Palermo FC (Italy)
Palermo FC were
founded in the year 1898, although this has been disputed. It has been said
that an Englishman named, Joseph Whittaker, founded the club. But the more
commonly known explanation or believed founding of the club was in 1900, by a
colleague of Whittaker, Ignazio Majo Pagano. It was first known as the Anglo
Palermitan Athletic and Football Club. Pagano had discovered the game of
football while attending college in London. The original colours of the club
were red and blue and the club played their first game against an English
amateur side on December 30th 1900, losing 5-0. Their first official
game, however, was a 3-2 win against Messina Football club.
It wasn’t until
1907 when the club changed it’s name to Palermo Foot-Ball Club with the club
colours changed to their current ones of pink and black. Up until the World
War, Palermo took part in a competition known as the Lipton Challenge Cup, a
competition that was set up by Scottish businessman, Thomas Lipton. It was
generally competed by two sides, Palermo and Naples FBC (Now known as S.S.C
Napoli). The first final took place in 1909, and Napoli won it 4-2. Palermo got
their revenge the following season when they beat Napoli 4-1. The 1911 final
was once again won by Napoli, 2-1, while Palermo took the title back in 1912,
winning 6-0. The 1913 edition saw Palermo win it again, but this time they beat
the know defunct, U.S Internazionale Napoli, 5-0. In fact, Palermo won the last
three editions of the trophy, winning the 1914 and 1915 titles, beating Naples
FBC 2-1 on both occasions. A stated, things were put on hold while the World
War was taking place. It wasn’t until 1919 when they club started up again, but
this time under the name of Unione Sportiva Palermo. It was founded by a group
of students and the club competed in the Campionato Lega Sud in the 1920’s, a
competition set up for Southern Italian clubs, while the Northern clubs
competed in their own competition. But the club hit hard times and dissolved
for the first time in 1927. The club were reformed only a year later when they
merged with another Sicilian club, Vigor Palermo. The new clubs name was
Palermo Football Club. The club entered the Primera Divisione, the equivalent
of the modern-day Serie C. It only took them a couple of years to gain
promotion to Serie B, with another promotion secured in 1932 to Serie A. They
won the league with 50 points, three clear of second placed Padova and nine
points of third place, Hellas Verona.
In their first
season of Serie A, the club finished 12th out of the eighteen clubs
competed and a season that saw Juventus win the title. The next season saw the
club finish 15th, one lace above the relegation zone, finishing two
points ahead of 16th place, Padova. Their survival was hugely down
to the goal scoring of Aldo Borel, who scored twelve goals that season. The
1934-35 season saw the club finish 9th in a league that had been cut
down from eighteen clubs to sixteen. It would be the 1935-36 season when the
club would have their first relegation from Serie A, finishing 15th.
They didn’t
bounce back straight away, finishing 7th in their return to Serie B.
The next season the club finished 7th again. They would finish in
that place for a third consecutive season, with no signs of the club
progressing or getting relegated either. During this time, the club were forced
to change their pink and black colours to red and yellow because of the fascist
regime. The club once again fell to financial difficulties and were expelled
from the league. But not to disappear forever, the club merged Union Sportiva
Juventina Palermo, to create the club known as Unione-Sportiva
Palermo-Juventina and took their place in Serie C in 1941, and then entered
Serie B in 1942.
With World War
II commencing, the club had to halt their participation in football at the time
but did revert to their pink and black colours. It wouldn’t be until 1947-48
when the club gained promotion to Serie A, after winning Group C, by one point
over runners up, Pisa. Their return to Serie A saw the club finish 11th,
out of the twenty clubs. Torino won the league that year, their 6th
league title. The 1949-50 season saw the
club finish 13th, with the title staying in Turin, going to the
black and white side this time, Juventus, who collected their 8th
title. It was a 10th place in
the 1950-51 season, while 11th place saw the club become a
well-established Serie A club. That was what it seemed, until the 1951-52
season when the club finished 16th, one place above the relegation,
finishing three points above Como. It was only a stay of execution, as the
following season the club were relegated once again.
