Nobody can doubt Salernitana coach Davide Nicola’s passion, as during the game with Fiorentina he took off a shoe and threatened to throw it at his players.
He took over with the club rock bottom and seemingly doomed, but won back-to-back matches and was leading Fiorentina 1-0 at the Stadio Arechi this afternoon when the incident occurred.
According to Sky Sport Italia pitch-side reporters, Luca Ranieri made a mistake to allow a counter-attack, prompting Nicola to take off his shoe and wave it at him, as if threatening to throw it in his direction.
It was a gesture familiar to anyone with Italian parents.
Ranieri had been in trouble earlier in the game, as he insisted for superstitious reasons on wearing boots that were a little rough around the edges.
Despite having duct tape wrapped around them, one boot finally gave up after 25 minutes and the sole came off, flapping in the Salerno breeze.