On 16 January 2025, after months of behind the scenes wrangling, a Texas-based private equity firm, Presidio Investors, acquired 100% ownership of Hellas Verona Football Club. Richard Hough, author of Verona Campione, the Miracle of 1985, explains what the takeover means for the Club.
Italo Zanzi, former CEO of AS Roma, Managing Director of FOX Sports Asia and Vice President of Major League Baseball, was installed as the Hellas Verona’s Executive Chairman, with former president Maurizio Setti staying on in a new role as Senior Advisor of Football Operations.
The American’s long-term vision for the football club includes a new stadium and an expansion of its global fan base. On Monday night, at the first home game of the current season, we had to settle for little more than a revamped bar service offering draft Budweiser and popcorn.
It’s not quite the revolution we had been hoping for.
In fact, the pre-existing bar operation at the Bentegodi was one of the few things in the stadium that actually worked (don’t get me started on the toilets). And when I say worked, I mean it was a dingy, over-crowded sometimes unpleasant experience, but you could always get a freshly poured can of Paulaner or a capsule of Borgetti while barely missing a moment of the action. Yes, it was disorderly and chaotic, but in that uniquely Italian way that somehow seemed to work!
A creeping commercialism that no one asked for
Last night, the Bentegodi offered a first hint of that creeping commercialism that fans have been dreading since news of the American takeover was announced back in January. It is a development that few fans here crave. Bar staff dressed in pristine polo shirts and matching baseball caps offering pints of disappointment and buckets of popcorn.
Newly-promoted Cremonese arrived at the Bentegodi on the crest of a wave after their best ever start in Serie A, with victories over Milan and Sassuolo. But it was Hellas who opened proceedings like a well-tuned Stradivarius, with finely tuned Nigerian striker Gift Emmanuel Orban orchestrating things up front and the Brazilian Giovane delivering another virtuoso performance.
Despite creating numerous chances, it was still goalless when veteran midfielder Roberto Gagliardini hobbled off in tears after just 30 minutes following a bruising encounter with Federico Bonazzoli. The former Inter and Monza player, making his Hellas debut, was rushed to hospital with a suspected dislocated shoulder. His late arrival in Verona had taken the edge off what was an otherwise disappointing transfer market, so a seemingly serious injury at this point in the season took the shine off what had been an otherwise impressive debut performance.
Notwithstanding this early setback, it was probably Hellas Verona’s best performance since the American takeover. Verona’s hastily assembled multinational squad seemed to have gelled, playing fluid and direct football which Cremonese were ill-equipped to deal with, looking a shadow of that team that caused that massive upset at the San Siro a few weeks previously. Verona had ten corners to Cremonese’s one, twenty shots (nine on target, 12 from inside the box) compared to just two on target for the visitors. But, despite all the pressure, Hellas just couldn’t score.
Back in the 1984/85 season, after waiting more than 50 years to return to Serie A, newly promoted Cremonese, were determined to cause an upset against the surprise package of the season. They had earned promotion thanks to a local lad named Gianluca Vialli, but he had been sold to Samdoria during the summer, and Cremonese then as now lacked the fire power to cause the Hellas defence any real problems.
Legends of the past
Though it’s hardly considered a derby, Cremona is barely a 90 minute drive from Verona, and a strong local rivalry exists between the two sets of fans. Back in the mid-1980s that rivalry often spilled over into violent skirmishes in and around the stadium. No such problems last night at the Bentegodi where rigid segregation and a six lane running track always ensures that the two sets of fans are kept miles apart, resulting in little more than the ritualistic exchange of degrading insults from one of the stadium to the other.
Back in Verona’s championship winning season, Hellas only took the lead thanks to a 74th minute Giuseppe Galderisi penalty, followed 10 minutes later by a Hans-Peter Briegel solo effort. Despite the two-goal margin of victory it was a game that Hellas were lucky to win, maintaining their narrow two-point cushion at the top of the league.
Four months later, Hellas went one better at the Bentegodi, with an emphatic three-nil victory with second half goals coming from Antonio Di Gennaro, Elkjaer and Briegel. By then Hellas were nudging ever closer towards a glorious footballing fairy tale, with a five point cushion emerging over Inter, who lost 3-1 to Juventus.
With thirty minutes left on the clock, there was more than a frisson of excitement last night when Jamie Vardy emerged from the bench to warm up on the Bentegodi running track. He’s a player who knows a thing or two about fairytales and certainly had the capacity to cause a late upset at the Bentegodi. In the event, however, he was all but anonymous and will require better service from his teammates if he is to make any impact on Serie A. That said, he’s just the kind of personality the league needs. And certainly one that I’ll be keeping an eye on this season.
Richard Hough is the author of Verona Campione, the Miracle of 1985.