Livorno for Sale or Aldo Spinelli is Cranky

By: Marco Stucazzo | January 9th, 2008

During the Italian winter holiday, Mr. Spinelli took in the soothing breezes that the beautiful Republic of Mauritius had to offer. From his vacation hideout, Mr. Spliffs declared that his Livorno adventure will come to terms at the end of the current season. Of course he’ll do it after assuring safety once again.

So Aldo Spinelli is once again claiming that he’s going to sell Livorno. Big Deal! His «Fuck it! I’m selling this club!» rants come every 2 years or so, just like the Olympics.

Even in Africa, Aldo needs the spotlight. Only he can announce plans to sell a club from an Island just off the coast of Africa. Maybe it was the famous Mauritian Mojitos talking but I suspect that this time he maybe a little bit more serious than usual ;

“Sono nove anni che faccio il presidente e adesso penso che sia arrivato il momento di lasciare – il calcio è in crisi, gli spettatori calano, nel nostro impianto non riusciamo mai a superare le diecimila unità e devo ringraziare specialmente quelli della curva Nord che non fanno mai mancare il loro sostegno. E una persona intelligente deve capire quando è il momento di farsi da parte.

E poi per fare il presidente di una società occorre avere l’entusiasmo. Un ingrediente fondamentale che ora mi viene a mancare. Il Livorno è una società sana e chi subentrerà potrà stare tranquillo’’

(Free Translation: I’ve been doing this for 9 years now and it’s time to give it a rest. Calcio is going through a crisis and nobody ever comes out to our lousy 420 year old stadium. Attendance is never over 10,000 and thank god for the Curva Nord’s constant presence. Anyways, Livorno is a commie town, it’s not like I could build a skybox to up revenue.

I’m old, I’m cranky and I don’t have the energy and enthusiasm of the good old days anymore. I’m smart enough to know when my time is up. But Livorno is a club in good shape that any eventual owner would be happy to have.)

Aldo Spinelli was back in Italy attending the morning training session today. The former Genoa president took the time to speak with the Coach and Squad and then went on to chat with Livorno’s DS Signorelli for a long time. He was probably complaining how he’s old and out of it. He tought his vacation in Mauritius would sort things out but he’s still cranky. Tanned, but cranky nonetheless.

So is the ‘‘For Sale’’ sign is now officially up? It remains to be seen, because Spinelli is famous for his John Kerry-ish flip-flopping. (thanks to countrystore for that one)

This is the same guy that , back in October, said he had a done deal with Shaktar to get Lucarelli back if they we’re kicked out of the Champions League. If Aldo was serious about his project of making Livorno a Serie A mainstay, he should at least make an attempt (even a half assed one just for show) to get Cristiano Lucarelli back. Lucarelli one of the only Livornese players in circulation (please correct me if i’m wrong here)

As recently as September 2007, Aldo Spinelli was unveiling his plans of constructing; Il centro Sportivo di Vicarello. Oddly enough, Vicarello is part of the Pisa commune where arch rivals Pisa Merda play. Aldo was sweet talking about how he would fix the infrastructures, modernize the locker rooms, change the treadmills in the training rooms to electronic ones and build a little hotel as well. With new fields so he could improve the youth sector as well. An authentic ‘‘Livornello’’ , everybody saw the hyphens right ?

Ladies and Gentelmen, Aldo Spinelli can bullshit with the best of ‘em !

The goal was to see Livorno officially become a ”professionally” managed club with adequate facilities, front offices and a youth system that actually produces future champions. There are now a total of zero U21 players on the squad and Girogio Chiellini is the only player from Livorno’s primavera side that joined the senior team under Aldo’s 9-year tenure. That says a lot about the quality of the R&D at the youth sector. As well as the commitment of Aldo Spinelli in making the necessary changes.

Aldo a good president?

All and all, purely based on results, Aldo Spinelli has still been a great president for Livorno. After 9 years under the charge of Eccentric Aldo, the Livorno faithful have witnessed the Labronici‘s journey from Serie C1 to Serie A. He’s seen the Labronici go from Serie C1 to Europe with a UEFA Cup participation. He has seen 5 former Livorno boys play with the Azzurri in Lucarelli, Amelia, Palladino,Chiellini and CT Donadoni. He has helped create many joys for the Labronici faithful.

