Florence, 17 October 2023 – Speaking live on Radio24, the President of Fiorentina spoke on various topics. From the current events of the team to Viola Park, passing through the theme of the stadium and the difficulties encountered in Italy. These are the words of Rocco Commisso. “In 97 years of existence, Fiorentina has never owned anything, when I arrived I only thought of this: I wanted to leave something. Today I’m having lunch in pavilion 20, where there are 150 kids. It’s a wonderful thing and we’re all united to improve last season.”
Is Viola Park a philosophy?
“It’s true. I wanted to have women and children with the first team. Here there are ten pavilions, two stadiums, twelve regular fields. Over 120 beds for everyone. There is only one problem, that of wild boars… In America every day I have to deal with deer, but here there are wild boars”.
Has the bar been raised compared to last year?
“The objectives are always the same, if they are raised I keep it to myself. If we win against Empoli, it will be the best start in the history of Fiorentina in the three-point era. Compared to the first years everything is different now. Italian is doing a great job. We want to improve and I believe we will succeed, there is a magical atmosphere here. I see the little ones talking with the adults, it’s a great emotion. When the kids leave school, in the afternoon all the kids are here. occupied fields and I go to see them with the golf cart. This makes me rejoice, and my wife with me too.”
Have you ever thought about giving up everything?
“No, no. The boat won’t let go, only when I die. But I’m in good health now. You know that we put 420 million into Fiorentina, not funds though. This is all Rocco’s money and I’m not crying on us. It was the right thing to do, we’re happy we did it.”
Is it still worth investing in Italy?
“I had offers to go to other countries. I wanted to give something back to Italy, because Italy has given so much to me. I wanted to leave a mark and I have already left something. Now, however, let’s see if we can do it on the field. I like to do, don’t talk. We want to build something important. Despite having lost the two finals we increased our revenues by 48%, but we are not at the level of Juventus, Milan and those teams. Beyond the money from Mediacom, we are at 121 million of revenues. You can’t sign certain players with these minimum revenues. The stadium would have helped, they didn’t let me do it and now it seems that the Municipality is doing it.”
How complicated is it to build a stadium in Italy?
“I agree 100% with Minister Abodi. I want the good of Italian football. In Italy there are constraints, such as those imposed by the Superintendency. Stadiums cannot be monuments, it makes no sense. Only the stadium of Juventus and Frosinone in Italy in recent years”.
What do you think of the betting case?
“The players know very well what not to do when it comes to betting, whoever makes a mistake will pay the consequences. None of my players have come to me to tell me anything about it, I hope it never happens. They are guys who become very rich and have had little education. Sometimes I see Lamborghinis and Ferraris in the parking lot and I think that at 73 years old I have never had certain cars. I have never been like that, I hope that my players always do things right.”
What can you say about Bonaventura and Gonzalez?
“Jack is a jewel, we took him to zero. He has enormous seriousness. Everyone here wants to hug me, including him. Gonzalez is different, I go and hug him. He has his own personality. Dodo is the one who hugs me the most. Gonzalez is a gem of a player, we were lucky to bring him here to Florence. We extended his contract, I hope he stays with us for a long time.”
And what do you think of Italian?
“After some ups and downs with Montella and Iachini we got the coach right thanks to Pradè. He did a great job, he often shouts and scolds the boys, but he has all my respect. I will never criticize him and my boys in any way. public. Joe Barone does immense work here from 6 in the morning. We have an American work mentality.”
Alessandro Latini
