“We still believe we can maintain our dignity, as our task is to fight until the very end,” Gigi Delneri said recently, lamenting the fact his Hellas Verona side had stumbled to yet another defeat. Yet the moustachioed Coach isn’t merely overseeing an abject run of results, he is arguably in charge of the worst team in Europe.
The Gialloblu sit rock bottom of Serie A, incredibly still winless after playing twenty-one matches of the campaign. “We aren’t moving forward with the idea that we’ve already been relegated,” Delneri continued. But the stark reality is that Hellas – who have won just ten points thus far – are already fourteen points from safety.
It is a gap they are unlikely to recover given their performances in the first half of 2015/16, and their squad is desperately short of players with the ability to make any kind of positive impact. That is the sad reality facing a club who celebrated the 30th anniversary of their lone Serie A title win just last year, a reminder of how great the side from the Stadio Bentegodi once were.
Indeed, while fans looked back fondly upon the exploits of Hans-Peter Briegel, Preben Elkjær and Pietro Fanna this past summer, they could also reflect on the relative success enjoyed under Andrea Mandorlini. Arriving in November 2010 with Hellas in the Lega Pro Primera Division – Italian football’s third tier – he steadily helped them climb back to the top flight just three years later and suddenly the future looked bright.
An exciting counter-attacking team boasting the likes of Jorginho and Juan Manuel Iturbe fed veteran striker Luca Toni, the World Cup winner bagging twenty goals in a season for the first time since 2008. Their strong work ethic and effort under Mandorlini saw them finish a surprising tenth, proving it was no fluke a year later as they finished just three places lower despite a string of departures.
Toni netted 22 times in 2014/15, sharing the honour of being Serie A’s leading scorer with Inter star Mauro Icardi, but the nation’s biggest clubs had begun to pick off his team-mates. AS Roma paid €22 million for Iturbe while Juventus took versatile Brazilian Romulo on a season-long loan, but it appeared to matter little as Hellas continued to impress even without them.
Jorghino’s move to Napoli this past summer continued the exodus, but few tipped the Mastini for relegation given the presence of minnows like Carpi and Frosinone, while even Empoli and Palermo seemed to be enveloped by much less positive situations. Ending the previous season by drawing at home to Juventus, 2015/16 began in similar fashion as Hellas held AS Roma 1-1 thanks to a goal from Bosko Jankovic.
Even by week seven there were no real signs of the problems to come, credible draws with Torino and in the derby against Chievo offsetting expected defeats to Inter and Lazio. But an injury to Toni completely derailed Mandorlini’s side, a 4-1 loss to Sampdoria opening the floodgates as Hellas went on to lose six of their next seven matches.
They were also scoreless in all but one of those games, and while their defence remains surprisingly resolute, it is in attack where the team is truly struggling. While five sides – Carpi (36), Frosinone (45), Palermo (34), Sampdoria (36) and Udinese (35) – have conceded more goals than Hellas (33), they have found the net themselves on just fourteen occasions, five fewer than any other club.
Mandorlini, at the time Serie A’s longest-serving coach, was fired on November 30 and replaced by Delneri, but the new man has fared little better than his predecessor. Having been in charge of bitter rivals Chievo during the most successful spell in that club’s history, Hellas fans were largely unimpressed, and losing his first game to Empoli did little to improve their opinion of the new boss.
Yet the side – boosted by the return of Luca Toni – then went to the San Siro and earned a fine 1-1 draw with Milan, before sharing stalemates with Roma and Sassuolo. The striker insisted then that the team “will face the situation head on,” and there is perhaps some inspiration to be found in Perugia’s 2003/04 campaign. Despite waiting until week 23 to record a victory, the Grifoni managed to avoid the drop, and Hellas can at least take solace in the fact they still have the backing of their passionate fanbase.
Recent full page advert in @Gazzetta_it from winless @HellasVeronaFC thanking their "unique" fans pic.twitter.com/7ls1jpxV5N
— Adam Digby (@Adz77) January 20, 2016
Fully aware of the role they play, the club took out a full page advert in La Gazzetta dello Sport – the country’s biggest newspaper – to thank their “unique” fans for their continued support. Not merely an empty gesture, it was recognition of the fact that, despite their abject performances, Hellas average the 12th highest attendance in the league.
But sadly the effort and passion of those in the stands has not been matched on the field, the side routinely undone with ease and regularly looking tactically naïve. Simply put, they lack the quality to survive and few teams around the continent are in such poor shape, with even Ligue 1 strugglers Troyes – winless in their first 21 games – finally notching a victory this weekend.
The gulf between Hellas Verona and the rest of Serie A only continues to widen, and it seems all but certain that this proud club will once again be forced to swallow the bitter pill of relegation.
