🎙️INTERVIEW | President Giulini on “Il Cagliari in Diretta”

Cagliari President Tommaso Giulini appeared live on the “Il Cagliari in diretta” program on Radiolina and Videolina. The episode touched on the recent season, the club’s future at a technical and corporate level, and the next strategic decisions.

MISTER PISACANE, IMPORTANT JOB
We certainly hoped to reach this level of points, as we did with the victory in Milan, but it was by no means a given. We’ve embarked on a journey that the entire club strongly supported, and for this I thank those who have always and immediately supported the choice of Fabio Pisacane as head of the first team: Fedele Usai, Nicola Riva, Pierluigi Carta, Bernardo Mereu, Oscar Erriu, and everyone who works at Cagliari. Clearly, the coach has put in his time by building his staff, working every day, studying, and applying himself alongside everyone he’s worked with since July 10th.

THE FUTURE OF THE COACH
“The basis is a strong sharing of values, a love for the Cagliari shirt and a sense of belonging that make the contract the least of the problems, we will sign a two-year or a three-year contract, perhaps a two-year contract with the option for a third year, but the right thing counts. We can certainly all improve from many points of view: in the management of processes and players, from the smallest and perhaps apparently insignificant things to the most complex ones. We can grow on many things, we are both convinced of this and all those who work on it side, for this reason we will undoubtedly expand and implement the staff even more. This year we performed well and achieved results against several big names, after having suffered severe lessons for years. Instead, we often played great until the end. We had a great match against Inter, then a lack of attention at the start of the second half proved fatal for us opponent who then won the Scudetto, this is the result of long-term work by the Coach and his staff. The fruits came in the long run.”

PISACANE’S SKILLS
“First of all, he’s very humble, a fast and consistent learner, with a great hunger and ambition. We’ve seen him coach for four years, and he’s a sponge. He knows how to stay clear-headed, and that’s the only thing I’ve asked him to maintain, even in the most difficult moments. He’s never lost his bearings; I think I’ve even helped him a little. He has a great quality: clarity of mind, and he won’t lose it even when I’m no longer his president. I’ve seen many coaches falter after a few defeats; Fabio has certainly shown something different.”

THE PROJECT: YOUNG PLAYERS AND ITALIANS
The intention has always been there. Mario Beretta pushed for it in 2015. It takes time and progressive work to see the Cavuotis, Oberts, Idrissis, and all the others you’ve seen recently arrive in the first team. Squinzi taught me, when he was my president at Confindustria, that in football, it’s important to have many Italians and a strong core that has a sense of belonging and understands the context. It’s no coincidence that Sassuolo was one of the teams with the most Italians for years. One year you can have more Italians, another a few more Sardinians, but the objective is clear, and this year we’ve seen certain results. Then there are also great intuitions like Angelozzi’s on Palestra. I was very negative about the Palestra deal. I didn’t want to exploit a young player from another club without a return. Sporting Director Guido Angelozzi did a good job convincing me. The same was true for the sale of Luperto in January, which was crucial for us in order to give Rodriguez minutes and experience. (who had shown his full potential in the previous months) Angelozzi was crucial in convincing a thirty-year-old player to leave midway through the season. When we were struggling, it seemed like everything was due to Luperto’s departure, but football is a gentleman and rewards you when you stay upright – as our coach says – and are strong in your ideas, and I’d say that winning at San Siro with a goal from Rodriguez perfectly completes the circle.”

THE CLUB’S SUSTAINABILITY
“We have the fortune and the ability, for a few market sessions, to be able to operate freely having brought the parameters back within the limits imposed by the rules. This allows us to sign a player without the obligation to let another one out first, and gives you more strength on the market. We carry with us some bank debt fresh from Covid, but it is something common to many clubs. We had the merit, last year, of signing foreign guys – I’m thinking for example of Rodriguez and Zé Pedro – who have proven to be valid, perhaps in the past some other equally valid had not settled in or was not ideal for our context, but it does not mean that it could not follow the same path as them. We must be good at making as few mistakes as possible with the players, remaining increasingly disciplined to safeguard solidity and sustainability.”

