It was the 27th of May 2018. Palermo hosted Empoli in their last Serie A game of the season. That season had been a catastrophe from day 1 with 5 managers going through the door. However, the players came together to conclude the season on a high- and so they did managing to beat Empoli by 2 goals to 1. A hectic summer was ahead to make sure that their campaign in the “cadetteria”- the nickname used for the Italian second division would only last one year.

Ilija Nestorovski celebrating the second goal on the night.

The Sicilian outfit would start Serie B impressively well winning 5 and drawing 2 until on Matchday 8 the momentum grinded to a sudden halt. Palermo would be playing away on the 21st of October to Novara Calcio who were mired in a relegation battle (would eventually get relegated to Serie C at the end of the season). Novara would win that day by 2 goals to 1.

Novara players celebrating at the end of the game.

Maurizio Zamparini after the game declared his intention to sell the club but nothing came of it(was it an early sign of things to come?) January arrived and no signings were made to strengthen a squad that it’s fans had to began to question would have the quality to finish in the automatic promotion places. Their fears would come to fruition with Palermo coming back from the winter break in disastrous form winning only 2 of their 7 games seeing them drop to 5th in the league standings. February would include a 4-0 thrashing by Empoli, a 1-2 home defeat to Foggia and 1-0 away defeat to Perugia.

Francesco caputo celebrating his brace and Empoli’s third goal.

March would be a slightly better month with 2 wins and 2 draws however the automatic promotion spots were now a massive 7 points away. What was needed for Palermo was an outstanding April but could they achieve it?

The answer was a resounding no. Palermo could only muster 1 win from their 5 games(3-0 home win versus sturggling Avellino Calcio). This meant that Palermo calcio would have to win the playoffs in order to gain promotion back to serie A. Their semi final opponents would come in the form of Pippo’s Inzaghi Venezia who had just completed a spectacular season in 5th place despite the fact that they had just got promoted to the cadetteria by winning Serie C giorne B the season before(pipping Parma Calcio to the post no less). The first leg would be played at Venezia’s stadium- the Stadio Pier Luigi Penzo. This stadium is famously unique due to the fact that in order to go to the stadium a boat must be taken from Venice city centre which brings the fans to the stadium. Maurizio Domizzi’s header would cancel out La Gumina’s opener meaning that the second leg at the Renzo “La Favorita” Barbera stadium would be decisive….

A rather unique way of attending home games.

The return leg would be on the 10th of June 2018. Tickets had sold out within 3 hours. 28,000 tickets had been sold. This was going to be a match that would have been a European cup game atmosphere yet alone a serie B playoff semifinal game.

The players going out onto the field in front of their expectant fans.

Palermo fans celebrating the first and only goal of the night(a domizzi own goal in the 5th minute)

Palermo would win this game 1-0 and advance to the playoff final where they would face Frosinone Calcio a team that had came 3rd in the regular season. Unlike the semifinal- the first leg would be played at the La Favorita with the second leg taking place at the Benito Stripe stadium.

For the first leg the attendance was even greater than the home tie with Venezia- 30,000 fans attended this game. Palermo would win this game 2-1 with goals being scored by La Gumina and Terranova. All that was required by Palermo was to avoid a 2 goal deficit defeat in the second leg and Serie A was theirs once again..

The score was 2-1 in favour of Frosinone and the match was approaching the 93rd minute when suddenly an added ball was thrown onto the pitch when Frosinone were on the counter.. The Palermo players stopped and raised their hands but the referee allowed play to continue allowing Camillo Ciano to slot home and give Frosinone promotion to Serie A and condemn Palermo Calcio another year of cadetteria football. Palermo Calcio announced lawsuits to the FIGC and the Lega Serie B but it would prove to be in vain.

The stadio benito Stripe.

The moment that will forever haunt Palermo fans.

The 2018/19 off season would prove to be the most chaotic yet with Maurizio Zamparini announcing that he had sold Palermo to Sport Capital Group- a British corporation that invested in companies who were involved in global sports. However questions were immediately rasied when Sicilian journalists would go onto the registered UK governmental site Companies House and find that the company had changed addresses multiple times and had changed it’s name 3 times in the period between 2016 and January 2018- at one stage the company was called Pelican House Mining. The signs were indeed starting to flash red..

Palermo just about managed to get clearance in order to compete in the 2018/19 Serie B season and would do so with a new man at the helm- Bruno Tedino. The ex Pordenone Calcio had brought his ex club to the semifinal of the previous Serie C playoffs eventually losing out to eventual winners Cosenza Calcio. However, things would start off slowly for Palermo and after matchday 7 where Palermo would lose 2-1 away to Brescia- Tedino would be relieved of his duties. His replacement would be the much loved Roberto Stellone.

A rather temporary experiment was Bruno Tedino.

Under Stellone, Palermo would go on to have an eleven match unbeaten run going into the winter break-winning seven and drawing four propelling Palermo to top of the table. However it would prove to be a winter of discontent…

On the 30th of December Giuseppe Bellusci the captain would announce a player strike due to the fact that they had not been paid since September. This would be eventually resolved in the middle of January however the ripple effect had been caused. Palermo would come back from the winter break in disastrous form picking up only 3 points in 6 games(drawing 3 and losing 3) leading to Palermo slipping to 4th in the table including a 3-0 away thumping at the hands of Crotone Calcio.

Mario Sampirisi celebrating the 2-0 lead.

Giuseppe Bellusci announcing to the media the player’s strike.

On the 2nd of March Palermo hosted 2nd in the table Lecce Calcio. Goals from Nestorovski and Rispoli meant that the question was asked- would this prove to be a turning point for the Sicilian outfit? The answer would be a resounding no. The following nine games of the season would see 6 draws, 2 wins and a loss away to Pescara Calcio. If Palermo Calcio were to get promoted they would have to enter the mire of the playoffs once again or so they thought…

The Lega Serie A required financial checks and balances for all the teams who were taking part in the Serie B playoffs. What they found was that Palermo Calcio had accumulated 30,000,000€ worth of debt and has a result were handed a double punishment- exlcusion from the playoffs and a 20 point deduction meaning that Palermo would finish in 11th place and their playoff birth would now be taken by Perugia Calcio.

In a press conference that smacked of incompetence the owner of Palermo Calcio- Salvatore Tuttomondo had a copy of a bank statement from a Bulgarian bank- of which would be found to be fraudulent and what came has a shock to nobody- the Lega Serie B refused Palermo Calcio to participate in the 2019/20 Serie B season and would end up going into bankruptcy on the 20th of July 2019. In 10 years Palermo had gone from playing in Serie A with players who would go on to be global superstars- Paolo Dybala, Franco Vasquez, Edinson Cavani, Andrea Bellotti and Javier Pastore to facing a future of playing in the Serie D giorne I.