“I asked the president with all my might to reconsider the decision.”

January 15 “Salernitana” loudly flew “Atalante” – 2:8. The team has not won in six matches, so the dismissal of head coach Davide Nikola was not surprised. But after a couple of days, the fans were shocked: Nicola was returned back!

Yes, Salernitana did not even look for a new coach. Now we’ll tell you why.

Nicola ‘strongly asked the president to reconsider’

After the defeat, the president of Salernitana, Danilo Iervolino, called the coach and spoke about the reasons for the resignation. Nikola accepted them, but really wanted to stay in the team. And insistently (and seemingly with love) asked Iervolino to cancel the decision.

“I took full responsibility for this heavy defeat. Because I believe in this team, in the people who make it up, in the great community behind it. I did my best to ask the president to reconsider the decision to retire, knowing that this would touch the strings of the human soul, which has a deep sensitivity to understanding and very much wants to build a different football. Because I love Salerno and blindly believe in this project.

These are the people I don’t want to part with, I thank the president for calling me, this is a demonstration that the new football is the football of passion and heart, and for this I want to repay him with confidence with all my strength and with with all the passion that I have. With the sports leadership led by Morgan De Sanctis, whom I thank for mediating, without which this operation would not have been possible, weeks of hard work await us to achieve our goals, ”Nikola wrote on social networks.

Iervolino added details from the conversation. “I heard a coach who expressed his readiness to immediately return to work with his team. The coach told me important things about the city, the fans and what he can bring to the team. I think if you don’t lose a person, you will never know how much you will miss him. I thought a lot about the words of the coach, and for the benefit of the club and the players, I decided to give him another chance, ”explained the president of the club.

The boss demands from Nikola not only to keep his place in the elite (to the relegation zone – 9 points), but also to involve the youth more actively: “We need to play good football, use young players to the maximum and at the same time climb up the standings.”

Nicola is a professional life coach. Saved three underdogs in three years

Davide took charge of Salernitana during the 2021/22 season in mid-February. Then the team scored only 13 points in 23 matches and tightly stuck to the last place. The club, which had returned to Serie A after an absence of more than 20 years, were once again in relegation.

Salernitana woke up in April – and powerfully rushed to salvation: 4 wins and 3 draws in 7 matches. Everything should have been decided in the last round. But there “Salernitana” failed – got 0:4 from “Udinese”

Luckily for them, Cagliari (1 win in 11 matches at the finish) at the same time could not score against the already relegated Venezia (0:0) and went down with it.

Salernitana beat Cagliari by just one point! Salerni coach Davide Nicola is used to such rescues – he is a master at lifting teams out of the relegation zone.

• Crotone -2016/17. According to the results of the first round, the team scored only 9 points, sharing the last line with Pescara and 8 points behind the saving place. But after the break, she was reborn: she scored another 25 points and only at the end of the last round got out of the relegation zone. Crotone beat the relegated Empoli by two points.

• Genoa -2019/20. Nicola joined the team in the winter. Then the team was in last place with 11 points, but under the new coach they completed the first round with two victories, and scored another 25 points in the second. The result is a saving 17th place.

• Torino 2020/21. And again, Nikola picked up the team in the winter, when Turintsy were in the relegation zone with 13 points. He ended the first round with a draw, and scored another 23 points in the second round. This was enough to take the favorite 17th place already a round before the end of the season.

• Salernitana -2021/22. New line in resume! Nikola’s third rescue in three years and fourth in six years.

Now the team is in crisis, but there is no threat of relegation yet – the position of Verona, Sampdoria and Cremonese is too unenviable.