Italy and around the world that few teams can have. We have a moral obligation to be increasingly competitive in the immediate future. Palermo is not a branch, each club has its own independence from the others. There is great interaction and information sharing in all areas, from sports to marketing. Being part of a group means sharing, from Melbourne to New York. For us, the drive is the sporting result, if you don’t have results the rest is worth little or nothing. Palermo today has great visibility. Football, especially in Italy, depends on what is said and little on what is done. We are for doing, not for saying, we don’t need slogans. Then we certainly make mistakes, we try to reduce the percentage of errors because it is impossible not to make them. You never remember what you said before, you need consistency and competence. These are the fundamental characteristics we look for at a business and sporting results level.”
Sports performance and sports center – “On a sporting level we are below expectations, the results are there for all to see but the championship has shown in the past that it is important to be in the right position in the standings by the middle of the second round. We must be ready as soon as possible. From a marketing and brand point of view, we are at an extremely advanced stage and we are very happy with this. The key to why Palermo was purchased is because the previous owner purchased land to build the sports centre, built in. 14 months with two football fields for the first team, a club house available to the team. We have purchased a second part of land and we will study the most appropriate thing to do. Today, from a sporting point of view, we are not getting what we expected we have built the team. However, we are a young group, we are indebted to Palermo because we must try to obtain better results. We believe that Palermo is fortunate to have a color and a brand that is recognizable worldwide, Dua Lipa and Jason Momoa have. wore the Palermo shirt. We brought Puma back to Palermo after ten years, we need more awareness of what Palermo is. He has extraordinary potential, after the big five from a structural point of view Palermo can easily be at that level. To date, the biggest difficulty is winning matches, we have an average of 24,000 spectators and we also record important numbers away from home. There is this small mole that is not so small and that needs to be recovered.”
Stadium question – “We are talking to the public administration to provide Palermo with a stadium that meets the needs of modern football. In Palermo we are finding total availability from the public administration which is understanding our desire to invest. For a group like ours it is important to have only the stadium, we don’t need anything else. We are lucky that Palermo has 4 million tourists and the stadium is used every day from the museum to the store to make the investment which will be borne solely by the owner less burdensome as a factor and we are evaluating the opportunity to make ourselves available. We need to get busy, the Palermo stadium was partially rebuilt for the 1990 World Cup and then no longer had adequate maintenance. We are trying to improve it and make it more welcoming for the fans who responded with 13,600 season tickets. In Palermo we have many foreigners who ask to go around the stadium, but often we can’t do it.”
On trust in Alessio Dionisi – “Trust in the technical staff is inevitable, we never decide on our gut and we must always be reflective without getting caught up in evaluating the result. The performance can be there and you don’t win, but you have to analyze everything and make the best decision for the team. We we make the strategies and we decide, then an economic budget is made at the beginning of the season and the sporting result to be achieved. Within that there is total freedom of movement, in all the companies of the City Football Group the management is local because the The identity aspect is fundamental.”
On the relationship with the other assets of the City Group – “There is no colonization, we just want to help to grow. We are lucky to be able to share all our activities on a daily basis, today I spoke with Bahia, New York and Melbourne. This happens for every compartment, we have the same tools as Manchester City like all the companies in the group. We are not used to having money available in Italy. Evidently these foreign properties see prospects that we Italians do not see. The final objective of this project may be Europe, but Palermo certainly has it the potential in the medium term to stabilize in the top ten teams in Serie A. In two and a half years and in six markets we have only signed one player from City. There is agreement on every aspect, then the decisions on the pitch are up to each individual The decisions for Palermo are made by Palermo, there is a same process for all clubs. City wants to change manager, they do it in the same way as Palermo all teams. The decision is always collegial, it will never be individual. Each team has people responsible for developing the activities, then the best path is shared. The more people who come to the table, the better. The problem is not the length, the important thing is to make the right choice, not the time. The solution for Palermo must be found by Palermo, not by the City Football Group. Time is an opportunity and an alibi, the market is the same thing. The market will not give us the solutions, we must find them internally by enhancing our players and proving that we are stronger. The greatest pride is the team off the pitch that we have built and the team on the pitch that we are building.”