At the end of May, Roma lifted the UEFA Europa conference League and its inaugural season. Roma waited 14 years and over 5,000 days. To finally win something at a club that waited so long for eternal glory as Lorenzo Pellegrini brought the trophy back into the city as Roma celebrated for days. It was a very significant moment as Roma now has an optimistic outlook on the future. Roma possesses a young team with experience with the individual Brilliance within the squad to do something extraordinary. Jose Mourinho ends Roma’s trophy drought as the remarkable one eyes for returning to the Champions League and League contention in the distant future. There’s a lot to be optimistic about; the future is incredibly bright as Roma is starting to build something here. Begs the question, why did it take so long? Roma had to rehabilitate what was destroyed not long ago. The philosopher sabotaged Roma’s best shot at winning the title since 2001. Roma is the center of Italian culture; the city’s passion and sounds pulse through Roma. The mesmerizing concept as a title for Roma once again could have been the conclusion to a very creative masterpiece. Instead, it was torn apart by the philosopher. The 2017 Roma side was on the brink, narrowly falling short of their ultimate goal, but there is no doubt surrounding City that this team had the qualities to win. Monchi, the “transfer wizard,” came to the Stadio Olimpico expecting to bring the success he saw in Seville. Monchi had a spotless reputation and was considered one of the best directors in World football. We were sold, Wild Oats. The transfer genius was expected to get Roma that extra step helping the romanista win the title once again. The expectation and reality ended up being diversely different things. The philosopher put through an unseen amount of damage it has taken years for Roma to come back from. James Pallotta, the Roma owner and transfer wizard Monchi obliterated the club’s future as it has taken a mammoth amount of work to undo. The General Dan Friedkin bought the club in 2020 before bringing in the architect Tiago Pinto that has slowly and surely turned the tide of the Roman Theater for the first time in years. Roma has a reason to believe again as they can be Giants in Italian football once again. This era has turned into the General and architect against the philosopher.
The Historic Run before the Destruction: Spalletti’s 2016–17 Roma 87 Points 125 Goals
Before the Romans’ downfall, they felt they were on the brink of Glory. The Stadio Olimpico was a fortress for its gladiators. Conquering Italy felt like it was only a matter of time before they would seize control of Italy. Roma reached the place that, at the time, they couldn’t comprehend being. They took that extra step that put them on the doorstep of Italian royalty. Rudi Garcia kept Roma near the top of the pile; he could not break through Mighty Juventus Roma lacked the quality to compete with the black and white. It was still a very productive time at the club wrong with a Champions League team in back-to-back seasons; however, his energy and his control ran out of gas in his third season. Rudi Garcia had Roma 5th in the league. They could not compete in the same way, so Roma decided to let him go. Luciano spalletti was the man that came in to replace him; he guided Roma into the top three; if this happened today, it would have been a Champions League spot automatically; however, they had to go to a playoff the next summer, unfortunately, losing it to Porto. However, Luciano spalletti closed the gap coming Midway through the season to do that. Remember Luciano spalletti was returning to the club; he is the manager that led Roma to their last trophy, winning the Coppa Italia in 2007 and 2008 while also getting them to the Champions League quarter-finals in back-to-back seasons. The next season it turned out to be one of their best in club history. The incredible volume of quality that that team had should have won the League. In goal, Roma had Sczcensy with Alisson Becker as a number two playing in the Europa League and Coppa Italia. They played a very effective 3-5-2. The three centre-backs consisted of Antonio rudiger, Federico Fazio and Kostas manolas. The wing-backs were Emerson and Bruno Peres. A three-man Midfield Daniele de Rossi radja nainggolan and Leandro Paredes with Kevin Strootmon and Gerson in there too. Then the three-headed monster up front Mohamed Salah edin Dzeko, and on the other side, we saw a rotation between Diego Perotti and Stephan El Shaarawy. It was the final season of Francesco Totti. It was the most successful season in club history, statistically. They finished second in the league with 87 points and 90 goals in the league, four points from the title. Made the Coppa Italia semi-final Europa League round of 16 on their way as they scored 124 goals in all competitions. That season only Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Bayern Munich had scored more goals. Edin Dzeko was the best player in the league and scored the most goals in club history in a single season with 39. Mohamed Salah had 19 goals and 15 assists, and both Diego Perotti and Stephan El Shaarawy scored in double digits; it was the most lethal team in the league Sczczeny led the league in clean sheets and had a very formidable defense; it was the peak of Roma. They had so much more they could accomplish in the coming year. They were ready to run it back. The relationship between Luciano spalletti and Francesco Totti soured near the end, but Roma’s greatest ever player was given a fantastic send-off Diego Perotti scored late against Genoa, guaranteed Champions League football for the next season. Remember, they had this season in the same year Maurizio Sarri Napoli was balling with Sarri Ball. They were in a prime position to win the league title, and they needed someone to direct them to it. Luciano spalletti was leaving the next season going to Inter Milan, but the squad was still there with the potential to do something historical again. This was when they brought in the philosopher. Before we knew it, the whole thing went up in flames.
