Parma President Giampietro Manenti slams FIGC President Carlo Tavecchio and mayor Federico Pizzarotti – ‘the club is not theirs’.
The Ducali patron compared the two to Toto and Nino Taranto, actors from the Italian film Tototraffa ’62, whose characters try to sell Rome’s Trevi fountain to an unwitting American tourist, when of course they don’t own it.
“Why haven’t I paid yet?” Manenti considered as he spoke to Gazzetta dello Sport.
Parma President Giampietro Manenti slams FIGC President Carlo Tavecchio and mayor Federico Pizzarotti – ‘the club is not theirs’.
The Ducali patron compared the two to Toto and Nino Taranto, actors from the Italian film Tototraffa ’62, whose characters try to sell Rome’s Trevi fountain to an unwitting American tourist, when of course they don’t own it.
“Why haven’t I paid yet?” Manenti considered as he spoke to Gazzetta dello Sport.
“There’s a lawyer who is working, and I have to have guarantees; I can’t throw other people’s money away.
“If on [March] 19 the club is declared bankrupt then my investment goes down the drain. The money was there, and it still is, but we need guarantees.
“On [Monday] February 16, transfers to the current accounts of staff were made through the Monte Paschi bank, but were canceled on Tuesday morning.
“I phoned their headquarters in Siena, I called the foreign office, but no-one gave me an explanation.
“They said I provided an unusable code? The code was generated when the transfers were accepted. I don’t understand why a bank will talk to customers, but not the person who ordered the transfer, me.
“It will take time before certain operations are formalised, but meanwhile we restored services, from the canteen to the laundry, we’ve relaid the Tardini pitch.
“We had the money to play the game against Udinese, and for the postponed trip to Genoa, as well as the game last Sunday against Atalanta.
“I guarantee that the employees will receive something before March 19, it’s already in the recovery plan.
“That plan is to save Parma. Except, of course, if my hidden partners want bankruptcy… I’m talking about Tavecchio and Pizzarotti.
“President Tavecchio and mayor Pizzarotti. They behave if as if they are part of the company, without putting in any money.
“Tavecchio has guaranteed that there’s an American fund willing to invest in Parma, and won’t talk to me.
“He and Pizzarotti are doing what Toto and Nino Taranto did when they wanted to sell the Trevi fountain to an American tourist.
“The club is not theirs, why do they want to engage in negotiations?
“I believe in saving the club, not like my two hidden partners. The money comes from Italy and abroad. There’s no risk of money laundering, the money is tracked properly and doesn’t have to surmount the obstacle of the EU’s embargo on Russian money; there’s already money in Italy.
“We have the money to cover the entire debt, we’ll pay it on March 20. Let’s see what happens at the bankruptcy hearing on March 19.
“If the court declares Parma bankrupt, the reason would be my ‘partner’ Tavecchio, but I don’t think that will happen.
“If it had remained with [previous owners] Dastraso, Parma would be bankrupt in no time. Maybe that was the plan, but with a bankruptcy all the employees lose their jobs.”