I, for one, kind of like Spinelli. His volcanic temper makes for great quotes and constant coach firings. There’s enough stuff to fill a book! He usually has a nice instinct for the transfer market. Seeing how he got the likes of Igor Protti, Lucarelli, Diego Tristan and Roberto Donadoni to come to to Tuscany. All that with a provincial team budget.

Plus the fact that Luciano Gaucci has been associated with an eventual Livorno purchase is enough for me to want Aldo to stay. Gaucci is the president of Perugia who fired that Korean dude that scored against Italy in the 2002 WC. He also wanted to hire a female striker to partner Fabrizio Miccoli back in the day. He decided that Colonel Ghedaffi’s son would do the trick. But Mister Gaucci probably has bigger fish to fry, seeing how he’s hiding out in Santo Domingo claiming his innocence in the fraudulent Perugia Bankruptcy.

Unlike Gaucci, there’s always something fun to say about Aldo in the media, This man has been quoted in The Economist for crying out loud! Add to that, his MAC problems always make me laugh.

But why would Aldo want to sell now when the Collective TV rights that should be kicking in circa 2010? That deal could bring in around 25M$ into the Livorno coffers if they remain in Serie A. So why sell now?

Maybe Aldo really is fed up? His 67 year old frame can’t take it anymore? Maybe he’s feeling the Italian Collective Funk of Disapointment the New York Times and Beppe Grillo are talking about ?

In the last 3 months, he witnessed Livorno’s dreadful start to the campaign, one of his companies got a fine of 31 000 euros for leaving old used oil cans, old batteries and other nasty crap on a piece of land owned by the company in La Spezia* and finally his name was associated with the Italian match fixing scandal. Your name + Moggi = Not good

*La Spezia is not far from CinqueTerre, one of the coolest 5 hour walks on the Ligurian coast

That’s right the Moggi scandal! Are you all appropriately appalled? Good.

So Aldo Spinelli has been associated with Luciano Moggi .

Seeing Spinelli’s name in the same headline with Moggi’s isn’t that surprising. After all, Aldo did help out Juve to get their hands on Adrian Mutu in 2004. Juve had too many Non EU players in the squad. So Aldo brokered the deal so the rules could be bent just enough that Mutu would be able to join the Old Lady. Maybe this little unpleasant linkage to the man who worsened Italian footballs reputation abroad, has something to do with his decision to want to sell the club.

This is why I think that this time his «For Sale» sign might stay up longer than back in 2002/2003 let’s say.

This is a March 2007 phone call between Moggi and Spinelli. Thanks to these guys

MOGGI: Aldo!

SPINELLI: ohhh!
MOGGI: come funzionano le cose meglio?

SPINELLI: ah no ma quelli là sono bravi ma io Luciano non ce
n’ho più voglia, sono stanco, son…

MOGGI: stai calmo ho detto ora riportiamo il Livorno…

SPINELLI: eh stai calmo belin ma non ce la faccio più non
voglio più stare a Livorno

MOGGI: ah noi dobbiamo rimettere in una settimana o due il
Livorno dai, lasciami fare a me

SPINELLI: eh belin lasciati fare belin

MOGGI: ho guardato anche di quella cosa che mi dicesti degli
attaccanti ma credo che non ce ne sia neanche bisogno perché
so tutte pippe è meglio lasciare perdere prima che prendi delle
fregature. Adesso vediamo la partita di domenica e che miglioramento
c’è e poi ci vediamo noi.

SPINELLI: vabbè!

MOGGI: va bene?

SPINELLI: ciao Luciano

So he called Moggi to open up about how he was tired and fed up of being Livorno president. Boo- freakin-hoo!

That’s great and all Aldo, I deeply feel your pain, You poor rich man who can only afford a canary yellow raincoat. So what about the rest of the season? 2007 might be over, but the battle for safety is still going on for another 5 months. What are you going to do during the transfer market? Nobody will want to buy a Serie B club with no youth sector, a very old stadium and front offices that still have a 56k internet connection.

To shut me up, he then went on to say this:

«Il Livorno deve restare in serie A e durante il mercato effettuerò quegli innesti che sono necessari per avere questa maggiore sicurezza».

Ok…ok so at least he’ll try to do his best to make some moves on the market. On the other hand he is a Major League MVP in Bullshit…