Fiorentina: Behind the Scenes of Grosso’s Firing. Vanoli Ready to Return
The day after Fabio Grosso was fired—having paid the price for a terrible start to the season, with three losses in as many league games—Paolo Vanoli is already poised to return to the Fiorentina bench, even though the club had parted ways with him at the end of last season despite a hard-fought survival. An official announcement is expected in the coming hours, after the names of Thiago Motta and Alberto Gilardino were also mentioned in the immediate aftermath.
According to Sportmediaset, the last straw was a heated confrontation that took place Sunday evening around 11 p.m. between the now-former Fiorentina coach and sporting director Fabio Paratici, whose first move as a Fiorentina executive had been precisely the hiring of the former World Cup champion, who was heavily criticized by Fiorentina fans following Saturday’s loss to Torino.
Grosso’s tenure in Florence turned out to be very brief and bitter. He arrived in the summer after his stint at Sassuolo—where he had first secured promotion to Serie A and then comfortably avoided relegation—and signed a two-year contract worth 1.2 million euros per year, taking over from Paolo Vanoli. The stated goal was to make up for the disappointing previous season, but reality turned out to be very different from expectations.
The results of his tenure speak for themselves: three losses in three games, with a very heavy overall goal differential. First came the 4-0 defeat at the Olimpico against Roma, then a 3-0 home loss to newly promoted Frosinone, and finally a comeback suffered at the hands of Abate’s Torino at the Franchi, where the Viola had even taken the lead through Pellegrino before succumbing 2-1 on goals by Mandragora and Adams. A start not seen in Florence since the 1935–36 season.
