Baggio: 'FIGC project a failure'

Former Fiorentina player Roberto Baggio has angrily terminated his job with the FIGC. “I am leaving because they haven’t allowed me to work.”
The Divine Ponytail was brought in after the 2010 World Cup as part of a renewal process and given the role of President of the Technical Sector.
He was meant to help revamp the youth team process to create more home-grown talent.
“I am leaving because they haven’t allowed me to work,” slammed Baggio on the TG1.
“I don’t care about keeping seats of power. I tried to perform the role that had been given to me, to renew the foundations of football training from children to teenagers in order to grow good players.
“I was not allowed to do this and am no longer prepared to carry on. I presented my project in December 2011. It was a 900-page plan and remained a dead letter.
“As President of the Technical Sector, I had no right to vote in the Federation meetings and there was no point going to meetings that had nothing to do with my work.
“For example, when I presented this plan I spent five hours waiting outside to then have a 15-minute presentation.
“The FIGC had set aside €10m for this project and I am grateful to President Giancarlo Abete for what he has done, but so far I have not received any funds to proceed. It all remained on paper.
“This is why I must sadly say goodbye. Is it definitive? I love football and my country, so I remain ready for any interesting proposal.”

Baggio 'seller' would offload Jovetic

Former Fiorentina patron Ranieri Pontello thinks that the club should learn from the Roberto Baggio sale and cash in on Stevan Jovetic.
The Pontello family were in charge of the Tuscan outfit in 1990 when they opted to sell Baggio to arch rivals Juventus for a world record £8m fee.
Now, almost 25 years later, Pontello has told Tuttosport that Juve-target Jovetic should also be sacrificed.
“There is a similarity between the two situations,” he stated. “We are talking about great players and two important clubs such as Fiorentina and Juventus.
“However, between Baggio and Jovetic, there is a difference. The Baggio of that time was superior to the present Jovetic.
“But I would be in favour of a sale if a notable offer is put on the table. After all, the Della Valle family are looking for balance between results and their accounts.
“With the money they can get from Jovetic, the Viola could move really well on the market. The club have shown recently that they are excellent at investing.”
Baggio’s sale to the Turin giants led to protests in the streets of Florence.
“There would be no revolt for Jovetic,” he added. “Times have changed. There are few flag-bearers in the game now.”
Juventus and Fiorentina will face each other in Serie A this weekend.