Parma Mayor Federico Pizzarotti "has blamed" the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) for the Parma crisis, but FIGC President Carlo Tavecchio "has promised the club will play the rest of the season," according to FOOTBALL ITALIA. The Ducali "are in disarray" after President Giampietro Manenti "failed to meet deadlines for the payments of the club's debts, resulting in last Sunday's game against Udinese being cancelled."
Manenti was expected "to meet with Pizzarotti and the representatives of the Italian tribunal to discuss bankruptcy."
But the summit "has been deferred" to Tuesday. Pizzarotti's words come in the wake of statements by Tavecchio saying that other Serie A clubs "would pay the expenses for Parma to finish their campaign in Serie A" (FOOTBALL ITALIA, 2/23). REUTERS reported Parma's players "are prepared to pay for their own transport to next Sunday's Serie A match at Genoa if the club cannot afford a bus." Parma captain Alessandro Lucarelli: "It's like being in a film. We've seen everything you could possibly imagine, with four different presidents this season. ... Today, we are starting our preparations for the match against Genoa and if there isn't a bus we'll get five or six cars together and travel in them. We're prepared to pay for the trip ourselves" (REUTERS, 2/23). ESPN's Ben Gladwell reported Tavecchio has asked Parma "to present the FIGC with their books and accounts so a 'controlled bankruptcy' can be carried out."
That would see the club "relegated to Serie B with all their debts to football institutions cleared, and they would be able to start next season under a new name and new ownership." Tavecchio: "The Lega [Serie A] will do everything they can to make sure football is not demolished by this" (ESPN, 2/23).
