'Football is sh*t without the fans' - Inside Lazio's best-ever start to a Serie A season despite supporter civil war

It's important to bear in mind that there has always been tension between Lotito and Lazio's most hardcore supporters, dating all the way back to his takeover over the club in 2004. As John Foot outlined in his book 'Calcio', the Roman's attempts to reel in some of the control ultras had over the club, particularly in terms of tickets and merchandise, led to a bitter backlash.

"They decided to act, with brutality and intimidation," Foot wrote, "threatening Lotito in public (during games) and in private... Lazio fans even tried to buy out the club, through ex-star Giorgio Chinaglia, but the attempt failed thanks to the intervention of the judiciary."

Lotito has long been one of the most polarising presidents in Serie A (which is really saying something), and for a variety of reasons too, including his involvement in Calciopoli, violating third-party ownership rules, and breaching Covid-19 regulations - all three of which resulted in suspensions for the Italian senator. He's also been heavily criticised for playing down (or downright denying) incidents of racism, as well as making disparaging remarks about smaller clubs.

However, the reason why a significant number of Lazio fans have turned against Lotito in recent years is a perceived lack of investment in the senior squad since the club's 2023 Coppa Italia triumph, a situation that came to a head midway through last season.

On January 30, Maurizio Sarri's Lazio kept their fading hopes of European qualification alive with a dramatic 3-2 win over Genoa at the Olimpico. However, there were only 5,402 people present for Danilo Cataladi's 100th-minute penalty - because the majority of the Biancocelesti's supporters had effectively decided to go on strike. Tellingly, Sarri refused to criticise the fans over their no-show, because he was just as disillusioned with Lotito's parsimonious approach to the transfer market.

"These have been difficult weeks for multiple reasons," the visibly aggrieved Tuscan told DAZN Italia. "I'm happy with the response of my team on a very peculiar evening without fans in the stadium. It wasn't easy, but as I said to the boys, 'What the fans did was an act of love.'"

One could certainly appreciate why the supporters felt compelled to take drastic action. While Lazio brought in five players during the winter window, they only did so for half the money they made by selling key duo Valentin Castellanos and Matteo Guendozi, to West Ham and Fenerbahce, respectively.

To make matters much, much worse, Lotito had also been caught on camera blaming Sarri for players wanting to leave Lazio - which obviously didn't go over well with the former Chelsea boss.

"Just 10 days ago a player came into my office crying before he left, so there is no problem between me and the squad," Sarri said. "It seems unpleasant if they say that a player was sold because he didn't get along with me, especially as the players who have left told me a very different version of events."

Indeed, Sarri claimed that some players "wanted to leave because they don't see any ambition in this club" - and that was a view shared by the supporters, who felt that they had been left with no option but to boycott home games in a desperate bid to force Lotito to sell the club.

Despite the best efforts of Sarri, Lazio almost inevitably failed to qualify for Europe, after finishing ninth in Serie A and being beaten by league winners Inter in the Coppa Italia final, prompting further calls for Lotito to walk away. However, the entrepreneur remained unrepentant and during an extraordinary defence of his tenure, he claimed the "a**holes" that were boycotting the games had made him a scapegoat for the shortcomings of the players, whom he accused of regularly "sh*tting themselves" when they set foot on the field.

"I've been president for 22 years, I've won six trophies, I brought the team back to Europe, I'm working for Lazio, I presented the plan for the new Flaminio stadium, I'm finishing the academy, so what more must I do?" he asked reporters. "I'm listing the club on Nasdaq in New York, which will value the club at €1.5 billion; with an owned stadium it reaches €3bn. All the rest is bar talk.

"I never declared war on anyone. I understand the frustrations, but the fans must support the club. I’m doing the job of the president and I want to make Lazio immortal, independent even from Claudio Lotito. I must protect Lazio's history, I cannot let it go bankrupt."

Unsurprisingly, Lotito's rather aggressive plea for peace fell on deaf ears.

Thousands of Lazio supporters followed through on a collective threat not to renew their season tickets for the 2026-27 season, thus costing the club millions in revenue, prompting an increasingly desperate Lotito to pen an open letter to the stayaway supporters that was published in Il Messaggero.

