On October 13th Venezia closed its first day of the championship with a result that was no more than a loss: zero points after six games. But the real event of the day was the change in technical direction. On the night between 12 and 13 October, after the defeat against Atalanta, the club's board of directors decided to sack coach Gianluca Stroppa. The choice was made between midnight and one, when the Antonelli sports management met with the owners to define the new coach.
The candidate who prevailed was Davide Nicola, who overtook PaoloZanetti in the race for the role. Nicola, currently busy with Cremonese, is negotiating the termination of the contract that still ties him to the grey-red club and is talking with Venezia about an agreement until June, with an option for the following season. Although he is the main candidate, the owners also kept Paolo Zanetti and Roberto D'Aversa in consideration as reserve options in case the agreement with Nicola is not finalised.
Stroppa spent the morning of October 13 at the club's sports center, where he collected his personal belongings and said goodbye to the technical office. A morning training session was initially scheduled, but it was postponed to the afternoon. The team gathered around lunchtime, but the atmosphere was dark: the players had understood that Stroppa's end represented a defeat for them too. The afternoon training was then led by the coach of the women's team, Luis Oliveira, awaiting the arrival of the new coach.
Time is running out: the team will have to face Napoli at Penzo on Saturday, while the new coach will have to start working with the players as soon as possible. Venezia now finds itself having to consolidate the new technical direction and prepare for the next challenge, with the aim of reversing the series of negative results that characterized the first half of the season.