“The first time is luck, the second is destiny.” Those were the words which Gabriele Cioffi chose to open his maiden press conference of his second spell in charge of Udinese.
Director General Franco Collavino began proceedings this afternoon and was keen to offer praise to outgoing boss Andrea Sottil: “I’d like to thank Andrea and his staff for their work at Udinese. We’re here today because the club have chosen to shake things up and turn our situation around quickly. A big welcome and welcome back to Gabriele Cioffi. We’re now able to close a chapter in what were misleading interpretations of what happened when he left previously – the coach chose to leave of his own accord. We know the rules of the industry. He’s back here today because Udinese have offered him the chance. These are the facts. What we need right now is energy and we believe that he’s the right man.”
Collavino was also keen to praise the club’s fans: “We’re going through a tough time and are aware that the team isn’t living up to supporters’ expectations. The Udinese faithful have always been fantastic. We’d like to ask them to keep on cheering the lads on and to help us get out of this predicament as soon as possible.”
Director of football Federico Balzaretti then offered his thoughts: “I’d also like to thank Sottil and his staff. It’s time to move on and we want to get out of this situation with passion and strength. We picked Cioffi because he knows the club and many of the players, and he’s got a great track record. We need to pick up points and the coach knows exactly how things work here. We’ll back him to the hilt.”
New coach Gabriele Cioffi then took centre stage, and offered his opinions on his appointment, Udinese’s current situation and the season ahead:
“The overriding emotion is happiness at getting a second chance, which can be hard to come by in football. I’d like to thank the club. I feel ready. I’ve changed and matured but the desire is still there. My aim is to understand what’s going on in the lads’ heads. Their talent isn’t up for discussion.
“Serie A is full of surprises. It’s no longer like 20 years ago when there were just six or seven top teams competing against each other. We need to take one step at a time and build up confidence. We want to turn things around and show conviction.
“First up we’ve got Raffaele Palladino’s Monza. They held Roma for an hour with ten men for an hour. We need to go into the match with a strong mentality. I need to bring out the leadership that is within each of them. I've never seen a team win with three players.
"This Udinese team have many leaders –in terms of personality and performance. Roberto Pereyra can play anywhere except in goal. I met up with Lazar Samardzic yesterday and asked him if he was still angry at the lack of game time I gave him. He laughed – I think that says everything. I’m convinced we’ll get the old Walace back as well.”
"This Udinese team have many leaders –in terms of personality and performance. Roberto Pereyra can play anywhere except in goal. I met up with Lazar Samardzic yesterday and asked him if he was still angry at the lack of game time I gave him. He laughed – I think that says everything. I’m convinced we’ll get the old Walace back as well.”
“Now we’ve just got to play. I think that’s what this squad needs. There aren’t many calculations to be done. First we need to get out of the mud and then we can think about numbers. It’s time to act.”