It wouldn’t be
until 1956 when the club returned to Serie A, but the next few years proved to
be somewhat unpredictable as the club saw relegation and promotions in the
50’s. The 1961-62 season saw the club finish 8th in Serie A, and
things were looking good for the Sicilian club. But in true Palermo style, when
things looked like they were progressing on the field, they were relegated in
1963 and didn’t return to Serie A until 1968. The club were relegated two years
later, in 1970, and they remained in Serie B for most of the 70’s. But that
wouldn’t be the whole story of Palermo in this stage of their existence.
The 1970’s,
while still playing in Serie B, the club reached two Coppa Italia finals. The
first was in 1974, when they lost to Bologna in a penalty shoot-out. They next
final saw the Sicilian club lose in extra time to giants, Juventus. The club
saw a fall from grace, being relegated all the way to Serie C1. After surviving
another relegation in the year of 1985, the club were expelled once again from
Italy football. For one year their was no professional football including
Palermo, and once again the club reformed and took their place in Serie C2.
They won that in their first season. The following seasons saw the club have
mixed fortunes, with promotions, relegations and cup runs all being a part of
their story in the 90’s. 2001 saw the club pip Sicilian rivals Messina to
promotion to Serie B. Their first stay back saw the club finish mid table, and
plans were put inn place to try and reach Serie A in the next five years.
Maurizio
Zamparini was the driving force behind these plans when he bought the club for
€15 million. The 2003-04 saw the club finally reach Serie A again when they won
Serie B by goal difference, beating Cagliari by seven goals. This was the start
of the golden years for Palermo. The club finish 6th in the 2006-07,
qualifying for the UEFA Cup first round, were met Cypriot side Anorthosis
Famagusta, beating them 6-1 on aggregate. They continued on to the group
stages, playing in Group B, in a difficult group consisting of Espanyol,
Lokomotiv Moscow, Brondby, Maccabi Petah Tikva. The Italian club finished top
of the group, It set up a knockout stage leg with Slavia Prague, winning the
leg on the away goals rule after drawing 2-2 on aggregate. Round 16 saw the
club take on German side, Schalke 04. But this was as far as they would go,
losing 3-1 on aggregate,
Back to
domestic matters, the club finished in eight place the 2005-06 season. The club
was supposed to play in the UEFA cup once again in the 2006 season but were not
allowed to enter due to the big scandal that was rocking Italian football at
the time. They did qualify for the UEFA Cup first round after finishing 5th
in the 2006-07 season. But unlike their first European adventure, the club
didn’t get past the first round, losing to Czech Republic side, Mlada Boleslav,
on penalties, after drawing 1-1 on aggregate. But the following seasons were
still to produce some form of success on the field.
The 2010-11
season was a great one for the club, with the Sicilian side gaining
qualification to the UEFA Europe League and reaching their third Coppa Italia
final. It wasn’t to be third time lucky, however, as they lost to 3-1 to Inter
Milan. With the club about the underatke another European adventure, spirits
were high within the club. That was until the club were dumped out in the first
round by Swiss minnows, FC Thun. Another managerial change occurred, while
their European form was almost non-existent, their domestic form surprised a
few, and under the highly unexperienced Devis Mangia, the club finished 5th,
just outside the Champions League places. But his time at Palermo only lasted
one more season, as the club finished 16th in the league the
following campaign, and another managerial change was on the arisen.
The 2012-13
season proved to be disastrous and saw the club relegated to Serie B, the club
went for inexperience once again, and hired Gennaro Gattusso, but he was sacked
shortly after with a poor run of results. The club hired Giuseppe Iachini and
gained promotion with a record total point tally of 86 points. They had finally
returned to the Serie A for the 2014-15 season. It was a successful campaign,
with the club finishing comfortably in 11th position. It was also
the season that saw the emergence of Argentinian striker, Paulo Dybala, who
scored fourteen goals in the league. His contribution to Palermo would be short
lived, as he was bought by Juventus the following season. It was a chaotic
season for Palermo, with no less than seven managerial changes made, resulting
in the club just avoiding relegation on the final day of the season, with a 3-2
win over Hellas Verona, securing 16th spot.