The Philosopher: Monchi’s Destruction of Roma
Mochi arrived from Sevilla to become the next sporting director of Roma. This guy was supposed to direct Roma to take that next step and win the title for the first time since 2001. He came in with a nearly spotless reputation for his work in Seville. Bringing in names like Ivan Rakitic, Dani Alves, and so many others for bargain prices. Under his management, Sevilla conquered the Europa League six different times, three of them in a row. He had a growing reputation and was highly considered the best director in football at the time. Roma thought they had just unlocked the genius by bringing in the best director in the sport to take Roma to the next level and win them the league. It was one of the most disastrous things they had ever done. Monchi and James Pallotta started derailing the squad almost immediately. Before the next season, the team was already tapering off. Despite Francesco Totti’s insensitivity, the Roman people’s icon just left the game. Mohamed Salah decided to request departure with the desire to return to the Premier League. Liverpool was very interested at the time. Monchi’s first big statement as sporting director was selling Mohamed Salah for a measly 38 million because the Egyptian won the Premier League and Champions League; after all bonuses it raised to around 50 million but still significantly less than his actual value as he scored 40+ goals his Debut season. Both Monchi and James Pallotta had a significant amount of blame for this. Roma as a club did not have to comply with his request. They could have come up with an agreement for Mohamed Salah to stay one more season, and then they would sell him to the Premier League. If Roma could have held on to him for just one more season, maybe they could have won the league and made the Champions League final. Instead, Roma sold a piece with 34 goal contributions the previous season, and the year before was player of the season for Roma. Monchi brought in idiotic deals Defrel, Maxime Gonalons, Anton Coric, and so much more in damages. He lucked into Alex Kolarov and Lorenzo Pellegrini. Former Roma director Walter Sabatini inserted a Buy-Back clause on Lorenzo Pellegrini, allowing Roma to reinvest him for just 10 million, one of the only good deals he pulled off. Under was brought in as the replacement for Mohamed Salah, he showed some promise, but it never materialized despite a strong opening campaign. Eusebio di Francesco was appointed as manager that first season things went all right despite some of his terrible transfer decisions. That summer, he also brought in Patrik Schick for club-record 42 million. The Czech Republic International has turned water into wine in the Bundesliga, but it was an outrageous amount spent. Roma made the Champions League semi-final with a historic comeback against Barcelona, finished third in the league; luckily edin Dzeko scored 24 goals in all competitions and scored in every stage of The Knockout rounds of the Champions League. In what turned out to be a productive season, we saw the breakout of Alisson Becker. Monchi was starting to screw things up, but it took a little time to simmer. After that first season, he cut the club by each growing day. Francesco Totti that summer became a director. Monchi immediately sold Alisson Becker after one of the best single Seasons from a goalkeeper in the history of Italian football. He also went to Liverpool for 80 million. An onslaught of bad decisions followed this. Radja nainggolan Roma’s heart and soul went to Inter Milan in exchange for Nicolo zaniolo and Santon. Nicolo zaniolo turned out to be terrific the first two seasons before some injuries however, all the decisions he made from that point forward were ripping the club apart. Bringing in Steven Inzonzi, a player that played one season Roma had to wait years to get rid of, Javier Pastore played one season as a regular another Roma took a long time to get off their books; they were paying him eight million a year and couldn’t get underneath the contract. Spending money on Robin Olsen and Antonia Mirante to replace Alisson, two goalkeepers who often made erratic errors. He was ripping Roma apart from the studs with these idiotic signings that were dragging Roma down. For the first time in a decade, Lazio finished ahead of them. Roma has not finished ahead of Lazio since the days of Monchi. I could go on and on with all the