Movie mogul takes over Napoli

Sunday 5 September, 2004

The chaotic situation at Napoli could be at an end, as the club has been
auctioned off to film mogul Aurelio De Laurentis.


The former Scudetto winners were declared bankrupt in July and told to start
again from Serie C1, but Luciano Gaucci embarked on a legal battle to keep the
side in the second division.


However, earlier this week the Naples Tribunal – which had originally halted all
League and Coppa Italia games until Napoli were reintroduced – conceded it did
not have jurisdiction over sport and passed the decision over to the Lazio TAR.


It now seems that even that will not be necessary, as the bankruptcy tribunal
has taken the control of the club away from Gaucci and handed it over to De
Laurentiis.


The movie mogul has offered a more substantial recovery package to take care of
Napoli, providing greater investment and guarantees for creditors than Gaucci
could have put forward, and is willing to start from Serie C1.


With this in mind, the FIGC has granted Napoli an extra 10 days to sign new
players and Coaching staff, as the transfer window has technically closed.


De Laurentiis has already hinted that he would like to bring in former Livorno
and Genoa boss Roberto Donadoni as their new tactician.


“Give me five years,” assured the new patron, “and I will take Napoli into
Europe. My dream is to see Manchester United play at the Stadio San Paolo. First
of all we need to put together competent staff and a game plan that we can
hand-pick players to fulfil.”