Joe Tacopina hits out at former Roma President James Pallotta and dreams of Papu Gomez's return to Catania.
"In the US, we love our teams, but we don't live and die with our teams. They're not part of the fibre of the community the way they are in Italy. And if you don't appreciate that, then that is another recipe for disaster," Tacopina, a former Roma vice president, told the Italian Football Podcast.
Joe Tacopina hits out at former Roma President James Pallotta and dreams of Papu Gomez's return to Catania.
"In the US, we love our teams, but we don't live and die with our teams. They're not part of the fibre of the community the way they are in Italy. And if you don't appreciate that, then that is another recipe for disaster," Tacopina, a former Roma vice president, told the Italian Football Podcast.
"Look at Pallotta's existence at Roma. It was miserable with the fans there. They hated him. He couldn't even go there cause he was chased out.
"It's funny. Jim is a sensitive guy. I pointed out that the Pallotta era was not successful because Roma didn't win a thing.
"He didn't even win an exhibition cup, and by Roma's standards, that's not good. It's as simple as that, it's just a fact, but Jim takes everything personally.
"He got very defensive and said I didn't have any operational role. What's funny is that I have tons of emails from Jim Pallotta asking me to do plenty of things at Roma, including doing Francesco Totti's contract renewal.
"But let Jim have fun behind his keyboard. If he would've paid as much attention to Roma in the last ten years as he does now, he may have been more successful.
"I was making operational decisions before Jim even stepped foot in Trigoria. For the first six months, I was there with the previous President, Tom Di Benedetto."
Tacopina is on the verge of becoming Catania President and dreams of bringing Papu Gomez back to the club.
"I've spoken to Papu. When I was looking at Catania he was one of the guys I reached out to, of course. We joked about that [him coming to Catania], but I wasn't really joking.
"As long as he can still run and isn't completely crippled by the time I close this deal, we would love to have him. We want him to have an impact there. That would be a dream for Catania fans.
"Already next year, the level of the players we got agreeing or desiring to come to Catania to play with us is going to be extraordinary. It's going to be outside the level of competition. So it should be an exciting season."