Dear Viola Family,
I would like to provide some clarity on a number of matters which, for the good of Fiorentina, I feel I should speak to you about in full transparency and honesty, as I have always done throughout my life.
1. I am as disappointed as anyone about our recent results. However, everyone here at Fiorentina is convinced that we have a good team and one which until December was very high up in the standings. We decided to further strengthen the roster in January and we feel that we did what we could. As always, we will see what the results are come the end of the season.
2. That is why I think criticism of our management team responsible for transfers is wide of the mark. While our squad may have needed reinforcements, that doesn't mean the club should rush into any 'reckless' deals, which in any case, I might add, offer no guarantee of success.
3. I do not believe that spending for spending's sake is the right thing to do for Fiorentina's present or future. As it is, we have spent more in just five years than any previous Fiorentina owners. People always bring up the fact that I said “money is not a problem”; it's true that money is not a problem and I have shown that with what I have invested since June 2019 - including the Rocco B. Commisso Viola Park, which will always be Fiorentina's home - more than €430 million in Fiorentina, but as I have said before, I am the one who decides how the resources available to us should be best employed.
4. Our ambitions have not changed. We are still in every competition and our goal is to improve on last season. That has not changed and nor has my desire to help the club grow, in line with the possibilities we have at the moment.
5. When people talk about Fiorentina, the club I bought on June 6, 2019, they should remember the situation it was in when we arrived and what we have done since then. I would also like to reiterate that just as nobody forced me to buy the club, nobody will force me to sell Fiorentina and leave Florence, as happened to Dante. Nor will anyone other than myself ever be able to decide who should work for Fiorentina, or who, according to some people, I should get rid of.
6. Three years after I took over a club that had avoided relegation on the last day of the season, we qualified for Europe. Last season we reached the Conference League final and the Coppa Italia final – a double final that Fiorentina had not managed since 1961. Of course we all wanted to win at least one trophy but people should not pretend it never happened, nor should it be forgotten that we are in the Coppa Italia semi-finals for the third season running, that we are through to the Conference League last 16 and that we have seven points more in Serie A than we did at this stage last term.
7. Atalanta and Bologna are often held up as model clubs and of course I congratulate them on what they are doing, but I would also like to remind people with a short memory that Atalanta took seven years to qualify for Europe following the takeover by the Percassi family, and Bologna is challenging for the European spots for the first time this season, eight years after Joey Saputo's arrival.
8. When I arrived in Florence, I explained that I would be willing to spend money but in order to raise the bar and compete at the highest level we would need greater income and new revenue streams, such as a new stadium functional for watching a soccer match. When we took over, the club's revenue was below €100 million. Last season we reached the record figure of €147 million (including the €25 million Mediacom sponsorship and without capital gains), yet we remain far behind other clubs that bring in more than double our total every season (between 300 and 400 million).
9. When I came to FlorenceI stressed that I would never make any promises I couldn't keep and I also said that under my ownership the club would never risk bankruptcy (as happened in the past). That remains and will always remain the case. For years we have been calling for transparency and equal rules for everyone, yet hardly anything has changed and we find ourselves having to compete with clubs that are up to their neck in debt and acting as if they weren't. After Covid and the Super League issue, there are clubs resorting to repeated capital increases with still considerable debt exposure. I hope something can at long last change so that clubs which respect all the rules and have zero debt are no longer considered the same as clubs that only survive because specific rules are not applied.
10 Finally, let us remember that we are a united team. The coach, the players, the staff and the entire management work constantly to improve and grow every day with professionalism and commitment. I am certain that we will all face the rest of the season with the desire to achieve joy and success so that we can share it and celebrate with you.
You, dear Viola Family, are crucial and I ask you once again to stand with us and keep offering your vital support. I am sure that this team will be able to give you the joy you deserve.
