Serse Cosmi
L'Uomo Del Fiume

A few days ago, I was reading on the (web) pages of a well-known Bolshevik and pro-Communist newspaper an interview with Massimiliano Allegri. In response to questions from the interviewer, the Cagliari coach was keen to emphasize that:

- Not all young coaches are Guardiola.

- It is the players who go out on the field. It's they who win the matches. The coach can only make them lose.

Massimiliano Allegri is young (born in 1967) and talented. Like Guardiola. Pep, already the brain of the blaugrana midfield in the nineties and the on-field embodiment of the football ideologies and methodologies so dear to Johan Cruyff, has been sitting on the Barcelona bench since last season.

Pep Guardiola has won everything. But Barcelona's successes come from afar and are due, in addition to the undeniable skills of the coach, also and above all to a long program of planning and magnificent transfer campaigns. To the incredible qualities of the Catalan team's players. All irrelevant details in the Italian ball game where the press and those in the industry are today more than ever intent on throwing dust in the eyes of the (more or less TV) paying spectators. If last year, while the Spain of Luis Aragonés, a young seventy-year-old man, won the European Nations Football Championships (the dear old Henri-Delaunay Cup) and Manchester United of Sir Alex Ferguson (born in 1941, sixty-eight years old) raised their third European Champion Clubs' Cup by beating Chelsea of Guus Hiddink (born in 1947, not exactly a youngster) on penalties, experienced and seasoned coaches were in vogue, this season the young coach is in the spotlight. It doesn't matter if he's devoid of any experience. And skills?

The new coach of Juventus is Ciro Ferrara. A Neapolitan from Via Manzoni, Ciro was Marcelo Lippi's assistant on the Italian national team bench until last May. Milan, on the other hand, has chosen to trust Leonardo. A Brazilian from Niterói, a town in the state of Rio de Janeiro, and World Champion with Parreira's national team in 1994, Leonardo speaks thirty-two languages (including Gaelic - it seems he will soon write a review for DeBaser...) and this is his first experience as a coach.

Serse Cosmi, however, begins his coaching career on the bench of Bar Bruna in the Pontevecchio bar tournament. He wins it on the first try. He is only twenty-one years old and still kicks the ball on Sundays among amateurs.
Son of Antonio, known as "Pajetta" (like Giancarlo of the PCI), Serse reaches the big leagues after much experience. He coaches the youth of Ponte San Giovanni, the Under 18s of Ellera, the "seniors" of Pontevecchio, and Arezzo. Finally, Perugia. The team he has always supported.

In Perugia, it's the years of the volcanic - and very controversial - president Luciano Gaucci. And the sporting director Walter Sabatini (now at Palermo). A genuine and occasionally characteristic figure, Serse wins over initial skepticism from critics and supporters by building a team, a group, using the only methods he knows and with which he has made his way in football that matters. Psychology and tenacity. Work and motivation. Over time, he discovers and enhances, among others, players like Giovannino Tedesco, Mirko Pieri, Marco Di Loreto, Davide Baiocco, the "geo" Fabio Liverani. World champions Marco Materazzi and Fabio Grosso. He brings Perugia to Europe and achieves more than one satisfaction. On December 23, 2000, he wins at San Siro against Italian champions Milan (1-2, goals by Saudati and Zisis Vryzas). The comedian Maurizio Crozza makes a successful imitation of him on Italian televisions.
He sits on the "Grifoni" bench for four years. Brief and, in truth, not unforgettable experiences on the benches of Genoa and Udinese will follow. Of Brescia.

"L'Uomo del fiume" is a book written by the journalist Enzo Bucchioni and Serse Cosmi himself, in which he tells his story, and narrates his private and professional life up to the 2001/2002 football season. The second on the Perugia bench. About that time he won the championship with Pontevecchio and the supporters dedicated a banner to him that read "Serse Cosmi, with you to Tokyo" (home of the Intercontinental Cup - now Club World Cup, editor’s note). Of the endless nights spent scouting new talents watching video cassettes from all over the world. Of that time he took Arezzo players to a nightclub. And of the porn films watched together with the Pontevecchio players. Systems to create a united and winning group. They seemed to work.

I wrote this review twice. Because today benches fall with the same speed with which "Iron" Mike Tyson knocked out his opponents. Since October 21, 2009, Serse Cosmi is the new coach of Livorno. He debuted with a victory away against Rome. Maybe he'll never reach Tokyo. But who cares.

Surely he's not older than those starting now.