Palermo could change hands yet again, with Raffaello Follieri approaching Maurizio Zamparini, after Global Futures Sports blamed Emanuele Facile for the current chaos.
The situation is completely out of control with allegations flying from one side to the other, legal action promised from all parties and former – maybe even current – patron Zamparini under house arrest for false accounting and self-money laundering.
Palermo could change hands yet again, with Raffaello Follieri approaching Maurizio Zamparini, after Global Futures Sports blamed Emanuele Facile for the current chaos.
The situation is completely out of control with allegations flying from one side to the other, legal action promised from all parties and former – maybe even current – patron Zamparini under house arrest for false accounting and self-money laundering.
Zamparini sold the club to a British group, Sport Capital Investments Ltd, in December 2018, but it seems has not been paid and he is suing the group.
Clive Richardson was President of Palermo with Facile as CEO, but the two had a massive falling out and are accusing each other of lying about the situation.
A lengthy press release from Richardson’s company Global Futures Sports appeared in the Italian media, but was then changed on their official website to a much more succinct version.
“Global Futures Sports has been advising Sport Capital Group on its recent acquisition of US Città di Palermo. While the path of club ownership and the intricate business of transferring of assets can often be complicated, this particular deal has proven to be of great interest to the press.
“To be very clear, as Director of Global Futures Sports, I advise Sport Capital Group on any new sport opportunities for the investment vehicle. I remain confident in my belief in the Board of Sport Capital Group in their vision and passion for investing in sport. I look forward to further projects globally with them.
“Our role as Global Futures Sports does not extend beyond that of advice in the sport arena and does not extend to any other element of investment or business. Any reports to the contrary are incorrect.
“Global Futures Sports remains an independent and discreet consultancy and we separately run a multi-family private office advising sport professionals, our work and business remains in our client’s best interests.”
The far extended version, which no longer seems to be on the Global Futures Sports website, blamed CEO Facile for “telling blatant lies to the board,” not informing director of sport Rino Foschi that he had been fired and replaced by Dean Holdsworth, refusing to purchase players when deals had been done, pitting the two possible directors of sport against each other and even barring Holdsworth from the club HQ.
“In all my years, I have never seen such unprofessional behaviour from an individual. At this stage, considering all the problems and the missed payment of bills, we as a club had already informed the members of the board that we were leaving after the transfer window closed.
“Our positions had become unsustainable and we did not want to be further involved with the club.”
Richardson gave an interview to La Gazzetta dello Sport in which he explained his version of events.
“I came into this situation at the start of December, as consultant to Corrado Coen, Emanuele Facile and their team. With my group, Global Futures Sport, we dealt with the due diligence along with a group of investors, led by Coen and Facile.
“However, we were never involved on the financial side of things: we believed from the start that the company had over £30m provided by various investors and therefore the sufficient capital to purchase Palermo.
“We never would’ve got involved if we did not have guarantees. Despite our efforts, we were not allowed to complete due diligence, we were not taken into consideration and not paid for the work we did. Personally, I ended up having to pay my own expenses.”
With Richardson and above all John Treacy formally resigning as chairman of the board and board member on Tuesday, the situation has deteriorated, as Treacy was reportedly meant to ensure €3m and the coverage of another €5.4m by February 16.
It’s now rumoured that Follieri, who had already been in talks with Zamparini to purchase Palermo several months ago, is back in with another offer.
If the squad wages are not paid by February 16, Palermo could go under. The team is currently second in Serie B, in a very strong position for promotion to the top flight.