"Anyone who makes decisions can make mistakes," he wrote. "Anyone who runs a club as important as Lazio knows they will be exposed, judged and criticised. I do not shy away from that. But I ask that judgments take into account the full picture, not only the most emotional or convenient part of the story.

"And within that picture, there is one issue I want to address clearly: the relationship with supporters must improve significantly. I say this without ambiguity. Lazio must find new, serious and responsible ways of listening to, engaging with and involving its people.

"With respect for all of you, for your passion and for the history you represent, I believe the time has come to open a new chapter: more dialogue, more listening and more shared responsibility. Without manipulation. Without settling scores. Without dividing Lazio into good and bad camps."

The response from the fan groups was unequivocal: "IT'S TOO LATE NOW!". A statement shared by various supporters' groups also argued that Lotito had completely underestimated the strength and the scale of the opposition to his presidency.

"[His letter is] deliberately addressed to the Lazio Clubs, as is specified several times, and that alone shows how little Mr. Lotito knows about Lazio’s supporters," the joint-statement read. "Mr. Lotito does not realise that several Lazio Clubs - among the most representative and active ones - are also part of the organised supporters’ groups. He cannot know this simply because he does not understand this world and has never had any interest in understanding it.

"The purpose of this letter is to divide a people into 'good' and 'bad', trying to win over one side at the expense of the other. Once again, he will not succeed. He finds us united, compact and standing together on a single front that has grown tired of this situation."

Consequently, when Lazio's campaign kicked off with a Coppa Italia clash with Mantova on August 16, there were just over 5,000 fans in attendance - almost half of which were the away end, while some Roma supporters bought seats in the home sections just to revel in their rivals' misery.

Unsurprisingly, a shock 2-0 loss to a Serie B side only heightened the tension at the club - and yet, amid all of this division, Lazio have managed to generate a sense of togetherness among the players that Danish centre-back Oliver Provstgaard says he has never experienced before.

"Gattuso is a big part of that," the Dane told DAZN Italia after the win in Turin. "I am very happy that he came here."

Gattuso had been a somewhat surprising choice to succeed Sarri as coach, given his failed attempt to get Italy to the World Cup had only reinforced the public's perception that he was a tactically limited coach, all aggression and no acumen. However, Gigi Buffon, who championed his former team-mate's appointment as Azzurri coach, feels that Gattuso's qualities are underestimated.

"In Rino, I see echoes of Marcello Lippi, both in how he manages the group and in how he draws out the vitality within every player," the former Italy team manager told the Gazzetta dello Sport. "Everyone knows that his players would have walked through fire for him, just as they would have for Marcello.

"And let’s not pretend that a Serie A coach isn't skilled or lacks tactical knowledge - they’re all capable and competent. The real difference lies in their relationship with the squad and how they impart their knowledge. Then, of course, there’s that spark of genius - the ability to foresee how a match will unfold, making substitutions or tactical shifts that change the game entirely."

Gattuso has barely put a foot wrong in that regard so far. The only league game Lazio have failed to win was a 2-2 draw with AC Milan that captain Mattia Zaccagni suspected they might have managed to win had they been able to rely on the full support of the Olimpico to get them over the line in a game they led 2-0 at half-time.

Gattuso is trying to make light of what is a very real handicap - Lazio's average attendance so far this season is less than 10,000 - and believes that his team could continue to "surprise people" this season if they "take it one game at a time".

However, he's hardly attempted to hide the fact that a squad still lacking real strength in depth after another underwhelming transfer window (even if Davide Frattesi is looking like a wonderfully shrewd signing) is highly unlikely to challenge for a top-four finish, let alone the title, without a packed Olimpico behind them.

"I don’t think anyone is happy with this situation," he said. "Everyone wants to come to the stadium, to have 50,000 people, 55,000 people there. Football is sh*t without the fans." But when the majority of Lazio's will return remains a complete mystery.

After witnessing the beautiful bond between Gattuso, his players and the travelling fans in Turin last weekend, sporting director Angelo Fabiani has called for a "truce" ahead of Saturday's home game against Parma, but it's already been rejected out of hand by the striking supporters, meaning there's no end in sight to the civil war at Stadio Olimpico.