The 2016-17
season was much the same, with their manager, Davide Ballardini leaving his
position after only two games and being replaced by Roberto Die Zerbi. He
didn’t last long either, and was replaced mid-season by Eugenio Corini. The
club was a bit of a circus off the field, with long time owner, Zamparini
deciding to sell and to an Italian American, Paul Baccaglini. Many saw this as
a positive move and felt the club would finally become a stable one on and off
the field. That isn’t how it worked out, and that season saw Palermo relegated
when they finished 19th and so another season in Serie B beckoned.
With this, the original sale of the club also fell through, with Zamparini not
accepting the final offer from Baccaglini, and so Zamparini remained the owner
of the club. Bruno Tedino was appointed as the new head coach tasked to gain
immediate promotion back to Serie A.
All looked
well, with the club on target with promotion, sitting top of the league
half-way through the season, but their fortunes took a downward spiral and
results on the pitch saw them fall down the table. It also saw another
managerial change with Tedino sacked and Roberto Stellone now the man in
charge. Amid all the chaos they did finish fourth and reached the promotion
play-off, where the faced off against Frosinone in the final, after beating
Venezia in the semi-finals, 2-1 on aggregate. But it wasn’t to be this time,
and they fell to a 3-2 aggregate defeat meaning another season in Serie B
awaited them.
The 2018-19
season was more known for it’s off-field antics than on field performances.
Once again, it looked as though Zamparini was going to sell the club, this time
to a London based investment company, lead by English businessman, Clive
Richardson. It seemed to be all going according to plan until January 2019,
when the club failed to make a singe signing in the winter transfer window. It
then became apparent that the club were in huge financial trouble, and as a
result the takeover broke down, with Richardson citing that the group were not
given full disclosure of how bad things were financially within the club.
Surprisingly, the club was sold a few days later to Daniela De Angel and Rino
Foschi. This ownership didn’t last long, as they sold the club on in May of
that year to hotel and torusim company, Arkus Network.
On the field,
the club finished 3rd in Serie B in the 2018-19 season but missed
out on the promotion play-off due to the fact they had been given a
twenty-point deduction, due to financial irregularities. It meant they finished
the season in 11th place. This was after the Italian Football
Federation had initially placed them bottom of Serie B, and effectively
relegated them to Serie C. The club appealed and won, meaning they would play
the 2019-20 season in Serie B. That was until they incorrectly submitted the
wrong paperwork to the FIGC in regards their application for the new season,
failing to include any insurance policy. Because of this, the FIGC had no other
option but to exclude the club from not only Serie B, but all professional
competitions in regards Italian football.
However, not to
be deterred, a number of people and groups showed an interest to start a phoenix
club and to start all the way down in Serie D. On the 24th of July,
the Mayor of Palermo, Leoluca Orlando announced a group named Hera Hora srl
were to be the chosen ones to bring Palermo back into the footballing world.
Their first season in Serie D ended in winning the title and saw promotion to
Serie C.
With the next
season cancelled due to the COVID19 pandemic, it wouldn’t be until the 2021-22
season that Palermo would get the chance to gain promotion back to the second
tier of Italian football, just three years after they had been excluded. And
that is exactly what they did, finishing 3rd that season, behind
Bari, and Catanzaro in Group C (South). Entering the promotion play-offs in the
third round, they defeated Triestina, 3-2 on aggregate. They then beat Virtus
Entella, 4-3 on aggregate in the quarterfinals to make it to the last four.
There, they eased their way past Feralpisalo, 4-0 on aggregate and met Padova
in the final. Winning both legs, 1-0, the Rosanero gained promotion to Serie B
for the 2022-23 season, (At the time of writing, they currently sit 13th
in Serie B)
No doubt, this
club has been one of the more chaotic clubs that have featured in this book,
with so many re-starts in their history, whilst also having so many managerial
changes. Seven in one season must be some kind of record, or maybe not, as in
Italian football they do like to change their managers a lot. The club itself
seems to have stabilised off the field, and while they are sitting mid table of
Serie B (For now) I have a feeling that we will be seeing the pink of Palermo
in Serie A in the not-so-distant future. Will they ever reach the dizzy heights
of European football again? Who knows. Maybe with a bit of investment, a bit of
luck, and a stable manager in place, they may just get back up there. It
wouldn’t hurt to find another Paulo Dyabla either.