Palermo’s eccentric chairman Maurizio Zamparini has sacked Giuseppe Sannino just three games into the new Serie A season, making the coach his 41st managerial sacking in just 26 years in football.
Sannino has been replaced by former Inter Milan manager Gian Piero Gasperini, who is no stranger to such a situation having been sacked after just five Serie A games in charge at the Giuseppe Meazza.
Sannino’s sacking takes Zamparini’s count to five managers in just twelve months following the dismissal of Delio Rossi for the second time at the end of the 2010/11 season.
Sannino’s sacking comes as no great surprise given Zamparini’s track record and what he said early regarding his now former manager: “Sannino is my coach, he is not at risk. His team looks empty, clueless, but let us allow him to work calmly.”
Not exactly a ringing endorsement of a manager that was appointed only June after leaving fellow Serie A club Siena.
However, he has paid the ultimate price for Palermo’s poor start to the season which has seen them pick up just one point from three games.
Zamparini, referred to as the ‘manager-eater’, is no stranger to these positions, having made 25 managerial changes (26 if you include the co-managerial reign of Renzo Gobbo and Rosario Pergolizzi) with average of over two managers per year under the trigger-happy chairman.
After the sacking of Sannino, the owner said: “Giuseppe Sannino got everything wrong. It was a huge mistake,” and added “It’s better to sack a coach than be relegated to Serie B. There was no harmony between him and the team.”
For now, Sannino can at least take solace in the fact that Zamparini will have to continue to pay his contract (unless an agreement can be reached) as the former Palermo tactician, as per Italian football laws, cannot manage another team in the same division until next season.
For Gasperini we wish him luck. Something tells us he may need it.
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