The Strange Case of Palermo

Serse Cosmi has been sacked after just 36 days following a 4-0 Sicilian Derby defeat to Catania, and has been replaced by ex-boss Delio Rossi.                                                                                                               

Cosmi was only in charge for four games, a run that saw him lose three away games. He did manage to oversee a 1-0 home victory over league leaders Milan after Romanian defender Nicolae Dorin Goian scored the only goal of the game.                                                                                                                    

After losing his job he admitted: “I’m truly and profoundly bitter.”                                                                

Before adding: “I am so disappointed that I don’t feel like talking about it. At this time I can only thank all the people I have known in my brief spell in Sicily.”                                                                                  

The ex-Perugia boss has been replaced by Delio Rossi for the last seven games of the season, Rossi who himself had been dismissed by Palermo owner Maurizio Zamparini on the 28th February after an embarrassing 7-0 defeat by Udinese.                                                                                                            

It will come as a big surprise that Zamparini would reappoint that man he sacked just four games ago, after the before mentioned defeat he angrily said: “Rossi has a 1% chance of staying, he has ruined my Palermo.”                                                                                                                                                             

Before finishing with: “He has destroyed this team, I told the coach to sort out the defence and he didn’t.”                                                                                                                                                           

Palermo have struggled since selling star players Simon Kjær and Edinson Cavani. The latter has helped propel Napoli into second in Serie A, after scoring an incredible 25 goals in 31 games so far this season whilst the Sicilians find themselves seven points away from European qualification.

                                                                                                                                                                    It will be interesting to see how Rossi does, I for one doubt that he will still be there come the start of next season but we shall see …                                                                                                                    

By Scott Balaam

Twitter @footiefun