Rock-bottom Salernitana sack coach Colantuono

Salernitana announced on Tuesday they have sacked coach Stefano Colantuono as Serie A’s bottom side attempt to pull off a miracle in staying up.

In a statement Salernitana said that Colantuono was “relieved of his duties as first team coach” and that his assistant Gianfranco Cinello and match analyst Sandro Antonini had also been fired.

Promoted Salernitana presently have 13 points, eight adrift of Venezia who sit just above the relegation zone.

However they have two games in hand after the Italian Football Federation overturned on Monday Serie A’s decision to dock them a point and hand them a 3-0 defeat for failing to travel to Udinese in December following a spike of Covid-19 cases in their squad.

Their home match with Venezia just after the winter break also went unplayed for the same reason, with a decision on that fixture yet to be made.

Colantuono’s sacking is the latest episode of what has been a dramatic season for the southern club, who are based in Salerno just down the Campania coast from Naples.

They were saved from being kicked out of the league at the last minute when businessman Danilo Iervolino’s bid to buy the club was accepted by trustees just ahead of a midnight deadline on New Year’s Eve.

The club had been placed in trust in June because previous owner Claudio Lotito also owned Lazio, and multiple club ownerships in the same division are banned.

Under Iervolino Salernitana brought in 11 players during the January transfer window, with the deals made by incoming sporting director Walter Sabatini.

Despite two draws with Spezia and Genoa since the window shut Colantuono was fired, with Italian media reporting that former Torino boss Davide Nicola is favourite for the position.