erratic decisions he ended up making that second season. It has taken Roma so long to get this back that it was just a sense every single season Roma was going to sell a key player; he turned Roma into a selling Club. The philosopher may have had an incredible reputation before coming to Italy, but he did more damage than Roma came into this situation with. When he was appointed, Roma were four points from the league title and 124 goal season we were promised the world. When he left, Roma finished seventh in league with a team that was left in a total mess. He left the club by Mutual consent; the second season also ended up being the last year of Daniele de Rossi, and they did not give him a new contract. Monchi will always be a villain in Rome. The philosopher deteriorated what was at the time an incredibly strong Roma side that could have one big trophies. He left the club in a toxic Wasteland. The ownership was also a problem at the same time Francesco Totti due to the dealings with James Pallotta and Monchi leaving the club as a director as the house of Rome was starting to catch fire. For the next two seasons, Roma finished 7th and 5th under Paulo Fonseca; even though he made the Europa League semi-final his last year but he was given a situation that felt unsolvable; nothing that happened during his time was his fault; he was given an impossible situation to solve he wasn’t perfect, but he was never given a chance. There was a disconnect between Paulo Fonseca and Edin Dzeko as Lorenzo Pellegrini took the armband to midseason after it was stripped from the Bosnian. It continually got worse thanks to the work and the damage the philosopher had done. Before not too long ago, things started to turn around after so much lost time when the general and the architect arrived.
The Fridkin Group and the New Regime
Roma went from challenging for the title to one of the most dysfunctional teams in Italian football a few years later. After the dent that Monchi made among the team, it was hard for Roma to recover from it. The romanista ran out of all patience; the fans and supporters had had enough; they were absolutely sick of this ownership, and Regine they needed something different for the amount of dedication and money that the Roma fans had spent on their beloved Club they had had enough. There began to protest against James Pallotta, pleading for him to sell the club. It felt like something that was never truly going to happen; it genuinely felt like a pipe dream; it was too good to be truly similar to how I imagine Man United and Arsenal fans feel. However, Rumours started to emerge; no one really believed it. Roma fans had been under this curtain for so long that it just felt too good to be true. Then in August 2021, their prayers finally were answered. American businessman Dan Friedkin and his son Ryan Friedkin reached an agreement to buy Roma from James Pallotta. The texas-based businessman, whose net worth is valued at 1.4 billion, spends 780 million to take full control of Roma. Dan was going to take care of business affairs while Ryan was going to assist on the football side of things. They had an outline of what they were going to do, and they started acting on it. Roma Captain Lorenzo Pellegrini had a 30 million release clause in his contract; one of the first orders of business was going to be negotiating a new deal. They brought in necessary experience with Chris Smalling and Henrik Mkhitaryan; they stuck with Paulo Fonseca, who was already there when they arrived. Once they had an opportunity to show their intentions, they brought in the architect. Thiago Pinto became the club’s new sporting director at 35 years of age but had done some absolutely brilliant work with Benfica. He became the architect and one of the main decision-makers behind this Roma project. Roma are in a completely different place now, and they were the last couple of years the general, and the architect brought them back. Unlike previous ownership, Dan and Ryan Friedkin attend every single match day home and away. It has been ages since we had seen James Pallotta in the stands; they showed their belief in this project, and we showed our belief in them. Monchi made a collection of damaging deals that set Roma back years. The Friedkin Group and Thiago Pinto don’t have a perfect record when it comes to transfers; they were some occasional mistakes, but one that they were able to adapt to without