VEnEZIA
“I remember the day we opened that page,
and we did it because we believed that days
like this would come – that we’d have a wide
audience interested in us,” adds Philipakos.
One strategy to grab international attention
has been via kit launches, which have seen
a range of elegant jerseys donned by fashion
models posing stylishly in some of Venice’s
most famous locations. Just this afternoon,
Philipakos has been overseeing a photoshoot
for the club’s fourth kit in the grandiose Piazza
San Marco, Venice’s primary tourist hub. The
shirt launches have gained traction on social
media, and have led to Venezia being called
“the world’s most fashionable club” by GQ.
“Only five per cent of our shirt sales come
from Italy – actually, the UK is currently our
second-biggest market,” reveals Philipakos,
as we chat looking out over the picturesque
Venetian Lagoon which surrounds the city.
“As a marketing person, I understood the
value of being able to connect to one of the
most prominent cities in the world. The city
is at the heart of our brand. We always saw
the kits as an opportunity to grab people’s
attention. Venice is a city of art and culture,
so the shirts are authentic to this place – we
wanted to design something that signified
the city’s outstanding beauty.
“What I’d like is for more and more people
who visit Venice to be aware of us, to think
about us and incorporate us into their trips.”“ITALIAN CLUBS ARE STUCK IN 1950”
Venezia also gained attention by appointing
Filippo Inzaghi as manager in 2016 – the
former Italy poacher had left his job as Milan
boss only a year earlier, but contacted the
club to offer his services having noticed their
ambitions to progress.That progress came pretty quickly: Inzaghi
guided Venezia out of the third tier in his first
season, finishing ahead of Parma, who were
also trying to climb through the leagues after
financial difficulties. Venezia then reached
the promotion play-offs in Serie B 12 months
later, before Inzaghi joined top-tier Bologna.
The side’s momentum stalled at that point:
Venezia slid into the relegation play-offs in
2018-19, losing to Salernitana on penalties
to confirm their demotion to Serie C. A month
later, they earned a reprieve when Palermo
were kicked out of the division due to cash
issues – ironically, problems that had arisen
after Zamparini’s sale of the Sicilian club.
Venezia found themselves in yet another
relegation dogfight in early 2020 when their
bullish owner Tacopina – once quoted citing
the Scudetto as his ultimate dream, however
improbable it seemed – was ousted behind
the scenes, after similar exits at both of his
other Italian outfits. He’s now involved with
Serie B side SPAL. Duncan Niederauer, former
CEO of the New York Stock Exchange and part
of Venezia’s ownership group for six years,
became the new president.
“It was an important change – the club’s
approach has been very different since then,”
says Mario Spessotto, a lifelong supporter
who works as a journalist for the local Open
Report website. “Tacopina was ‘blah blah blah’- this president doesn’t speak as much.”
Venezia avoided the drop, then Niederauer
set about implementing a structure to take
them forward. Philipakos, who’d previously
departed to take up a role at Reggiana, was
lured back as chief marketing officer, while
Poggi was installed as technical director and
his old Venezia team-mate Mattia Collauto
sporting director. Former Inter and Colombia
defender Ivan Cordoba is also involved as
a board member.
Under new manager Paolo Zanetti, Venezia
came fifth last term, then stunned everyone
by winning promotion to Serie A through the
play-offs. Cittadella looked set to go up after
surprising Silvio Berlusconi’s Monza in the
semis, then levelling the final against Venezia,
who were down to 10 men before half-time.
But there was a dramatic end at the Stadio
Pier Luigi Penzo when Riccardo Bocalon hit
a last-gasp winner. Venezia were back in the
big time for the first time in nearly 20 years.
“I was lucky last season because I could
come to see the matches,” smiles Spessotto,
using his press pass to get around the fact
that games were played behind closed doors
due to COVID restrictions. “When we sealed
promotion, we all went onto the field with
the players and I took a cutting of the net.”
Other fans were outside. “I was here with
my son,” says Tonon. “We had a big reception
for the players before the match, then tried
to watch in a bar – but it was impossible. My
boy and I went home, then Venezia scored
and got promoted, so we went to San Marco
and celebrated with more supporters.”
Players partied with fans who’d remained
at the stadium, with some even jumping into
the canal outside the venue’s main entrance.
A day later, the squad headed off on a boat
parade through the city, in front of thousands
Above “Come in
a gondola... you
must have come
in a gondola...”
Right Marginally
more appealing
than a midweek
jaunt to Stokeor seven years old. I was a ball boy, then that
promotion was my beginning as a player.”
In 1998, Venezia ascended back to Serie A
for the first time in 31 years, then avoided
the drop after Alvaro Recoba joined on loan
from Inter in January, smashing 11 goals.
Goalkeeper Massimo Taibi was soon sold to
Manchester United, however, and a yo-yo
period led to Venezia dropping out of the top
flight twice in three years.
That motion sickness ended in the summer
of 2002 when Zamparini – frustrated by failed
attempts to build a new stadium – stunned
everyone by leaving Venezia, buying Palermo,
then sending a minibus to his former club’s
training camp to pick up 12 players and coach
Ezio Glerean. All were immediately whisked
to Palermo’s summer camp, elsewhere in the
Italian Alps. Zamparini would prove notorious
for a Palermo reign that featured more than
40 managerial changes in 15 years, and he
dealt Venezia a fatal blow.
“When he bought Palermo and took all the
players, it was like being left by a boyfriend,”
says Tonon, labelling it the worst moment in
her 22 years supporting the club.
Within three campaigns, Venezia had been
relegated from Serie B and declared bankrupt.
Revived as a fourth-tier outfit in 2005, they
were bankrupt again in 2009 after a buy-out
by entrepreneur Shahrdad Golban. The Leoni
alati (Winged Lions) were later taken over by
ex-Soviet Army colonel Yuri Korablin – but in
2015 went bust for the third time in a decade.
“The club was bankrupt three times, and
twice I was involved in that disaster,” sighs
Poggi, who’d returned for two more spells as
a player, both significantly unhappier than his
first. “It was hard to accept starting from the
amateur leagues all the time. We lost a whole
generation of supporters.”
Attendances plummeted, in an era when
the population of Venice itself has declined
too – the historic city has lost more than half
of the 120,000 residents it boasted in 1980.
Enter Joe Tacopina, an American lawyer
who’d worked for Jay-Z and Michael Jackson,
and previously been part of ownership groups
at Roma and Bologna. Describing the club he
bought as a “gondola with no oars”, Tacopina
attempted to point Venezia back in the right
direction – including a new crest, replacing
the cuddly lion with a more intimidating one.
“The old lion said, ‘Welcome to our visitors’,”
he explained. “This lion says, ‘Get the f**k out
or we’ll kill you’.”
The club climbed out of Serie D in Tacopina’s
first season, and plans were put in place to
reach a wider international market that had
heard of Venice the city – around 25 million
tourists visited each year pre-pandemic – but
knew little about Venezia the football team.
“Few people realised there was a stadium
and club here – others did but didn’t have an
interest, as we weren’t an interesting club,”
says Ted Philipakos, a Greek-American who
first joined Venezia as chief executive in 2016.
Soon after, the club launched an English
language Twitter account. It was an unusual
move for a team that had recently escaped
the fourth tier, but now it has more followers
than their Italian equivalent.
“STARTInG FROM THE AMATEUR
LEAGUES ALL THE TIME COST US
A WHOLE GEnERATIOn OF FAnS”
62 December 2021 FourFourTwo