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| | Wednesday 23 July, 2008 | | Blog: Irresponsible Inter | After months of appealing for Serie A aid, historic club Spezia have gone bankrupt and Paul Watson blames Inter’s apathy for their demise
|  |  | | While Serie A seems to be prospering once more with the arrivals of Jose Mourinho and Ronaldinho, worrying wails can be heard drifting up from calcio’s basement. The news that Messina had been forced to forfeit their place in Serie B due to crippling debts was quickly followed by the collapse of a handful of lower League sides, a list that sadly included Spezia.
Hailing from the tiny Ligurian railway town of La Spezia, the Eagles were amongst Italy’s oldest clubs and had been around since 1906 – even winning a the war-time version of the Scudetto in 1944. The minnows’ return to the second tier in 2005-06 prompted heartwarming scenes of celebration for a club used to living in the shadow of neighbours Genoa.
Spezia stayed up thanks to a relegation play-off in 2005-06, but the highlight of the season was undoubtedly upsetting the mighty Juventus 3-2. However, the financial demands of playing in the Second Division took their toll and debts escalated, endangering the future of the club. When they slipped to relegation last season, the situation became critical as bailiffs knocked on the door.
A supporters club raised an impressive sum to clear a large portion of the debt, but the main hope of salvation lay with Italian champions Inter. Spezia always enjoyed a close relationship with Inter – a club they saw as an older brother – and had been bailed out by the Nerazzurri in the past. But although President Massimo Moratti did make a contribution, it only represented a seventh of the amount raised by the fans. Spezia’s time was up.
While I commend Moratti for the aid he did provide over the years and accept that Spezia couldn’t become a charity case, I feel that calcio’s giants failed to accept the responsibility they have to the lesser lights of the game. While the Beneamata are happy to spend £65m on changing Coach, the idea of giving under a 10th of that to save a club from extinction is treated as unthinkable.
The buck shouldn’t stop at Inter, the whole of the top tier need to act. Serie B and C are the bedrock of calcio. Not only are these small clubs beloved by thousands of Italy’s most dedicated football fans, they are crucial for the development of new talent and are the places where so many of the nation’s stars learn the ropes before graduating to Serie A.
I just hope that before Moratti and Co invest their next £10m on a foreign star they take some time to think about where the next generation of Italian talent will be able to serve their apprenticeships.
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Whilst it is always saddening to witness the death of an old football club, it's nevertheless incomprehensible for Paul Watson to single out Inter for blame. Indeed, it's strange that he thinks the whole top tier has bloodied hands.
Clubs are responsible for themselves, and that means living within your means - if you can't afford to survive in Serie B, then you don't belong there. You will find your place in the order of things, be it Serie C, or whatever - the result being you survive. Playing in a lower league will make a negligible difference to attendances, the same band of loyal supporters that these clubs have will pay their money to watch their team regardless.
So Paul, instead of commendably impassioned, but prejudiced commenting, why not lament the death of a club, and use it as an example to others, rather than use your privileged position to indulge in hateful mud slinging.
Gavin
Though I would like to blame Inter for most things in life I fall short of holding them responsible for another clubs failer to live within their budget. All clubs aim to reach the top but to gamble on finance they do not have is pure stupidity. If Inter bailed them out how long before another club would try the same and expect Milan or Juventus to bail them out and yet again no lessons would be learnt. Lets face it the true picture is we will see a few more clubs head the same way as Spezia.
Nick
Totally agree with your comment re Spezia and Inter... One thought strikes me though. Are these opinions prevalent in the Italian Press? Being so far from the pulse, it would be an idea to Include Italian press views on such subjects as this also creates an image of how the country is reacting to such events.
Michael McGuigan, Coatbridge
Yes it would have been nice of Inter to show some good heart that unfortunately they lack, but in any case you cannot blame Inter for another club going bankrupt. It is Spezia that is in charge of Spezia's finances, not Inter. However, the best point being is it doesn't matter if the lower division clubs are producing the raw Italian talent, Inter as usual will do their shopping in Argentina or Brazil as they always do. That to me in a sense is irresponsible because such a big team should be a showcase for Italian talent not South American. But anyways, I guess they would rather spend 65 million on a Portuguese coach instead of an Italian. The only thing that Inter has done that deserves recognition is Balotelli, finally one of Italy's rising talent playing for Inter, but it would not surprise me if they would use him as a pawn in the transfer market....
Cam H
As a follower of the Italian game I read through your article headed 'Irresponsible Inter', I think you are quite right to point the finger at the highly-rated clubs of Serie A. Let's be honest here and say that this is not a problem only in Italy, it's worldwide, clubs can't compete with the giants of the modern game. Could there not be a day in which clubs had their youth set-ups with clubs from the lower Leagues and as they gain experience move up through the leagues? In this day and age there must be a solution to the ever-growing problem of clubs on the verge of bankruptcy.
TV money is going through the roof, again with the higher placed clubs getting more than their share, whilst I am not sure how it works in Italy with the money being shared out, it should with the larger amount going to stave off such financial matters of the smaller clubs. I guess the real problem is just how many people care if the grass roots are taken away from such towns and how long before cities are found without a team? Food for thought and action by the football heads somewhere.
David Millsom
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