Fiorentina announced this morning that the club has relieved head coach Stefano Pioli of his duties and thanking him for his 115 days in charge of the team. The mister’s fate was sealed following his display
at the end of Sunday’s loss to Lecce: while his players faced the fans’ displeasure, Pioli hustled off the pitch, all but confirming the end of his involvement with this “project.”
Pioli’s firing comes hard on the heels of the club’s parting of ways with sporting director Daniele Pradè on Saturday, 1 November. That leaves general manager Alessandro Ferrari, who succeeded the late Joe Barone 18 months ago, as the only high-level leadership figure at the club. His background is in supermarkets, not calcio, and he’s now at the helm of a Viola side that’s plunging unchecked into relegation. It’s all quite dire.
Along with Pradè, he helped bring Pioli in this summer after Raffaele Palladino’s shock resignation. At the time, the consensus was that Pioli was a competent hire that would offer stability if not inspiration. Instead, he’s led to the club to its worst start ever: 10 straight games in Serie A without a win (although he’s won both his Conference League matchups). Not surprisingly, Fiorentina’s 19th in the table and the laughingstock of the league. His 0.4 points per game is the worst of any non-interim boss in Viola history.
The city held fond memories of the gravitas and emotional sturdiness with which Pioli held Fiorentina together following Davide Astori’s death, but the now ex-manager undermined much of that goodwill with his abrupt post-game departure on Sunday. That, combined with the team’s abysmal performance, leaves a bad taste.
I won’t criticize Pioli for refusing to resign, though. Contracts cut both ways, and this might be his last high-profile job. Especially since he left a lot of money on the table last time he left Florence, it’s easy to understand why he’d be loath to do so this time around. The mister had reportedly refused a partial buyout and was insisting on being paid the full value of his deal. Nobody’s got deals on the severance package but my assumption is that he received most of what he wanted.
Your mileage may differ on this point but I lean pro-labor in most situations and this is one of them. If Fiorentina was worried about money, maybe offering someone a 3-year guaranteed contract with an annual value of over €3 million wasn’t a good idea. For someone as rich as Rocco Commisso, who’s spent over half a billion euros on this club since buying it in 2019, this is just another drop in the bucket.
Primavera manager Daniele Gallopa will take over the first team for the next week while Fiorentina searches for a permanent coach (Paolo Vanoli? Robert D’Aversa? Marco Giampaolo?). He might not be able to do much, since 8 of the 13 first-team staff have followed Pioli out the door, leading to suggestions that the players themselves might have a greater voice in deciding the lineups and tactics against Mainz and Genoa. After that, the international break gives Fiorentina a couple weeks to sort this out.
Of course, who’s sorting it out is also up for debate. Technical director Roberto Goretti has slid into Pradè’s vacant seat; the 49-year-old has took his current job in 2024 but has worked as a DS at Perugia, Cosenza, and Reggiana, so he understands the job even if the scale is magnified. He’ll work with Ferrari and maybe club CEO Mark Stephen to fill these roles.
Ultimately, though, this all rolls up to Rocco Commisso. He’s the one signing the checks, and while he’s had a light touch over the past few years—a far cry from the brassy, confrontational figure who purchased the club—the the person at the top of the org chart is accountable. We can blame the mid- to high-level employees, who’ve made all the mistakes that brought us here, but the buck stops with the boss and their decisions or lack thereof.
So arrivaderci, Stefano Pioli. You’ve undermined your reputation in the city but that payout will make a nice parachute. Indeed, it may well be that you’ve made the right decision to bail on this Fiorentina that’s mid-nosedive. Floating gently to earth, surrounded by your new millions, is a nicer way to land than the full impact of relegation.
