The Reja Era Comes To An End

By: Neil | February 15th, 2009

Napoli 1 Bologna 1
It’s not a question of if, but a question of when Reja will be dismissed. I’ve been watching sports long enough to know when a team is trying to get their manager fired, and Napoli’s performance against Bologna on Saturday certainly fits that description. To say that Reja has “lost the dressing room” is misleading because I think the players respect him as a man. But Reja clearly doesn’t have enough skill to lead this team, and the players need someone who can bring them to the next level. As a Napoli fan this is a frustrating time because situations like this can drag on with the team picking up mediocre results until a change is finally made.

Here are the highlights from Saturday’s game:

There’s something really disturbing about the way Bologna equalized almost immediately after Napoli took the lead. It’s not like Bologna put us under all kinds of pressure to get the goal back. We basically handed them a goal with mistakes by Rinaudo and Navarro. When a team makes a series of blunders like that after taking the lead, it’s a sign they’re not all that interested in winning.

But there’s more evidence that Reja is on his way out. Here are some wonderful postgame quotes from Matteo Contini:

“We have decided to go straight into ritiro (training camp), so that we can stay together and go over our mistakes and prepare the match against Genoa as best as we can.

“This was our decision and not a punishment inflicted by the club. Unfortunately, our physical condition and a bit of bad luck are preventing us from winning games.”

“This is not the coach’s fault,” continued Contini.

You can read the entire article here but I want to go over some of the lines and what they really mean.

We have decided to go into ritorno (training camp)

What it really means: We want a brand new start on things.

This was our decision and not a punishment inflicted by the club

What it really means: We can make our own decisions and we don’t need Reja’s guidance

This is not the coach’s fault

What it really means: This is the coach’s fault.

I wish I could compliment all the teams that have picked up good results against Napoli recently: Roma, Udinese, Palermo, and now Bologna. But the truth is that Napoli has been their own worst enemy those games. In two of those games, Roma and Palermo, we gave them the game in the opening half. In the games we drew against Udinese and Bologna, we just didn’t show any desire in the second half to win the game. In the Bologna game in particular the Napoli players had a lot more space to exploit than the other games. I’m not suggesting that Napoli has been throwing games – that’s unprofessional – but if you want a new manager then winning games or picking up good results will just ensure that the old manager stays. I’ve played on a couple of teams where the team really wanted a new manager, and at that point you stop caring whether you win or lose.

The Bologna game was the new low point of the season. The previous low point was just last week after we didn’t show up for the first 15 minutes. There’s definitely something going on, and I wouldn’t use the word ’slump’ or ‘crisis’ because once a new manager is in place the rough period will quickly disappear.

Reja is not helping himself either. In his postgame comments he said “I don’t know any other way to work.” In other words, his approach is not going to change. He actually believes once the side picks up a win, the old Napoli will return. I kind of feel bad for him. He’s doing his best and staying optimistic but he’s simply out of his league managing what should be a European level Serie A team.

I was hoping Reja could finish out the season as he has done so much for SSC Napoli in his last 4+ years. But calcio, especially at the Serie A level, is a cruel business sometimes. Let’s hope the change is made sooner rather than later.