The draw with Lecce and the five defeats that preceded him cost Stroppa dearly, who was sacked this morning by Monza. That of the former AC Milan midfielder was the second bench to jump in Serie A, after that of Mihajlovic in Bologna. In these hours the candidates for the succession are rattled off, even if immediately the name chosen by Berlusconi and Galliani to lead the Brianza team on Sunday afternoon against Juventus is that of Raffaele Palladino, fourth exponent of the Gasperinian school. A choice due to the moment and the reduced times but which could become definitive in the event of a change of gear by the red and white: against his past, the former Under 19 coach from Brianza will try to chase away the rumors that Ranieri would like to be in pole position and he is a simple ferryman. It will not be easy against Juve wounded by the 2-2 with Salernitana and the Var’s mistake: however Palladino always liked the challenges, despite the fact that the results were not always what they expected.
The first kicks
Thinking today of the career of the striker, born in Mugnano di Napoli in 1984, it seems evident that he has collected less than he promised in the early years. After kicking the ball with his country’s team, it was Benevento, then in Serie C1, who set their sights on his technical skills and his instinct for goals. After being included in the Primavera, in 2001 the corporate crisis of the Campania opens the doors of the first team to him and he takes advantage of the opportunity: at the Flaminio in Rome against Lodigiani the first goal among the professionals arrives, a valuable left-footed flight on an assist from Aruta. The goal of the 17-year-old Palladino makes noise, which attracts the attention of Juventus, quick in bringing him to Turin, making him play in the Primavera. There he meets his mentor, Giampiero Gasperini, and the meeting with the coach from Grugliasco is physically shocking but it will change his life: “The first three months you have to do to the maximum with him – he will declare in the following years -. Three months in which either you die or you become another player “. He went on loan in the following years, first in Salerno and then in Livorno, but the first opportunity for Juventus came in 2006. Juventus was in Serie B and Deschamps chose him to build the squad, which could also count on champions such as Del Piero, Trezeguet , Nedved. The first goal against Albinoleffe arrived, then the hat-trick with Triestina, ending with 8 goals: the following season, in Serie A, Ranieri sits on the Juventus bench, the one who today is his main antagonist to coach Monza. After a year on the sidelines, he co-owns Genoa, where he will find Gasperini, then Parma, and Crotone, coached by Ivan Juric. Gasperin’s philosophy is strengthened and once he hangs up his boots with the Monza shirt, he stays in Brianza to coach the Under 15 team, then the Primavera. Before being promoted to Serie A head coach after Stroppa’s exoneration: an opportunity that Palladino does not want to miss.
The study and the bench
The meeting with Gasperini changed his life and his approach to football. In his career he has crossed paths with his mentor several times, without forgetting the experience with Juric in Genoa, as a teammate, and in Crotone with the Croatian on the bench. From that Juventus Primavera, coached by Gasp, Paro, currently Juric’s assistant at Turin, was also formed: a football school, in all respects. Knowledge, however, is not transmitted by osmosis: in recent years Palladino has studied by perfecting himself and focusing a lot on his career as a coach. He will be the fourth exponent of Gasperini’s school, which in addition to the Atalanta coach can also count the aforementioned Juric in Turin, Alvini in Cremona and, in fact, Palladino in Monza. A count still in progress, given that the opportunity has served but to make the most of it he will have to demonstrate that he is ready for an apparently quiet square, but in which he will have to live with the bulky presence of Berlusconi and with a championship that started badly. Before him, however, he will have to pass unscathed the first exam, the most difficult one, against his past. Exam to pass to chase away Ranieri’s ghost and try to keep the Gasperinian school dominant in Serie A.
