Gasperini has never been an easy guy. Listen to some of the anecdote his former president told.
“Taci e allena”: il retroscena su Gasperini è piuttosto eloquente (Foto: Ansa) – serieanews.com
Gian Piero Gasperini is a difficult man. His players know it well, the managers who have dealt with him know it, and Enrico Preziosi, more than anyone, knows it. The former Genoa patron, in a recent interview with Gazzetta dello Sport, told an anecdote that perfectly explains the edgy and indomitable character of the current Atalanta coach.
The current season has brought to light obvious tensions between Gasperini and some key elements of Atalanta. The most egregious case was the recent clash with Ademola Lookman after his missed penalty in the Champions League against Club Brugge.
The harsh words of the coach, who called the player “one of the worst penalty takers ever,” created a frost between the two, even prompting the Percassi family to intervene to mend the rift. But the rift is also there with the club, so much so that Gasp has made it quite clear that this will be his last season at Atalanta. Sooner or later it had to happen.
But Lookman was not the only target of his rigidity. Nicolò Zaniolo, who left Dea in January, also asked for a transfer due to manifest incompatibility with the coach. Even patron Antonio Percassi has not been spared: relations between him and the coach have not always been idyllic, with some disagreements over market strategy and youth management.
Nor are all of these isolated episodes: over the years, the clash with Papu Gómez, the difficulties with some managers, and the absolute master of the bench attitude have built an image of Gasperini as a winning but difficult coach.
Preziosi e quella volta che gli ultras dissero a Gasperini di tacere
Preziosi’s account to Gazzetta starts with an episode that marked his relationship with Gasperini: “The point of no return came after a banner by some ultras, ‘Gasperini shut up and coach.'”
A direct message, one that highlights how much the coach was, even in his Genoa days, a difficult character to deal with. One of those who doesn’t mince words, even when perhaps it would be better to measure words.
Preziosi e quella volta che gli ultras dissero a Gasperini di tacere (AnsaFoto) – serieanews.com
Preziosi clarifies that their rift was not due to the lack of a UEFA license, which cost Genoa qualification for the Europa League, but rather a matter of internal management: “It made me angry because there were so many points of reference: my son, Capozucca, and others. But Gasp only listened to me, the others were cardboard players.”
That Gasperini is a divisive coach is a well-known fact. But Preziosi’s anecdote reveals something even more interesting: even when he arrived at Atalanta, the management was not 100 percent convinced of him. “I paid to free him,” Preziosi recounts, “Then Luca Percassi trusted him with great reservations, so much so that at the beginning Gasp was in danger of being exonerated.”
A hiccup start, in short. But from there on, we all know the story: Gasperini has turned Atalanta into a perfect machine, a team capable of fighting steadily for the top spots in Serie A and playing on a par with the big ones in Europe.
Difficult character? No doubt. But the results speak for themselves. His philosophy of play, his way of working, his tough character have made Atalanta what it is today. However, Preziosi’s account makes us understand one thing: to put up with Gasperini, you need steady nerves. And not everyone is willing to do that.
The question then remains: is it better to have a “manageable” coach or one who, despite an impossible character, leads you to success? To the Dea the answer, because Gasperini, “shut up” or not, will continue to coach as he wants. Of this we can be sure.
This article “Shut up and coach”: backstory on Gasperini is quite telling appeared in its original version first on SerieANews.
