Torino FC – The stuttering rebirth of Torino Calcio

by Marco Maioli

On the final day of last season, Torino needed three points to qualify for the play-offs and maintain some hope of promotion. The 24,244 fans who turned up to Stadio Olimpico (a record for 2010-11 Serie B) and watched their team lose 2-0 were certainly disappointed, but even they would recognize that, if there was ever a side that deserved a chance to advance to the top flight, that was not Torino. After the match some ultras invaded the pitch and two hours later there were still fans outside the stadium swearing at the players and, above all, at president Urbano Cairo.

Five years ago the atmosphere surrounding the club could not have been more different. Within a year of the dissolution in 2005 of Torino Calcio due to financial problems and the creation of the new Torino FC, the squad put together in little time by the new owner, the businessman Cairo, managed to gain promotion to Serie A. In an epic two legged play off final I Granata, having lost to Mantova, won the return match 3-1 in extra time in front of a Stadio Delle Alpi packed with almost 60,000 ecstatic torinisti. Torino was back in Serie A, this time with a rich owner and a growing enthusiasm among the supporters.

Five seasons later, the feeling is that Toro is slowly descending into anonymity; while the initial plan was to build a competitive side able to fight, one day, for a European spot, come August Torino began a third consecutive season in the second tier. The Piedmontese entrepreneur, having worked for years as an assistant to Silvio Berlusconi (earning himself the nickname “Il Cavalierino”) before founding his own publishing house, was expected to emulate his mentor’s successes in the world of football, but until now he has only shown a high degree of incompetence and haughtiness.

The first triumphal year at the club probably convinced Cairo he was on the right path to bring back Torino to its glory days. Reality proved him wrong, the sacking of the coach before the start of the first season back in the top flight being only the first of a number of schizophrenic decisions. At the time of writing there have been thirteen managerial changes since 2007 and four coaches have been fired and then re-hired within months or even weeks. Add to that seven different sporting directors (more than one per year), a passion for famous players well past their best years (Alvaro Recoba and Francesco Coco to name but two) and it is not hard to understand how instability at every level has seriously affected Torino’s chances to consolidate top division status.

The last Serie B campaign was marked by a series of tragicomic events: in August, just a week after having joined the club on loan, forward Marco Bernacci announced his retire amid rumours that he was affected by depression. Only to declare, nine months later, that nothing serious had happened and that he had just taken a “sabbatical year”, thanking Torino for not having insisted that he should play football.

In February Cairo, claiming that 70% of fans still loved him, announced a decision to sell the club, citing the criticism by a “minority of fans” as the reason behind his choice. But he has since refused to even talk to the group of Swiss-Italian entrepreneurs that stated their interest. In March the head coach, Franco Lerda, was sacked and then called back to Turin after only eleven days, during which a new coach, Giuseppe Papadopulo, could only lead the team to two defeats before being removed.

Six years have passed since Cairo’s takeover. Not only have Torino failed to achieve anything, but in the meantime other clubs with smaller fan bases and less illustrious histories have reached far better results, with another Piedmontese side, Novara, reaching Serie A after more than fifty years. Cairo is not referred to anymore with the loving nickname of “Papa Urbano” and some fans, inspired by Manchester United supporters’ anti-Glazer protest, have adopted the colours of FC Torinese, expressing their discontent to the cry of “nero e oro finchè non vendi il Toro” (black and gold until you sell Toro).

During the summer the club managed to keep captain Rolando Bianchi, whose goals were vital in the last two seasons, although various players returned on loan to parent clubs. It is now up to the newly appointed veteran coach Giampiero Ventura to avoid being sacked while trying to make the team play the entertaining football for which he is famous.

Marco Maioli is a columnist for Just Football specialising in Italian football.

Italian Serie B, Italy, Torino FC