THE NEW AMERICAN PARTNERS AND THE NEW STADIUM
“I want to thank Maurizio Fiori and Prashant Gupta who trusted us with what we told them last summer about our Club, and convinced the investors to buy 49% of the Club. Here, as we know, there is a project on the new stadium which is very big, much bigger than me and us, and I have always said that alone – as the majority shareholder – it would have represented too big a responsibility. These investors are fundamental to continuing this path, I am convinced that in the Municipality they are working seriously and hard to get there to the final steps, as also said by the Councilor for Sport, the lawyer Giuseppe Macciotta. Naturally, when these steps take place, they will go to the majority, I hope to stay a little longer but it is clear that we hope that concrete progress will be made on the stadium. The hope is to have the project approved by the city council by June, so as to respect the times indicated by UEFA by going to the international public tender in July which will have to entrust the construction and management of the new stadium to a company. vehicle We will participate with Costim RE, a company owned by the Bosatelli family which is part of a group of companies that meet the requirements to participate in the tender. Timescales? I’ve been gambling on them for 10 years and they don’t come to fruition on time, we all see how critical the national context is in terms of stadiums, let’s leave it to the competent institutions to give the timing. we built the Unipol Domus more quickly in 2017, we thought we would play there for a maximum of 5 seasons, I no longer count how many we have played and I don’t know how many more we will play. We have a stadium with innocent pipes, covered only on one side, in a wonderful setting and always full like no other in Italy, which we would always fill with 5-6 thousand more seats. year after year, imagine what it could aspire to if it had more fans in the stadium, more resources from TV rights. It would certainly be more attractive to many more players… But I remain optimistic, we continue to work as always.”

THE FUTURE
Next season, I’ll still be the president and the one who will have to try to further improve this team and try to do better. The goal will be to improve this year’s standings, and we’ll try. Angelozzi? We’ll see each other soon; we’ll have to discuss our goals and how aligned we are on what to do, as is only right. After that, the Director also has many admirers, as we know. Trying to improve means a lot and many aspects to focus on, and the Coach knows it. I’m thinking of two or three games that perhaps we handled less well this year, but which next year, with more experience, we’ll certainly be better at dealing with. We’ve implemented a concrete and meaningful methodology, work that is now well-understood by a good portion of the squad and needs to be reinforced, and we’ll start from there. Think, for example, of a player like Palestra, who arrives on loan from Atalanta and has a season that can establish him as a permanent fixture.

OUR SQUAD
“We’ll definitely try to keep the most sought-after players on the market. We know that offers will arrive for many of them, and we’ll have to do our best to keep as many of them as possible, hoping that the players will want to stay at Cagliari. Without a doubt, selling three or four key players would make it more difficult to improve on what we already have. Everything good we’ve achieved comes from what the coach has given to each individual player. Keeping as many players as possible who already understand his philosophy will be important, and we’ll see if we can do it. There are players who were on loan who are on high salaries that are out of line with Cagliari, which is sustainable today because it has kept its wage bill under control in recent years.”

PAVOLETTI’S FUTURE
“We need to meet. I’m waiting for him to process his departure from Cagliari; I don’t know if it will also mean a farewell to playing football. I see him as a good fit for a manager; I think he prefers a desk job to a pitch. Then we’ll have to decide what kind of desk he’ll be in, whether it’s more technical or not, whether it’s in the youth academy or has other focuses, perhaps supporting a sporting director. There’s certainly a need for a lot of training, even more so in today’s football, to be of service to a professional club, as Fabio Pisacane’s career path demonstrates.”

RATERINK, GOOD IMPACT AND EXAMPLE
“The Dutchman is emblematic of how at Cagliari everyone works together, of how there is total sharing between the various areas, between the First team and the Youth Sector. I say Raterink, taken by the Director because he saw something of Palestra in him knowing that Marco would not stay, because Othniel had enormous humility in going to lend a hand to the Under 20s at the end of the season, and then in going to America to participate in the TST, the only one from the First team together with the other young players and our former players Cossu, Sau, Ceppitelli and Nainggolan he is an example of what type of players we want at Cagliari from a mentality point of view.”

CAGLIARI SUPPORTS MALAGÒ TO THE FIGC
“Giovanni Malagò has the characteristics of a strong man, with clear ideas, with many connections, he has already demonstrated this by working on other sports and I believe he is the right figure to lead the FIGC”.

12 YEARS OF CAGLIARI
“Over time, you increasingly understand the nuances of such a complex world. Today, there are many more people around me who truly care about this shirt, not just about themselves. Cagliari truly comes first for them. Today, after years, you truly see the people who care. I have many collaborators with me who concretely carry forward, with passion and expertise, Cagliari’s vision at various levels. Emotion? I was moved when Kingstone, whom I had signed in Zambia, scored his first Serie A goal against Fiorentina; but also when Mendy scored, because I know how much he worked from the time he arrived in Sardinia until his Serie A debut and his first goals. Seeing these guys succeed is a real emotion.”

ALESSANDRO DEIOLA, THE NEW CAPTAIN
“The armband on his arm has enormous meaning. He, like our coach, has grown with us year after year. I still remember when, as soon as I arrived, I signed his transfer to TuttoCuoio. We know each other very well, and I know his values, what a person he is, how much he has suffered, and how much the people who love him have supported him in difficult times. Today, it’s right that he be our captain; his qualities are marvelous.”