Rocco Commisso is definitely at that difficult second album stage. When he first arrived in Florence, he was hugely popular with a string of successes, an American tour and - let’s be honest - the simple fact that he was neither Andrea nor Diego Della Valle.

But the ideas and inspiration that characterised Rocco Commisso’s initial incarnation appear to have dried up like the banks of the River Arno in a long, hot summer. There are some hard yards now in store to prove he is not just another one-hit-wonder.

Rewinding the clock, it is hard not to think that a few mistakes were made from the outset. The new Viola president chose to keep faith with most of the management team at the Stadio Artemio Franchi.

His logic, which was hard to fault, was that he would give them time to prove their worth. The trouble was, unfortunately, that they singularly failed to do so.

Instead, despite an admirable desire to show loyalty, the club have shuffled through disappointing spells with Vincenzo Montella and Beppe Iachini before turning to former boss Cesare Prandelli.

None of them have produced any significant upturn in results or performances and only increased a feeling of a lack of direction. Maybe, with hindsight, a clean break and a new start was called for with a clear coaching vision in mind.

In the same way, the return of sporting director Daniele Pradè has not proved to be a particularly happy appointment. Other than the much-heralded arrival of Franck Ribery, there have been few big-name acquisitions to appease fans who are hungry for success.

And their patience - when they see arrivals like Aleksandr Kokorin - is getting as close to snapping as a strand of overstretched spaghetti.

Hindsight, of course, is a wonderful thing and it might all have worked out brilliantly, but the harsh reality is that Fiorentina are no closer to where they feel they belong than when their new owner arrived.

They are limping along towards - probably - narrow survival in Serie A once again this year. For a club that was once a fairly regular face on the European scene, it feels a bit like drinking the house red when you used to imbibe the very best Brunello.

If supporters are frustrated by what they see on the pitch, you get the feeling their president is getting just as disheartened by matters away from the field of play.

For a man whose motto is “fast, fast, fast”, the time it is taking to try to secure approval to build a new stadium must be truly mind-blowing. He is not the first overseas owner - and he won’t be the last - to find out that Italian bureaucracy moves as slowly as a log-laden, three-wheeled Ape struggling up a Tuscan hillside.

This has only been aggravated by the straitjacket of financial fair play, which seems to hamper many clubs of Fiorentina’s size. Even if Commisso wanted to plunge his fortune into the transfer market he would pretty much be unable to do so until the Viola’s revenue increased.

It means it is all the harder to break into the upper reaches of football without - it appears to outsiders anyway - the most creative of accountants.

And yet, the European football scene is littered with a few examples of smaller clubs who have managed to scale the heights without breaking the bank and they prove it is not an impossible dream.

The big difference, though, is that they have a clear vision and direction of where they are heading and are ready to follow it in the short, medium and long term. Instead, the Stadio Franchi side always seems to dismantle their “project” at the first setback.

Remember when they had one of the youngest starting XIs in Serie A? Another idea that was dropped quicker than a piping hot pizza stone picked up without oven gloves.

It all increases the feeling that the club is fumbling about in the dark, still looking for the light switch. For all that they were criticised, the Della Valle boys did deliver European football for a significant spell before things turned sour.

They were also able to put together a team which - for a time at least - provided plenty of entertainment for fans. Who knows if the odd Ultra is starting to feel some nostalgia for the men they constantly accused of having short-arms because they felt they so rarely dipped into their pockets?

There is no use dwelling on the past, though, and there is still plenty of time for the American era to turn things around but it really has to start right now. Assuming that the players can save themselves this season - which is not guaranteed - a clear direction is required.

That should really mean planning for a new coach, new sporting director and a squad of players to deliver their vision and commit to following it through to the end. Maurizio Sarri, for example, would only be worth a gamble if you are willing to give him time.

Fiorentina will always be stuck, a little anyway, in a kind of Serie A no man’s land. Their history and support dictate that they can’t really go down the route of parking the bus like so many smaller clubs do but at the same time they don’t have the quality and firepower to break down many teams that do play that way.

They sold one of their primary sources of attacking creativity - Federico Chiesa - to arch-rivals Juventus and now produce so few chances in most games you could count them on the petals of their fleur-de-lis emblem. However, unlike Dante’s Inferno, perhaps supporters do not have to abandon all hope just yet.

A clear direction, some sensible signings and a coach who can give them a clear identity would be enough to move things forward. Nobody seriously expects a league title - but a shot at the top six or seven should not be beyond them. Then supporters would be singing their president’s praises once again.

@ginkers

Giancarlo Rinaldi is the author of a number of books about Italian football. Find out more here.