damaging the club’s future. There’s a completely different feeling around the club at the moment because of the new ownership and the new director. They extended the contract of the Lorenzo Pellegrini as soon as they could reach terms, but in addition, they expressed an interest in bringing back Francesco Totti as a director role. The Roma club Legend had said he would not return or attend a match until the ownership had changed. Since that has happened, we see him in the stands pretty regularly. The commitment shown by everyone has shown a difference. They agreed to part ways with Paulo Fonseca last season. Thiago Pinto went for the jugular, showing he has the balls to go for the very best, bringing in a proven winner, someone that’s done it on every level that has the winning mentality that Roma needed. Jose Mourinho had just been sacked at Tottenham Hotspur; almost immediately after the news broke, Tiago Pinto reached out to his countrymen Jose Mourinho; they showed their aggressiveness to go out there and get a manager that could turn this thing around. Tiago Pinto and the Roma ownership handed him a three-year contract giving him enough time to build something. Without the expectations of winning immediately, they would allow him to build a team that could be feared for years to come but need time to develop the squad into a winner. We know the rest of the story Jose Mourinho comes into the team and changes everything. Brining in Rui Patricio eliminates the goalkeeping issues that had anchored the club since Alisson left. Club Legend edin Dzeko departs the club. Roma spend 40 million on Tammy Abraham. He goes on to have a better debut season than legends Vincenzo Montella, and Gabriel Batistuta as Tammy Abraham scores 27 goals in his first season, the most ever by a debut Striker. Extended contracts with Lorenzo Pellegrini, Chris Smalling, Rick karsdorp, Rodger Ibanez, and soon extended contracts with Bryan cristante, Nicolo Zaniolo, and Gianluca Mancini. Gave opportunities to young players allowing them to establish themselves as Nicola Zalewski became a breakthrough star under Mourinho filling the void left by Spinazolla, that missed the majority of the season with an injury. The mental strength and the winning mentality spread to the entire team. Roma adapted their ability to win big games and had the winning mentality to fight from behind to earn points. Not beaten Atalanta since 2017 and do the double against them. Won the most dominant derby Roma has seen in years. Earned points in many important matches to secure Europa League football next season. Then As everyone knows, Jose Mourinho wins in Europe, ending Roma’s trophy drought and securing the UEFA Europa conference League, his 5th European title. The philosopher did so much damage to the club in so little time to its future. The new ownership has the same values as the fans and supporters as they attempted to build a winning team to win the league. Monchi wrecked the entire operation last time Roma had the opportunity to go on and to do great things. The General and the architect Resurrected the downfall of Rome as the new regime had already brought more happiness and success to the romanista than their predecessor’s; they changed the perceptive of this Roma and how the club operates. Had Monchi still been here, Pellegrini would be sold.The Friedkin has expressed that he is not for sale at any price and rejected an offer from Pellegrini, Zaniolo, and Zalewski, something that would have never happened before the change in Rome. Finally, Roma has ownership, and a director in place to win The Architect and general will help Roma become an Italian giant once again. Has a Roma fan of 23 years; this is the first time since that historic team that we are behind the project and where it is going. The Friedkin’s won a trophy in their first three seasons because of the aggressiveness they have taken to give the fans what they have always asked for. The Friedkins saved Roma. The Future is bright in the Capital that starts and ends with Dan Friedkin and the sacrifices they made. Dan and Ryan moved to Rome. They still handle their businesses in Texas, but they are here in Roma, building a masterpiece with Tiago Pinto and Jose Mourinho. No dark cloud can forever prevent the sun from shining, but this is Rome, a city of history and gladiators, Culture Chaos and Calcio. The Shewolf one day will rise again.
Everything Roma 