The president comments on the chants against the management after the draw with Sampdoria: “We have fantastic fans, now we have to unite”
The draw against Sampdoria in the last match at the Via del Mare did not go down well with some of the Lecce fans, who booed the team at the end of the match and criticized the Giallorossi management with some chants. Still five points ahead of Verona, third from bottom in the standings, the president Saverio Sticchi Damiani took stock of the situation in the press conference. The Salentini, who have obtained only one draw in their last seven outings, will be guests of Milan at the San Siro on Sunday (6 pm).
Sustainability
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“Let’s start from an assumption: Lecce is a team with no debts and which, unlike most other clubs, has a sustainable project, designed to last over time. All the newly promoted teams must support Serie B financially and have no players to sell in the summer to the big names. Lecce, in addition, has spent 2.5 million to renovate the stadium and has chosen to invest in the youth sector, which could one day become an asset for the first team. Competing in Serie A with these assumptions is not it’s simple. Verona sold great players, Spezia sold Kiwior for 25 million in January. We don’t have these resources, but we have chosen not to get into debt, because we put the solidity of the club first. And, despite everything, we are still +5 from the relegation zone”.
Performance
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Considering the last two performances, the president conveys confidence to the environment. “In the last seven days have we scored just one draw? We’re sorry, it’s useless to deny it. But it’s also true that against Napoli and Sampdoria we’ve built up many chances to score. Just as it’s true that if Inter get one point in five matches , so it’s not so strange that the same happens to us. I’m satisfied with what we saw last week and I think we’ll see the same type of team again against Milan. Hungry and bearer of important values: here nobody is thinking of themselves, some players are young and inexperienced, yet they are giving everything for our shirt. To those who say that our forwards don’t score, I answer that Ceesay, Colombo and Strefezza have already scored 17 goals together.”
Fans
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The chants, the protests, the disappointment of the fans: Sticchi Damiani understands and goes further. “My job, as a manager, is to explain to players that criticism from fans is a symptom of passion. We have an amazing audience, which spends money on season tickets and on traveling with the team. It has already happened to me in C , after a draw against Siracusa: the promotion seemed lost and the curve booed us.There was a heated confrontation with the organized fans, who then played a decisive role and helped us to go to Serie B. I accept the chants, but I know that no one in Serie A will extend a hand to our Lecce. Our opponents lick their chops when they read that the fans have booed us, because they find it hard to believe that, in a healthy context like ours, there really is something crunching. We want to help them. to break something? I believe that, to save oneself, it is necessary for the environment to be compact around the team”.
April 18 – 17:26
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