The fish stinks from the head down (but the rest is rotten anyway)

And so, Gravina, crushed by the pressure from politicians and much of the press, who were clamouring for his head, resigned as president of the FIGC. Eight years in office, during which, apart from the success of Euro 2020, Italian football has taken a dangerous downward turn, both at club and international level.

A very long period in which our ‘hero’ worked tirelessly from within to destroy the only two giants of Italian football, Juventus and Milan, in a desperate attempt to replace them with clubs much closer to his personal interests, such as Inter and Napoli.

Let’s be clear: without a mini popular uprising and the loud voice of a few influential journalists, Gravina would have remained comfortably in his post, secure in a position paying around four hundred thousand euros a year and backed by those clubs that go hand in hand with the underworld (one in particular).

His plan, however – to put the matter before the Federal Council and rely on the overwhelming majority with which he had been re-elected (as the sole candidate) just a few months ago to secure his reappointment – came up against the frustration of those who, after missing out on a third World Cup in a row, simply couldn’t stand the sight of his face any longer.

So is everything sorted? Will Italian football return to its former glory following the resignation of the worst president in history? Well, my friends, fortunately football isn’t mathematics and still has a good dose of unpredictability in its DNA, but to think that simply removing the head will make the fish fresh again must be considered, at the very least, a gamble.

Indeed, many are asking why, alongside Gravina, the other heads of the federation’s bodies did not also resign, starting with Giancarlo Viglione, the former president’s right-hand man, who was caught a couple of seasons ago on the touchline celebrating Inter’s Scudetto, complete with a friendly handshake with Simone Inzaghi.

But the same applies to all the other men who have contributed to creating this deep chasm, such as the federal prosecutor, Giuseppe Chiné, who habitually acts with diligence and inflexibility directly proportional to the degree of antipathy he feels towards the colour of the shirt in question, or the referee appointer Gianluca Rocchi, Ulivieri, Simonelli, Butti, De Siervo and the whole host of figures who, for better or worse, can be traced back to the influence of Inter’s president, Beppe Marotta.

Yes, because there’s no point beating about the bush: the demolition of Italian football, which began in 2006 to satisfy the whims of those who never won, has now reached its peak precisely because the sole objective pursued by the aforementioned figures was not the good and development of the entire sport, but the protection of Inter and its players from any kind of trouble.

A single mission, pursued at any cost, even at the risk of wrecking everything. And everything has inevitably been wrecked. Without a general clean-up, sweeping away the octopus with all its tentacles, now branching out into every sector, removing only the figure at the top will prove utterly pointless.

Gravina will likely be replaced by his ‘godfather’ Giancarlo Abete, currently president of the National Amateur League and therefore already holding almost 40% of the votes. There will be calls for reforms, a revival, youth development, and a reorganisation of the leagues, but in substance nothing will change.

Inter will continue to enjoy its privileged statistics on yellow cards, red cards and penalties, whilst De Laurentiis and the Friedkins will be guaranteed a helping hand if needed, so as not to let them raise their voices too loudly, and should the two true queens of Italian football dare to stick their heads too far out of the sand, there will always be a VAR official ready to bring them back to their senses.

The underworld will continue to do business in football, the trashy pink rag will continue to glorify the exploits of friendly players, inflating their value beyond belief, and belittle those of the enemy, so as to complicate the transfer market.

And everyone will live happily ever after, convinced that our league is the best in the world and that our national team will make short work of every opponent. At least until the next qualifiers, when, in an endless race to the bottom, perhaps it will be San Marino or Malta’s turn to knock us out this time.

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