Baccaglini: ‘Plan for Palermo stadium’

By Football Italia staff

New Palermo President Paul Baccaglini will meet the mayor “to start talking about the stadium and training ground”.

Maurizio Zamparini is selling the Rosanero to a new consortium, and Baccaglini was yesterday announced as the figurehead.

Today the new patron was presented to the media, with an introduction from Zamparini.

“For me it’s a much brighter day than 15 years ago,” the 75-year-old began the Press conference by saying.

“Today I said to myself: ‘I’m disappointed, this is no longer your house’, but I am very happy because I must say thank you to Palermo and also to Paul, because I’m happy to be leaving Palermo in such good hands.

“Now I’m happy to make my 30 years of footballing experience available to Paul, but just my advice without having any role in the club.

“I’m disappointed that in recent days people have questioned this transaction, it means that after all these years they don’t know me.

“I’ve always kept my promises, even if I obviously can’t promise sporting results.

“I’ve always been honest, lately the financial strength of the club has been called into question because of problems with agents which have been 99 per cent resolved.

“When I arrived at this club they couldn’t even pay for pens and toilet paper, now it’s an example for others and I hope the people of Palermo are proud too.

“They helped me in the stadium, until two years ago they were the embodiment of correctness.”

Zamparini then handed over to the new man, who discussed plans for a new stadium.

“We’ve set up a project that goes in stages and in time you’ll see he [Zamparini] chose the right person,” Baccaglini said.

“I don’t expect to come here and immediately receive love and trust from the fans, these are feelings which are achieved with results and consistency in a project.

“I’m here to commit my energy and love to a wonderful city.

“On Thursday I’ll be meeting with the mayor to start talking about the stadium and training ground. If we’re allowed to we’re ready to begin, and I ask that our work not be judged by online conspiracy theories but by the results we’ll try to bring.

“Where will we play? I hope it’s Serie A, safety is within reach, but we have a plan A and a plan B.

“The stadium and the training ground are key to this project, think about the visibility infrastructure of this kind can bring us for major events.

“As for the squad, should I put on a turban and say ‘I’ll put in €100m for the transfer market’?

“That’s not what we want to do, we want to bring an American approach and manage the team like a business.

“There will be some adjustments to make on the transfer market, but I’m lucky to have a consultant [Zamparini] who has been in football for 30 years and the intention is to create a winning team.

“We have to evaluate the stadium and the training ground, they’re two beautiful projects and this week we’ll meet the institutions to explain face-to-face what we want to do.

“I hope that in a few years we’ll find ourselves saying ‘oh, that really was worth doing’.

“Look at Turin, with the Juventus Stadium. Why not do that here in Palermo, a city with the most incredible fans?

“In American professional sports, when the team is struggling there’s a loss of interest. Here in Palermo the energy never dissipates, negative or positive it’s never lost.

“If we can channel that energy to give excitement again, this is the greatest city.”

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