Matteo Marania few hours after the unanimous re-election to the presidency of the Lega Pro, was a guest of the Florence studios of TMW Radio inside the transmission To All C
“I am very grateful to the clubs, if we have reached this unanimity it is thanks to the 57 clubs that have the right to vote. Gratitude to them and to the working group, today the great resource is the working group that works in great harmony. Here in Florence all the people who work together with me and try to apply the working group method to move forward together. I extend this thanks to the media, information bodies and those who have been following C on a daily basis for a long time. You too here follow him perfectly, I managed to be here with you despite the rain in Florence which however didn’t stop me”.
Among the many topics touched upon, Marani also talks about the possible introduction of the Salary Cap, the possibility of experimenting with light VAR
“”I can tell you beforehand that we are discussing the issue of the ‘Salary Cap’ – he explained during the ‘A Tutta C’ broadcast -: yesterday was an important day for us for this proclamation, but it is already part of the past and now we have to look after you. The ‘Salary Cap’, the control of expenses is something we can influence and intervene entirely. We want to support the Zola reform, the commitment I have made to the clubs is total. All the resources that arrive will be invested in young people, a movement that has no future has no present.”
I greet and thank Gianluca Rocchi because he allowed us to introduce VAR in the playoffs and playouts last season: we also had to prepare the varsity players with night and day courses to comply with the requests. Always having 30 games per weekend, we would need 30 more VAR and 30 more AVAR, therefore 60 more people to manage at referee level. Which is not simple. I would like to have VAR for the entire season, even if I see that the controversies are not easing, on the contrary, absurdly, they are increasing and it becomes a sort of analysis of individual episodes. There is a very clear issue of costs, VAR has enormous costs, already using it in the playoffs was a significant cost, fortunately we quadrupled revenues in the season and therefore the resources were there. An investment would be needed in 1200 matches, a figure that would be even higher than the purchasing campaigns of some companies. We will try to make an important effort again: last year we managed to make the playoffs with seven cameras and even the final in Carrara with 14. The final had two million viewers. This is to make clear the attention around this wonderful category that is Serie C. There is often complaint against the referee, but I believe that they should be helped and supported. The real danger is that in a few years we will have fewer and fewer referees, as long as we expose them to attacks and accusations. Which kid could think of training as a referee and then take insults or even worse from their parents? All this and then get almost no refund. A situation for which I voted in favor of increasing it. In the section of Bologna that I frequented for years I saw a young Nicola Rizzoli grow up and I saw Pierluigi Collina become great. Speaking with him, FIFA was studying a model for the light VAR and I gave him the availability as well as the Federal President to be a test championship for this project”.
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