Everything went as expected and was entirely foreseeable: following Sampdoria’s victory overAvellino, Attilio Lombardo remains the Blucerchiati’s manager. There has been no backing down from the manager, who has demonstrated through his actions that he has never shied away from taking on responsibility, nor has there been any backing down from the board, not even from abroad, despite the rumours circulated by some in recent days.
Lombardo’s position had been under review by Mancini ahead of the match against Avellino: a defeat or a draw would likely have led to a change, whilst the victory and the manner in which it was achieved led the sporting director to opt for the manager’s retention. There was a bit more deliberation from the ‘foreign’ contingent at Sampdoria, starting with Fredberg and extending to Walker, a representative of Tey. But in the end, common sense prevailed.
In the last few hours, rumours had also emerged of interest from the management side linked to Tey in Gabriele Cioffi, the former Udinese manager who has been out of work for a year. In reality, the Cioffi option seems never to have been particularly concrete; indeed, the rumours may have been deliberately leaked at a rather delicate moment. It is hard to imagine that Fredberg, Walker and Tey, given their transfer market approach and convictions, would go for a candidate of that calibre.