Lazio President Claudio Lotito holds a rare Press conference, insisting Coach Simone Inzaghi “will be here for the next few years”.
The Biancocelesti haven't won in their last four games, and there has been speculation over the future of both the Coach and sporting director Igli Tare, who both joined the owner in the Press conference.
“I haven’t spoken for four years,” Lotito began.
“I have decided to do so today to clarify the club’s situation and the relationships within the club itself.
Lazio President Claudio Lotito holds a rare Press conference, insisting Coach Simone Inzaghi “will be here for the next few years”.
The Biancocelesti haven't won in their last four games, and there has been speculation over the future of both the Coach and sporting director Igli Tare, who both joined the owner in the Press conference.
“I haven’t spoken for four years,” Lotito began.
“I have decided to do so today to clarify the club’s situation and the relationships within the club itself.
“On my right is my Godson Inzaghi, to my left the other Godson, Tare, and then Angelino [Peruzzi] with whom we talk every day to evaluate the progress of the squad.
“I’ve wanted to do this for some time because I’ve been seeing news which is only aimed at destabilising the environment.
“This is a family, there can be different views when you have many children, but in this case that doesn’t exist.
“The Coach will be here for the next few years, the same for the sporting director and the same for the club manager [Peruzzi].
“We’ve embarked on a path of infrastructural growth and objectives. We’ve put a lot of things in place to grow the club and the results, it can happen that some games don’t go in the right direction, but that doesn’t mean catastrophes or broken relationships.
“There is respect for people and roles, there’s no duelling. That has to be clarified once and for all.
“We’re a united group, this club wants to base our family on true values and respect. I have never interfered in other people's roles.
“The squad can compete for the best positions, I would like print, broadcast, radio outlets to respect the truth, not point to totally false things which are only aimed at destabilisation.”
Lotito was then asked what his state of mind is in relation to the squad.
“The state of mind of someone who knows he has a Ferrari, but is travelling at reduced speed. The engine can overheat, but the important thing is to find a solution to get it started again quickly.
“We didn’t expect the last two or three results, we all know that we’d have preferred other results. Now we need to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
“They all believe they have the technical qualities, they need to prove that on the pitch. The driver, the car and the mechanic are important. Everyone needs to push toward our objectives, including the fans.
“We have the potential, you’ve seen that over the last year, and it doesn’t seem to me that the squad is weaker.
“Objectives shouldn’t be declared, but achieved. Ours is a big family, there’s no tension. We’re not visionaries, we’ve achieved what we said we would and then there are some imponderable things which happen on the pitch.
“Last year we deserved to qualify for the Champions League and one point made the difference.
“Right now we’re fifth, one point off fourth, we reached the Europa League Last 32 well in advance.
“In Rome there’s always the search for hidden motives, mors tua and vita mea. For me that’s wrong. We know what we can do and we can get there.
“We had offers in the summer [for players] that no President would have turned down. We stabilised them things and we kept them here.
“In January we’ll see if and where we need to intervene.”