Today the president of Lazio Claudio Lotito received the ‘Leader’s Life’ award. This is the thought of the biancoceleste number one reported by Laziosiamonoi:
What if I’m more pleased if you call me president or senator?
“My name is Claudio Lotito. We are what we represent in terms of superstructures, which are not part of the person, but are part of what appears. Kant made a difference between appearance and substance, the person does not need superstructures , precisely because it exists. This is a problem linked to character. I always say that life is a set of a film, 90% are spectators, 7% are extras and 3% are protagonists it leads them to work for the system. Because through their previous strength they derive the desire to put themselves at the service of the community, give an answer to problems and find satisfaction in seeing that others are satisfied. This is an important theme, it seems like a game words but then it becomes the soul of those who have the desire to do, to change, to demonstrate that roles must be conquered with authority and not with authority.
Politics must be at the service of the people. I was voted in a region where they saw me as a foreigner, Molise. Today the citizens are not happy, they are very happy because they see that they are at their service. Today I think of representing them to give answers to their problems. Sport is not just the achievement of sporting and economic objectives: when I became president I said that football must be educational and valorising, teaching and valorising. The values of sport are the results of civil society. At the time of the Olympics the wars stopped. There was respect for the opponent, for the human being.
They said that Lazio was a racist team, today it seems anything but racist to me. Today they tell me “but it all has black players”, but I don’t understand what the problem is. I’m interested in sport giving this message. I was faced with a choice: I could make Lazio go bankrupt by not spending a single euro, or save it by taking on the debts it had. The debts were enormous, I joined in 2004 and Lazio had a turnover of 84 million and lost 86.5 million. He had 550 million in debt. I made the choice to save history, because the history of this company is a history made as a moral entity. A predecessor of mine, at the time of the ’15-’18 war, precisely because people did not have the opportunity to eat, gave the possibility of using the training center as a vegetable garden to be cultivated by people to eat.
Sport and football must be at the service of the people. How many people in the name of Lazio try to overcome the problems of everyday life? Maybe they are a little less fortunate, from a physical, economic and social point of view and with Lazio they receive an enthusiasm, a passion, a return that allows them to have the strength to overcome the problems of everyday life. We have a social responsibility. A president must ask himself this problem, it must not only be projected towards economic and sporting results, but also social ones.
We have this responsibility. Whoever runs a company, whoever runs a football team, whoever is involved in politics must ask themselves this problem, put themselves at the service of the people. How important is the mind in leader Lotito? 99%. When I entered the world of football, on the first day I arrived in the League and the first thing they asked me was if I was president. The outgoing president was Galliani and I told him that he should fill that role, because he represents in experience and the relationship with the Palace, with the Prime Minister to change the system. When I went up to the service there was Zamparini who was talking to Moratti and said to me “but you have just arrived and you are already deciding who will be President?”, I replied “remember that experience is worth the relationship to the times and the person. That does that mean it takes you 10 years to understand something, me a minute.
So, we went to the assembly where there were 42 presidents. There was a system there where almost the same people always spoke, they were the most autonomous, 7-8 people. At a certain point I ask to speak and I tell him: “Look, I’m a neophyte, but everyone here is saying who is president and who isn’t president, but no one who asks the question that we produce “a billion one hundred million” of debts. How can this problem be solved? Cost containment, tax exemption, gaming to the advantage of the League, what are now commonly called betting and multi-functional stadiums.
To make you understand that after a month I have become the point of reference for these people. We’re talking about Agnelli, Berlusconi, Moratti, Piero Della Valle… all the elite of the Italian economy. I couldn’t compete, but I used my mind. And always remember, study is essential, because having knowledge of things gives you the freedom to decide your destiny.
I am the owner of Lazio from a legal point of view, but from a practical point of view I am the custodian of the historical and sporting heritage that has come down to today thanks to the work of many of my predecessors. I guarantee you that of all the experiences I have, this activity is the most complicated of all. This is a group game, so I always say I have the ability to unite a group and make it all for one and one for all.”