![]() ![]() In came Diego Falcinelli, a Sassuolo player gradually moving up the levels through loan spells. With each passing day bringing the first match of the season closer, the club were struggling to convince players to join a side destined for the drop and the former Livorno and Bari coach cut a frustrated but determined figure. Attempts were made for both Roberto De Zerbi and Fabio Grosso but failed and by the time Davide Nicola was appointed, the club were facing a recruitment nightmare.Īs well as the aforementioned Budimir, Crotone had lost the creative instinct of Roma loanee Federico Ricci who opted to join Sassuolo on loan. Vrenna looked back on a formula that had proved successful and targeted young, creative managers with a point to prove. With Jurić gone and Stadio Ezio Scida failing to meet requirements (rectified by October in time for a 2-1 loss to Napoli), Crotone embarked on their biggest competitive challenge to date both homeless and without direction. Fueled by the confidence of a successful campaign, Jurić leapt at the opportunity to take over il Grifone with a certainty that his history at the club and recent achievements would earn him time to develop. Jurić’s mentor, Gian Piero Gasperini, departed the club Jurić cherished most (Genoa) and suggested that his protégé should take the reigns. In a transfer dealing true to the nature of Italian football, Crotone activated an option to make Budimir’s transfer from St Pauli permanent before Sampdoria activated his new release clause at Crotone to sign the Croatian, before loaning him back to Crotone a year later with an obligation to buy.Īnte Budamir caught the eye of several teams whilst at Crotone.Īs Crotone began to prepare for an historic first campaign in Serie A, circumstance masquerading as fate struck a sorry blow. A sharp faced forward with a willingness to enact the press, Budimir’s ability to draw fouls and find half a yard of space in the penalty area yielded a return of 16 goals in Serie B and caught the eye of several clubs in the top flight. Come the season’s end, Crotone sat nine points clear of third placed Trapani and gained promotion alongside first-placed Cagliari and eventual playoff winners, Pescara.Ī key benefactor of Jurić’s regime was a slim, 6’2” loanee from St Pauli named Ante Budimir. Where previously Crotone had been content with sitting and preventing mistakes, Jurić’s more aggressive approach looked to confront oppositions and impose mistakes on them. Having finished a lowly 16th in Serie B the previous season, Jurić looked to cajole his players into a high pressing 3-4-3 as a means of turning Lo Squalo’s 18 defeats of 2014/15 into a mere six defeats in the 15/16 campaign. When Ivan Jurić replaced Massimo Drago as head coach of Crotone, expectations were reiticent but internal ambition spoke clearly. Jumping hastily from Rafael Vrenna’s purchase of the 8th division Crotone in 1991 to the start of the 2015/16 season in Serie B, we begin with the appointment of a young manager keen to imprint ideas formed in the latter stages of his playing career. Crotone Srl have been patient when it comes to modernity but recent years have shown a club keen to challenge as a means of representing Southern Italy in the top flight. The team itself was founded by Greek Italian immigrants and it is somewhat fitting that alongside talk of sharks and colours, the club takes a nickname from its heritage, I Pitagorici (The Pythagereans), in honour of the legacy that Greek philosopher Pythagoras left on Kroton during his later years at the sole of Italy’s boot. Sat next to the San Giovanni hospital, it is this stadium where Lo Squalo continue to play their home matches and – safety checks permitting – will once more be playing top flight football come the 19th of September.Ī former Achaean colony ‘discovered’ by Myscellus, Crotone is a city built from a Calabria beyond what it is now. The mayor of Crotone, Silvio Messinetti, agreed to name the city’s new stadium after the hometown hero and thus the Stadio Ezio Scida came into being. The team’s number 4, Ezio Scida, lays crushed by a can of oil being carried by the truck.Ī symbol of 40s Crotone, Scida’s passing at just 30 years of age ruined a region already struggling to recover from the loss of life during wartime. ![]() The vehicle overturns, throwing the players to the ground in a chaotic scene that leaves one fatality. Several kilometers from the destination, tyres more accustomed to a dusted mud begin to lose friction on a slippery, countryside surface. It’s January of 1946 and a military issued FIAT truck is carrying a Crotone squad through Calabria to the small town of Castrovillari. Ezio Scida – the man who’s name was immortalised with by being given to the club’s stadium by the town mayor. ![]()
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