Former FIGC President Carlo Tavecchio denies Giampiero Ventura tried to resign as Italy CT – “if he had I’d have accepted it…”
The Azzurri failed to qualify for the World Cup in Russia, and the Coach was hounded for refusing to step down in the aftermath, eventually being paid off in full.
Former FIGC President Carlo Tavecchio denies Giampiero Ventura tried to resign as Italy CT – “if he had I’d have accepted it…”
The Azzurri failed to qualify for the World Cup in Russia, and the Coach was hounded for refusing to step down in the aftermath, eventually being paid off in full.
Earlier this year Ventura claimed he had tried to resign after the Macedonia game, but that has been contradicted by his former boss.
“I couldn’t sack Ventura after the first leg against Sweden,” Tavecchio insisted on Radio Kiss Kiss Napoli.
“The national team isn’t a club, it’s a complex process to appoint a new Coach. I never received a resignation from him, indeed he told me: ‘I’ll amaze you in Russia’.
“If he’d offered his resignation I’d have accepted it.”
One of the criticisms of Ventura is that he didn’t play Napoli star Lorenzo Insigne in that crucial game with Sweden.
“I've been a big fan of Insigne for a long time, I asked him to play him. I made it known to the Coach, in a diplomatic way, but without success.
“There were 30,000 Neapolitans in the crowd at San Siro, maybe with him on the pitch that disaster would have been averted.”