2,073 days. Or 296 weeks. Or 49, 752 hours. Or more simply, five years, 8 months and 2 days since the last time Ultra Palermo had a site with a proper post.
So, what happened?! Turns out, a lot. The sheer amount of things that have gone on with Palermo are more than a single blog post can handle – and perhaps future posts can cover each in more detail.
But for now, all that the readers need to know is after that tumultuous 2015-16 season (the last time this blog was active), everything went downhill. The subsequent season saw Palermo finish 19th and get relegated to Serie B. In their Serie B campaign, Palermo finished 4th and entered the promotion playoff only to lose in the final during a second leg on the road against Frosinone where some unbelievable and disgraceful shenanigans took place. In the 2018-19 Serie B campaign, Maurizio Zamparini was in financial trouble and needed to sell the club. That alone created surreal experiences midseason, where the club passed through several different owners in the span of a couple months. The team itself performed admirably and finished in second place. Yet, the administrative turmoil surrounding the club led to the courts getting involved. What followed was Palermo being barred from the playoff, a 20 point deduction and financial collapse. During the offseason under the ownership of two criminals (who happened to be brothers), Palermo was unable to register for the upcoming season and thus excluded from Italy’s professional leagues altogether. And then came the end of Unione Sportiva Città di Palermo. It was over. The end of a glorious era – the most successful era in the history of this 119 year club.
Enter Dario Mirri. The longtime Palermo fan and businessman was one of four groups to submit proposals to the mayor of Palermo to rebuild the club from scratch. Mirri even had put up four million euro of his own money in the winter of the previous season to cover late wage payments that would have seen the club docked precious points in the middle of a promotion fight. Mayor Orlando awarded the rights of the club to Mirri’s group and an aggressive project launched quickly. With only several weeks before the start of the Serie D season, they were able to register for Serie D and assemble a squad from literally nothing. Palermo was reborn, this time as Palermo Società Sportiva Dilettantistica (or, SSD Palermo). The only holdover from the old Palermo club was Andrea Accardi – a Palermitano born and bred who didn’t think twice to drop down to the lowest tier of Italian football for his beloved hometown side. SSD Palermo would win their first 10 matches and dominate their division, group I, earning the most points out of all 166 clubs in Serie D. And then, covid-19 happened. Everything stopped. The world stopped. Nobody knew what would come next.
As the sporting world returned nearly five months later, the previous season would end as-is and SSD Palermo were promoted to Serie C. Their return to the professional leagues meant that they needed to drop the SSD from their name. Palermo Football Club was born.
The debut Serie C season saw Palermo finish in 7th. They qualified for the playoffs and even made it past the first couple rounds, but the Serie C playoff system is an arduous and unwieldy beast. Ultimately, Palermo would go out in the national phase against Avellino.
And that brings us to present day. Palermo currently sit in 5th place in group C, 13 points off of leaders Bari (and an automatic promotion to Serie B). As things stand, the playoffs are the only likely path to earn a move up to the second division. But all of that will be discussed in due time.
For now, just know that Ultra Palermo is back. Expect to see more news, opinion and content covering that beloved squad in rosa and nero. Despite the virtual absence over the last five years, the love for this club never wavered.
Forza Palermo!
2 Responses
Let’s gooo, glad you’re back🔥🔥