New to ITV.com, Italian football blogger Rocco Cammisola chronicles the rollercoaster last couple of decades at SSC Napoli.
When the draw for the Europa League group stage was made in August, the Group K tie between Liverpool and Napoli was picked out by many as one to watch. On Thursday evening, the Stadio San Paolo in Naples will host its biggest match in European competition for decades; not since the Maradona era have Napoli’s fans been able to contemplate a tie against one of the best sides on the continent.
Even today, SSC Napoli are very strongly associated with Maradona, with the 7 year spell in which Maradona was at the club being their most successful by some stretch. The diminutive Argentine playmaker led the southern Italian side to their only two titles in Serie A, including a league and cup double, as well as a UEFA Cup. However, after his doping ban and eventual departure in 1991, the fans were forced to endure a period of steady decline, which has been followed by a rollercoaster ride up and down the Italian football pyramid.
Initially, Napoli bettered Maradona’s final season by finishing 4th but this was followed by an 11th place finish the following season which saw the club escape relegation by a measly 2 points in a division where 10th-16th were split by only 3 points. Even more inconsistency was to follow as the club slipped down the league table and its star players left; most notably the likes of Gianfranco Zola, Careca, Daniel Fonseca, Fabio Cannavaro and skipper Ciro Ferrara.
They were able to compete in two more UEFA Cups, in addition to being runners-up in the 1996-7 Coppa Italia Final (which they lost 3-1 to Vicenza). In 1998, the fans had their hearts broken when Napoli were relegated to Serie B, finishing bottom with a mere 14 points after desperately trying 4 different managers in the one season. Promotion and immediate relegation was achieved two seasons later but the worst was yet to come.
Corrado Ferlaino had been the club president and shareholder since 1969: after numerous partners during the 1990s he was finally bought out by Giorgio Corbelli and Salvatore Naldi. Two years later Corbelli brought shame on the club’s name when they were put into administration and he was arrested on fraud charges.
Salvatore Naldi was to take charge of the club but he didn’t have the playing staff or finances to take the club forward following the spiral of spending that had gone before; so in June 2004 he filed for bankruptcy. Following a few dark summer months, Napoli was declared bankrupt in August 2004 with debts of over €70 million.
Their saviour arrived in the form of Aurelio de Laurentiis, an Italian film producer with a penchant for films on one particular theme - as ‘Christmas in Beverly Hills’, ‘Christmas in Rio’ and ‘Christmas in Love’ aptly demonstrate. De Laurentiis would reform the club under the name Napoli Soccer and take them from Serie C1 to Serie A in three seasons, amazingly averaging an attendance which was 26th highest in Europe while in Italy's third tier. By the end of the 2007-08 campaign they had re-established themselves as a side consistently pushing for a place in Europe and have very good prospects in the form of Marek Hamsik, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Edinson Cavani.
Napoli have started the season well with only one defeat, showing their strength on two fronts. They go into the tie with bags of confidence and hoping to give Liverpool a run for their money. For the fans, the glory days of Maradona may not seem such a distant memory.
Watch Napoli take on Liverpool in the Europa League live on ITV4 and ITV.com, starting at 5.30pm on Thursday
Visit Rocco's Football Express blog or follow him on Twitter
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