Carpi President Claudio Caliumi says his club will continue to work in the same way in Serie A after the tiny club’s extraordinary promotion last night.
The Biancorossi, who attract an average crowd of just over 2,900 people, secured their first ever promotion to the top flight with a goalless draw at Bari on Tuesday.
Caliumi reflected on the incredible rise of a club that was competing in the fourth tier of Italian football only five years ago.
Carpi President Claudio Caliumi says his club will continue to work in the same way in Serie A after the tiny club’s extraordinary promotion last night.
The Biancorossi, who attract an average crowd of just over 2,900 people, secured their first ever promotion to the top flight with a goalless draw at Bari on Tuesday.
Caliumi reflected on the incredible rise of a club that was competing in the fourth tier of Italian football only five years ago.
"I must say I am dazed with joy,” he told Tuttomercatoweb.
“We are happy for the city, a small entity that has been able to achieve an incredible result. We will go to Serie A as we went into Serie B, with a policy based on young players and controlled costs.
“We will continue with our philosophy in Serie A, because we can never compete with the other teams financially. We will go forward with humility, as Empoli did. The daily work pays off.”
The President admitted he hadn’t expected his club’s campaign to be quite so successful.
"We knew we had a good group, built by a sporting director who is our twelfth man on the pitch,” he said.
“We set out to have a comfortable season and maybe get into the playoffs. We never thought of having such an extraordinary campaign.
“It’s the result of day-to-day work, training and professionalism. The Coach is very meticulous and intelligent and he lets his staff work with great freedom.
“Six years ago we were in the fourth tier. If we said then that we would reach Serie A, people would’ve taken us for fools.
“But we’ve continued with our way of working which consists of planning and searching for young talent.
“The average age is around 21. We were lucky to find the right guys, such as Kevin Lasagna, our directors weren’t wrong about him either.
Caliumi refused to be drawn into a war of words with Lazio President Claudio Lotito, who was criticised recently for saying Carpi were too small to deserve Serie A.
“I have made no statement because I never spoke with Lotito,” he said.
“We will meet in Serie A and I’ll hear his reasons, accepting and respecting them. We do not want to cause controversy.”