GIALLOROSSI YORKSHIRE BLOG
This was not how to treat a legend.
Whether you agree with everything that Francesco Totti said at his explosive farewell press conference yesterday or not, the one thing that is clear is that he has been shown a distinct lack of respect. Both in his final years as a player - when he was still making an impact, even if it was usually from the bench - and in his two years as a director. Totti has been tossed aside, neglected, forgotten about - just like his former teammate Daniele De Rossi was this past season. After a 30-year connection with the club, turning down lucrative offers from more successful sides, he deserved to have at least a fraction of that loyalty repaid by being taken seriously. Yes, some of what Totti said wasn't the full picture. For example, his claim that the directors only told him he'd be retiring as a player "two rounds before the end" is wide of the mark; there is clear evidence to show that 2016-17 had been confirmed as his last season with Roma. But the vast majority of everything else he said is believable. It was already known that Totti personally chose Claudio Ranieri as Roma's interim coach when Eusebio Di Francesco was dismissed in March. That was the best decision made by anyone at the club last season. Ranieri was exactly what Roma needed at that moment in time, and got them looking up the table again, rather than over their shoulders. That was Totti's sign that he could make good technical decisions. So why was his input not asked for more? In the transfer market, he said he would have signed Hakim Ziyech instead of Javier Pastore. Hindsight is easy, but who wouldn't have? Let's be quite clear here: from the beginning, everyone knew Pastore wouldn't fit in. Ziyech had the season of his life. Maybe Totti should have accepted the role offered to him for one year, to see how things changed when given the new title. Being a technical director may have allowed him to make more important decisions like these. Maybe. Perhaps it was just another illusory title to make the people believe he was involved to the extent that he should have been, when it was really other people pulling the strings. Franco Baldini. Where does he go from here? He was already the most hated man in Rome - or, more precisely, London - before this, but Totti's comments, no matter how often he tried to insist there was no bad blood between them, were indicting. Baldini doesn't even have an official title, but is clearly calling the shots. This was a man who was essential in putting the Roma side together that last won Serie A in 2001. The man who signed Gabriel Batistuta, Emerson and Walter Samuel - all key players in that glorious season. Now his reputation is in tatters. And what have Roma got to show for his decision making? It will be a long time before they are competing for that crown again. James Pallotta will stay put. No matter how many times the fans tell him to 'Go Home' - an ironic statement, given that one of the main criticisms of the president is that he is never present in Rome - Pallotta remains convinced that he will see through his project. Is that project to build a successful team, or just a stadium? It was thought that the latter would help the former, but after eight years of setbacks, his patience must have been tested. But as seen in the statement that Roma released to respond to Totti's comments - notably unsigned, perhaps trying to use the power of the name of the whole club to turn things against the ex-captain - Pallotta has no intention of walking away. Figuratively, of course. That statement, if anything, helped Totti's case more than the powers that be at the club. It painted a picture of him as a trouble-causer, which he is exactly what he complained about at his press conference. Maybe, to some extent, he is. We saw it on the pitch sometimes. But he made up for it with his skill and good judgement; why couldn't he as a director? Whatever he has done has been with the best interests of Roma at heart. If that needs honesty, then that's what he'll give. Just like Ranieri did before he departed - but to an even bigger degree. Now, no longer a part of the formula after 30 years, Totti is at an incredibly low point. "This is far worse than retiring as a player," he confessed. "I feel like it'd be better if I died." Have the club learnt nothing from Agostino Di Bartolomei? Yes, he played in a different time, under a different owner, but Roma's lack of contact with him post-retirement was one of the many factors that led to him taking his own life at the age of 39, and it was a lesson that had to be learnt from. He did not receive the support he needed, and, in a story with a different conclusion, but one that is sad in its own way, neither has Totti. The transition from playing to being a director is a tough one, especially for a bandiera. After so many years of putting on the same shirt in the same changing room, at the same stadium, suddenly not being a part of the action on matchday must bring all kinds of emotions. It's a process that players need supporting through; they are people, after all, and while they are expected to perform like machines on the pitch, they have their own feelings off it too. Perhaps that's a role that the club should create - a person to oversee players making that transition into retirement. It would help them feel more involved, wanted - not cast aside like Totti has been. Because legends deserve a respect that goes beyond appreciation of what they did on the pitch. Waking up on 18th June, 2019, has been a strange feeling for all Romanisti. It's the first full day in which Francesco Totti has not been employed by Roma this century. For some, it will be the first day in their lives in which that has been the case. Those fans, of all ages, remain at his side though, willing to show him the love and support that their club - his club - have so clearly failed to do.
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samuel bannister
Founder and editor of Giallorossi Yorkshire, who is also a columnist for Roma's official website about the women's team. Categories
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