Gennaro gattuso biography of rory
Gennaro Gattuso confirmed as Napoli boss as he takes training less than 24 hours after Carlo Ancelotti was sacked - but his former manager at AC Milan has already called to wish him well
Gennaro Gattuso has been confirmed as the new boss of Serie A club Napoli following the sacking of Carlo Ancelotti.
The former Milan boss has been given a six-month contract at the crisis-ridden club and took training on Tuesday, less than 24 hours after his former AC Milan mentor departed.
The club have struggled in recent weeks and they are winless in seven Serie A games in succession, sitting seventh in the table and 17 points off leaders Juventus.
Former Milan manager Gennaro Gattuso has been confirmed as boss of Serie A side Napoli
Club chairman Aurelio De Laurentiis unveiled his new boss after departure of Carlo Ancelotti
On joining, Gattuso said: 'The aim is to recoup points and get back into the Champions League positions.
'We need to work hard, win back points and come through this tricky period. It's embarrassing to see Napoli where we currently are in the table.
'The team is aware of the difficult situation and wants to do well. I've been encouraged.'
The retired midfielder took his first training session as the boss of his new club
Gattuso is set to be joined at Napoli by assistant Luigi Riccio, who was a team-mate of the midfielder while at Rangers.
The pair grew close at the Scottish club in 1997 and worked together when Gattuso was cutting his managerial teeth at Sion, Palermo, OFI Crete, Pisa and then AC Milan.
Gattuso even baptised Riccio's second son and the inseparable duo have been handed six-month deals with provision for an additional year if certain results are achieved, such as qualifying for the Champions League.
Gattuso is set to be joined by his former Rangers team-mate and No 2 Luigi Riccio (right)
The two helped Pisa to promotion to Serie B and Gattuso wants him by his side again. Riccio spent two years at Rangers but
Retired Milan midfielder Gennaro Gattuso has decided to chime in on the power struggle at the club between long-time chief executive Adriano Galliani and Barbara Berlusconi, daughter of club owner and disgraced former Italy prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. In a radio interview, he shared his regrettable view of the matter.
From the BBC:
"For someone like Galliani there should be more respect," Reuters reported Gattuso as telling Italy's Radio Radio.
"I can't really see women in football. I don't like to say it but that's how it is."
Over the weekend, Galliani announced his resignation after 28 years with the club only to then agree to a compromise that now gives Milan two CEOs — Galliani to handle sporting matters and Barbara Berlusconi to handle "other areas of the club's activities." Berlusconi was named to Milan's board of directors in 2011, shortly after she started dating then Milan striker Pato.
Gattuso ended his playing career earlier this year and was sacked as manager of Serie B side Palermo after eight matches on the job (which is a relatively lengthy spell for a Palermo manager). His decision to decry women in football, as opposed to, say, nepotism in football, is disappointing — especially since he has a young daughter himself. It highlights the challenges and retrograde thinking that keep the number of female executives in top-flight football so low.
Luciano Spalletti
Italian football manager (born 1959)
Luciano Spalletti (Italian pronunciation:[luˈtʃaːnospalˈletti]; born 7 March 1959) is an Italian footballmanager and former player. He is the head coach of the Italy national team.
He started his managerial career with Empoli in 1993 before going on to coach clubs in Italy including two spells with Roma where he won two consecutive Coppa Italia titles. Spalletti managed Zenit St. Petersburg from 2009 to 2014, winning two Russian Premier League titles. Following two seasons in charge at Inter Milan, he was appointed manager of Napoli in 2021 where he won the Serie A in the 2022–23 season before leaving the club in June 2023. In August 2023, he was appointed as coach of the Italy national football team and led the team to qualify for UEFA Euro 2024, where they were eliminated in the round of 16.
Playing career
Born in Certaldo, Metropolitan City of Florence, Spalletti started his career as a semi-professional footballer in his mid-20s. Despite relatively old age for a professional debut, he played for several Serie C teams such as Entella, Spezia, Viareggio and Empoli. After nearly a decade of lower-tier football in Italy, he retired in 1993 and remained at Empoli as a coach.
Coaching career
Early career
Spalletti's early career in management led him to struggling Empoli, where he was head coach between July 1993 and June 1998. He led the Tuscan side to consecutive promotions from Serie C1 to the top-flight Serie A. Spalletti then coached Sampdoria from July 1998 to June 1999, and Venezia from July to October 1999. He attended the FIGC coaching school, at the Centro Tecnico Federale di Coverciano in 1998–99, graduating with a maximum mark of 110 cum laude; his thesis was entitled "The 3–5–2 playing system".
Spalletti had two spells as head coach at Udinese. The first was between March 2001 and June 2001, the second be .