Decline and Revival
Lazio began the decade brightly by winning the Italian Super Cup and finishing in 3rd place in the league - but the departure of Sven Goran Eriksson accelerated the decline of the club. With money running out, or wasted on transfer flops like Gaizka Mendieta for £28million, Lazio missed the all-important qualification for the UEFA Champions League in the 2001/2002 season, finishing in a disappointing 6th place.
A financial scandal involving Cragnotti and his food products multinational Cirio forced him to leave the club in 2002, and Lazio was controlled until 2004 by caretaker financial managers and a bank pool. This forced the club to sell their star players & even the "symbol" of the club - club captain Nesta - in quick succession. Lazio was subsequently sold to entrepreneur Claudio Lotito, who is the current majority share owner.
That summer, 36-year old former Lazio star Paolo Di Canio accepted to join the club he supported as a youth, taking a 75 per cent paycut. The 2005-2006 season saw Lazio lose veterans such as Fernando Couto, Paolo Negro and Giuliano Giannichedda who were let go by the club, among other things, to lower its salary expenditure. The 2005-2006 season under the coaching of Delio Rossi saw the club compete beyond all expectations with a team which blends remaining veterans such as Angelo Peruzzi and midfield fan favourites Fabio Liverani and Ousmane Dabo with an infusion of motivated players with lower salary demands. The policy had proven successful as the club qualified for the 2006-07 UEFA Cup.
On July 14, it was announced that they had been relegated to Serie B with a 7 point penalty for their supposed involvement in match-fixing scandal. The club's appeal was successful and in a judgment released on July 25, Lazio's penalty was reduced to an 11 point deduction in the following Serie A season (subsequently further reduced to 3 points) and a 30 point deduction in the previous Serie A season, resulting in the loss of their qualification to the following UEFA Cup.
Despite a later-reduced points deduction, Lazio achieved a 3rd place finish in the 2006/2007, just falling short of breaking the club record for games won in succession - the current squad racked up 8 wins in a row, compared to the 2000 Scudetto winning squad who set the record of 9.
In the season 2007-08 and 2008-09, S.S. Lazio finished in the 12th and 10th place, but won Coppa Italia on 13 May 2009.
Lazio started the 2009-10 season playing the Supercoppa against Inter in Beijing, and winning the match 2-1 by the scores of Matuzalem and Rocchi.
Read more about this topic: History Of S.S. Lazio, 2000 To Present
Famous quotes containing the words decline and, decline and/or revival:
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