Ask any football fan that is partial to calcio Italiano what his favourite team is and he'll probably tell you Juve, Milan or Inter. Perhaps if he grew up watching Serie A during the 80s or 90s, arguably the greatest period in domestic football of any league, he might say Maradona's Napoli, Falcao's Roma, the big-spending Lazio of Sergio Cragnotti or maybe the Fiorentina side of the 90s that featured the combined talents of Batistuta and Rui Costa among others. Few would probably even give a passing thought to Italy's oldest and arguably most storied club: Genoa.
Genoa, the cricket and athletics club, were formed in 1893 by English expatriates in the port city of Genova. It was opened only to British citizens, but by 1897 James Richardson Spensley opened the footballing section of the club, and it was also round this time that the club was open to the Genovese public. As such Genoa FC are the oldest club of it's kind in the peninsula. They remain proud of their Englsh roots and thus kept the Anglicised spelling of the club's name even through fascism. So proud are they of their links to the creators of the beautiful game, that they even let Serge Pizzorno of Kasabian walk on the hallowed Marassi pitch prior to this season's Derby della Lanterna. That's not their only claim to fame though, Genoa despite not having been a club with financial muscle, are the 4th most successful club in Italy with 9 scudetti, only the big 3 of Juve, Milan and Inter in that order bettering them in number of national titles won. However their last scudetto came all the way back in 1924, even before the 2nd World War.
Suffice to say, Genoa have defnitely not been able to keep winning and have even had to suffer the ignominy of their hated rivals, Sampdoria, tasting league success in 1991 thanks to, in no small part, the excellent striking partnership of Roberto Mancini and Gianluca Vialli. For a while it seemed that Genoa were on the brink of following in the footsteps of former giants like Torino, Napoli and even Pro Vercelli. That was until Enrico Preziosi took over in 2004. The toy billionaire promised to invest in the club and take it straight back to where they belong; in 'A'. In 2005 it seemed as if the work the club had put in were coming to fruition as they were finally promoted to Serie A, largely thnks to the goal scoring heroics of Diego Milito. Their celebrations were short lived as it soon was revealed that Preziosi had fixed games to ensure the clubs promotion, this led to riots in the city by the disgruntled fans.
In 2007, they could not be denied anymore. The Rossoblu were promoted to Serie A for the first time since the 1994-95 season. In that season they finished level on points with Padova, as such the two squared off in a single match play-off. The match ended 1-1 after 120 minutes and Genoa lost 5-4 on penalties. But the fans didn't care too much about that as they were finally into the promised land; "paradiso" as they say in Italian. Since then Genoa have finished comfortably in the mid-table positions, even qualifying for Europe once in 2008-09. Things haven't gone quite to plan since that glorious season, after which they lost stalwarts like Milito and Thiago Motta to Inter, both were vital to Inter's Treble victory in 2009-10.
Though Genoa have been dragged into relegation dogfights since then, they always found one last tour de force to end up comfortably in mid-table. This season hasn't been like that however. With 4 games remaining, and with just 32 points, the prospect of relegation is a very real one for Genoa. Enrico Preziosi, the man who was heralded as a saviour when he bought the club, is now reviled by the clubs' fans. In fact Preziosi has been at the end of the fans' anger for a while now, particularly for selling off the clubs prized players at dirt cheap prices to the bigger clubs, most notably Stephen El-Shaarawy to Milan in 2011. Milan and Genoa of course share a fractious relationship due to the stabbing of Cludio Vincenzo Spagnolo, a Genoa supporter, by Milan fans in 1995, but I digress.
On the pitch, the warning signs have been on the wall for a while now, since April 22nd 2012 to be precise. It was on that day that Genoa football club made headlines all across the globe when the notorious ultras demanded the players remove their shirts and hand them over to the fans, as they were deemed unfit to represent the Rossoblu. On that day, Genoa were 4 goals down to Siena, themselves a provincial side. The fans' distaste was understandable. The warning from the terraces was not heeded by the club and this season has been an almighty struggle, while there have been a couple of excellent results; like the home victories over Lazio home and away the overall quality of play has been sub-par and the results likewise.
Stability has also not been present at the club, with the club going through 3 different managers this season alone and once more Preziosi is to blame. The toy tycoon has changed managers so many times that he's reputation is only bettered (or is it worsened?) by the lunatic that is Maurizio Zamparini. Though it may seem like everything is at the feet of the unscrupulous Preziosi, this couldn't be further from the truth. Yes, he has chopped and changed managers freely and it's also true that he's brought in some downright horrendous players, like Cesare Bovo and Ruben Olivera. But the players who were expected to lead the team have deserted Genoa in its time of need. Whilst it's true that Marco Borriello has led the line as best as he can, more was expected of Matuzalem who arrived from Lazio, and has done nothing of particular importance apart from reassert the belief that he is nothing more than a thug. Meanwhile Vargas who arrived from Fiorentina has not made anything remotely like the sort of impact he had at the Viola which had a slew of top European clubs craving his signature at one point.
Then there is the curious case of Ciro Immobile. The Neapolitan was expected to make a big impact at the Luigi Ferraris after banging in goal after goal for Pescara in Serie B last season. This was the season when he would truly fulfill all the promise and talent he possessed; the kind that had seen him become the Italy U21 first choice striker. In both the Azzurini and at Pescara last term he had the attacking exploits of Lorenzo Insigne and Marco Verrati to back him up. Immobile really seems to struggle when he doesn't receive service from the midfield. However that cannot be the only reason for Immobile's mediocre form this season. He has often looked uncoordinated and slow and not at all like the bomber that took Serie B apart last season. Perhaps that had something to do with Zeman's ultra-attacking tactics. Immobile certainly hasn't been the main reason for the clubs poor season but certainly more was expected.
There have also been reports of a bust-up with veteran Marco Borriello, so bad are the relations between the two that it is believed that the pair are not on speaking terms. Simply put, Immobile should not have been at Genoa this season; it's a club that comes with too much pressure and the weight of the jersey has taken its toll on the young striker. Speaking of weight, there have been major goalkeeping issues at the club, and Sebastien Frey has not seemed capable of shedding the extra baggage from last season that prompted the purchase of Alexandros Tzorvas. There's no denying that Frey has made a number of importnt saves but when one looks back at some of the goals conceeded, it would have been beneficial if the Frenchman were a little more lithe.
All things considered though, Genoa could still well avoid the drop. Their closest rivals Palermo have an arguably tougher fixture list with only 12 points up for grabs. The Sicilians will face champions Juventus, Europa League hopefuls Udinese, Champions League hunting Fiorentina and ,on the final day, Parma. One presumes I Ducali will have nothing to play for by then, although they aren't exactly in great form themselves and could be dragged into the relegation scrap-heap. Meanwhile Genoa face bottom dwellers Pescara next week before playing a relegation six pointer against Torino, then Inter, who will probably be out of the running for a Europa League spot by then, and finally end the season with an encounter against Bologna who are already safe having hit the magic 40 points.
The destiny of this great club lies in its own hands and it should be straighforward but as we've seen before with calcio things aren't always as straightforward as they first appear. If the club do stay up then you would expect (read: hope) Preziosi to make serious changes to avoid being caught up in this predicament once more. If it's relegation then you really have to wonder where the club go from there. Relegation to Serie B could signal the beginning of the end, with this great club dragged into a bottomless cesspit where finncial troubles are never far away. The one constant in both of these contrasting outcomes though will always be the passion and dedication of the fans.