The vicious brawl between Torino coach Ivan Juric and director Davide Vagnati revolved around President Urbano Cairo, with fans now blaming the patron for the club’s meltdown.
Video was leaked online of the blazing row, with Juric and Vagnati coming to blows, held apart by team manager Marco Pellegri, during the pre-season training retreat in Austria.
The angle of the video, and the fact the person filming kept trying to hide on the balcony, suggests it was a player who filmed and then leaked the clip.
Although he was not present, the row was really about President Cairo, who comes off badly from all sides.
A longer version of the argument shows Vagnati asking Juric why he had gone to the President behind his back.
Juric shouted a sarcastic reply: “Because he wants you to disappear! And yet here you are, breaking my balls! Don’t get close to me, get out of my way!”
This is why Vagnati was seen later in the clip increasingly agitated and furious, demanding “respect” and “don’t you raise your voice to me.”
Cairo is mentioned again by Vagnati, who shouts at Juric: “Have respect for me, I’m the only one who defends you in the eyes of that ****-head.”
This suggests he was talking about the President, who has given Vagnati a limited budget to give an increasingly frustrated Juric the reinforcements he is asking for.
It is hardly the first time that Cairo has kept the purse strings tight and not given coaches what they want, which is why the Torino fans are turning on him more than Vagnati and especially Juric.
The only site you won’t see with this video all over it is La Gazzetta dello Sport, because that newspaper is owned by Cairo’s company.
Ironically, Tuttosport’s front page today had the headline suggesting Vagnati was going to the pre-season camp in Austria “to placate Juric,” but his visit clear had the complete opposite effect.
The problems go back to last summer, when Juric almost resigned in pre-season after complaining to the media that he was “not aware the club was in austerity. This is the situation, we didn’t know that when we accepted.”
Juric already walked out on Hellas Verona the season before that, protesting that he could not build a team when most of the players were on loan or on the transfer market.
TYPICAL ITALIAN HANDBAGS
Juric is a good coach and he deserves a better team.