‘Tis the Season for Feuding With The Gaffer

By: Martha | December 17th, 2007

Say my name. I don’t know if it’s the growing pressure, or the proximity of the tranfer window, or just coincidental timing of a bunch of assholes, but it seems last week was a popular one for talking your way out of your club in Italy.

First, we have the case of Domenico Morfeo who I’m guessing falls into the “asshole” category, seeing as how he fights with authority figures about as often as poor Antonio Cassano has meltdowns. The season started with Morfeo being sent home from Spain just after Parma arrived there for a pre-season tournament, thanks to a huge, public fight with coach Domenico Di Carlo, and he was thought for a while to be on his way to out Napoli, where he evidentially hadn’t pissed anyone off. (Napoli supporters, however, are very much not fans of his.) Morfeo stayed, though, and has played in nine matches so far, all of them as a substitute. He was not, however, even on the bench for yesterday’s 3-0 win over Reggina, something that might be explained by the furious row (That’s two, for those of you keeping score at home. But just imagine how many they’ve kept quiet!) he reportedly had with Di Carlo last Thursday.

In the wake of the blowup, Morfeo’s agent has already met with Parma’s president (presumably about an escape), and it’s being reported that he may drop down to C1 to reunite with Emiliano Mondonico and try to help Cremonese achieve promotion. Wow, Domenico Morfoe in Serie C. Who ever would have thought?

Next, there’s Lazio’s Guglielmo Stendardo, who had a shouting match with Delio Rossi in the locker room after the Roman club’s home loss to Juve on Saturday. In response, he immediately ran to Claudio Lotito and demanded a transfer. (Somehow, I don’t think that’s what Rossi was talking about when he questioned the club’s transfer policy … ) Mercifully for the Lazio defense, Stendardo’s request is for a summer departure, so he’ll be there through all the pain of the second half, just to make Rossi’s life a little more difficult than it already is.

And, finally, we have the continuing saga of whatever the hell is going on at Cagliari with Pasquale Foggia and Davide Marchini. Marchini’s been seriously on the outs with the club since summer, but supporters, for some reason, have turned against Foggia in favor of the man they’ve not seen play all season and, perhaps as a result, the recent Azzurri debutant hasn’t been with the team for several days. He’s supposed to be back tomorrow, so we’ll see if he’s returned to the side without further drama, or if his time at Cagliari is at an end. (Possibly not the best idea, given their already desperate fight against relegation.)