These are interesting times (to be a Toro fan)

By: bingitz2002 | February 20th, 2009

Ladies and gentlemen,

These seem like bleak times for Torino. We have dropped points to all of our relegation rivals (though fortunately only one of those, that ugly 2-5 to Bologna, was a loss). We are currently sitting in 18th place, far off track of the “magic 40″ points that are necessary for survival.

We do have some reasons for optimism though. One of those reasons came in January when Cairo finally appointed a Director of Sport in Rino Foschi. This gives us hope in a number of ways. First of all he is a pretty good DS, having worked at Palermo and most recently Genoa where he orchestrated their successful transfer campaign this summer. Furthermore, he is fully committed to saving Torino from relegation. “How?” you may ask, especially considering that the transfer market is complete. The answer is that he is a figure in the management that the players can respect and are comfortable dealing with, as opposed to Cairo, who has done all he can to alienate our best players, most notably Rosina and Sereni. By providing an link between the team and the management, Foschi can can help improve the attitude of the players. I find it no coincidence that the morale in the dressing room has improved since Foschi’s appointment.

Another factor we have to take into consideration is Eugenio Corini. When Corini was out injured we had perhpas the worst spell of our season, the one that really led us to the troubles we are having now. “Il Genio” brings a certain dynamic to the team that no other player we have can bring. He is not only a natural leader, but a veteran with vast amounts of experience in his career. His legs may be going, but he’s still a very smart and technically skilled player. Having him on the pitch will give the players the confidence they need to start winning games they might draw and drawing games they might lose. He is pegged to start against Udinese this weekend and I cannot be more thankful.

The last factor is something that has been blogged about recently in the main blog. This is Mr. X, now revealed to the world as Raffaele Ciurcarriello, a wealthy Turin-based businessman and a lifelong Torino fan. (I am under the impression that Cairo too is a Toro fan, but the way he runs the club you wouldn’t know it.) He is prepared to offer €100 million for the club and is reportedly ready to spend plenty more in the transfer market. The €100 million figure is well above what it is worth and what Cairo acquired it for. However, Cairo being the stubborn fool that he is, has now said he won’t even talk to Ciurcarriello’s lawyers, making this a right pain. Mr. Cairo, if you love this team, then you need to let it go!

So, despite what the pundits may think, all is not lost. We can potentially turn our season around on Sunday against Udinese. (Unfortunately, I will be in transit at game time.) The Mr. X ordeal won’t get resolved before the end of the season, but should we survive we will have a great set-up with his money (and hopefully brains) as well as Foschi’s expertise on the market. Even if we go down perhaps it’ll persuade Cairo to realize that his project has failed and that it would be best to sell the club. Interesting times? I think so.