iorentina president Rocco Commisso believes his team are in goof financial shape, but the footballing system is suffering. Speaking in an extensive interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport, Commisso took aim at other clubs in Serie A, while also discussing his aims to build a new stadium for La Viola:

Given Viola Park, has anyone regretted not helping you also make a new stadium in Florence?

“You touch a sore spot. The Italian system unfortunately is a disaster, not only for us, but for anyone who wants to create and invest. The municipalities own everything and put a thousand obstacles that in the end dissuade private individuals from going forward. The owners of the stadiums must be the clubs, not the municipalities. Even if it’s not my fault, I consider the failure to build a new stadium my biggest failure or perhaps I should say regret, because they didn’t allow me to do it. In 5 years we haven’t managed to accomplish anything and now with the work at the Franchi another few will pass.”

We’ll come back to that later… We’ve entered the sixth year of your presidency: do you feel like taking stock?

“I bought Fiorentina in June 2019, with the team that had saved itself from relegation to Serie B on the last day. Considering where we started from, I believe that the growth path has been undeniable. I’ve spent 430 million in 5 years: 170 for the club, 140 to buy players and 120 for Viola Park. All own finances, without loans. And every year we put our hands in our pockets for all needs. Fiorentina is a healthy club, without debts. Today we seek a balance between costs and revenues, but in the Italian system it’s almost impossible and you always have to insert new cash flows. The commitment has always been and remains to improve year after year.”

Are you satisfied with the sporting results achieved?

“We’ve played two consecutive European Conference finals and one Italian Cup final. It’s a shame we didn’t win them, but three finals in five years is a great result. In the league we hoped to do even better and we’ve settled around seventh-eighth place. We can and want to climb more positions. But if we put together the sporting results, the investments and the construction of a sports center that everyone admires, I believe that the overall balance is certainly positive.”

Yet the fans are not always happy…

“The fan in general, of any team, experiences everything with extreme passion, sometimes struggles to have an overall vision, to evaluate a cycle in its breadth with clarity and serenity. He lives day by day, if you don’t win a game it’s already a drama. Even in past years the sale of some players, who wanted to leave, was experienced as a tragedy and instead time has proved us right.”

Don’t you envy any club that has won in these years?

“No, because certain victories have come thanks to absurd debt situations that have brought clubs almost to bankruptcy and then into the hands of Funds for the non-repayment by the owners of the loans received. And I still wonder if those who won in certain years could be registered for the championship… I was about to buy Milan then it ended up with Mr. Li and you know how it ended. And Zhang? No one knows where he is anymore… He too forced to leave Inter, indebted to the Oaktree Fund. Then there’s the Juve case: from Ronaldo onwards Exor in five years has had to put in 900 million euros to fix the balance sheets, despite annual revenues being over 450 million, more than triple those of Fiorentina. Of the clubs we can compare ourselves to, by size and revenues, only Atalanta has done better than us in terms of results, but their project, including infrastructure, started earlier. The others no, I can’t envy them”

Since your arrival, you have been very critical in analyzing the Italian football system as an organization, respect for rules, governance, TV rights, product enhancement, facilities, youth sectors. In these 5 years have you seen any positive changes? Has everything remained the same? Do you still have faith or have you lost hope?

“The faith is always there, but I haven’t seen improvements in any of the aspects you mentioned, starting with respect for the rules. Juventus suffered a penalty for irregularities, but Milan and Inter have continued to spend despite hundreds of millions in debts and have never been penalized for this. There was no desire to intervene. These clubs, starting with Juve, wanted to fix their balance sheets with Super League money at the expense of national tournaments. Fortunately, that project failed and football was saved.”

Changes are expected in the institutional leadership of our football, but in your opinion do the system’s problems depend more on the men or the regulations?

“I believe that this immobility is an Italian disease. We need to put football under protection, enforcing the rules and pursuing new paths, but in Italy we never manage to do it.”

In recent years, many foreign owners, big and small, have entered Italian football, which was thought and hoped could bring novelty, experiences, knowledge. Instead, beyond what they did for their own clubs, they failed to modernize the System.