The Beginning
They say that Rome was not built in a day. In a sense, ‘they’ are right. You can find volumes on Roman history spanning thousands of pages and nearly as many actual years. Football in Rome on the other hand was built in considerably less time but also was gone just as quickly. The last Roman emperor, Romulus Augustulus, may have died in 476 but an emperor of a different ilk arrived in Rome in March of 1992. Sergio Cragnotti made his millions in the food industry as the head of the Cirio food conglomerate. He was, by all accounts, arrogant, aloof, and cold but nonetheless he assumed the presidency of Roman club Lazio in March of 1992.
In typical opulent Roman emperor fashion, Cragnotti could not just spend his riches on unobtrusive yet effective reinforcements. Instead, he shocked the world by signing England international and tabloid sensation Paul Gascoigne from Tottenham Hotspur for $8.4 Million. Despite the increased fanfare and funds, Cragnotti’s Lazio only managed a 5th place finish in the league. This lead to even more spending for next season in the form of Alen Boskic ($12.4 Million) and Luca Marchegiani ($7.8 Million). This too did not bear fruit. Lazio from 1992 until 1997 did not manage to win any competition, only managing to finish second in the league in the 1994-95 season. Millions were being spent and yet there was little to show for it. It was beginning to feel like Cragnotti was less of an Agustus and more of a Commodus.
Spending Spree
The summer of 1997 brought significant change around the Italian capital. Chainsmoking Czech head coach Zdeněk Zeman was replaced by the Swede Sven-Goran Eriksson. Cragnotti’s Lazio, lead by new acquisitions Pavel Nedved ($6 Million) and Roberto Mancini ($5.1 Million), finally began to conquer. The 1998 Italian Cup win marked the first piece of silverware for the club since their championship win in 1974. Off the pitch, Cragnotti’s personal wealth continued to increase as Cirio foods bought Del Monte. The Cirio logo was emblazoned across the front of Lazio’s shirts from 1996-2000 making them unmistakably tied to their ever benevolent owner. This benevolence was not lost on manager Sven-Goran Eriksson. When Eriksson wanted to buy Atletico Madrid striker Christian Vieri, Atletico put a price tag of 50 Billion Italian lire (nearly $29 Million at the time). As per Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski in their excellent Soccernomics, Eriksson said the talk about what to do next went something like this:
Cragnotti: That’s a lot of money.
Eriksson: I know.
At this point, Atletico mentioned that it may accept some Lazio players in lieu of full payment for Vieri.
Cragnotti: Can we do that?
Eriksson: No, we can’t give away these players .
Cragnotti: What shall we do then?
Eriksson: Buy him.
Cragnotti: Okay.
Cragnotti did not even ask for 49. He just paid the 50.
Going South
With all this spending did indeed come success. Cragnotti managed to break the world transfer record three times during his tenure for Juan Sebastián Verón, the aforementioned Christian Vieri, and finally for Hernán Crespo in 2000. Lazio won the Copa Italia in 1998 and 2000, the League in 2000, the Champions League in 1999, the Supercup in 2000, and the Supercopa Italiana in 1998 and 2000.
Instead of using this success as a platform to become one of the dominant forces in world football, Lazio began a swift decline. Damon Main puts it best by saying: “Multiple conflicts between the corporate visions of Cragnotti and the footballing side of his empire collided, culminating in Cirio bonds defaulting and player wages going unpaid.” Lazio’s best players were sold in order to repay personal debts. Cragnotti was forced to resign as president of Lazio in 2003 and served time in prison for securities fraud.
So was all this worth it? Someone in the audience at the World Football Arena asked Sven-Goran Eriksson that day. His response: “It’s not healthy. And if you see Lazio, it was not healthy. But we won the league. And we won the Champions Cup. We won everything.” Can you call Cragnotti’s reign a success? It depends on perspective. Cragnotti himself ended up disgraced, imprisoned, and bitter. His 2006 autobiography titled “Un Calcio al Cuore” (A Kick to the Heart) perhaps sums up his feelings better than I could. Lazio as an institution is still competing the top flight of Italian football but its best years are very much behind it. The fans got to see some of the best football in Europe for a handful of seasons before having it wrenched away. In some sense, their anger at Cragnotti is justifiable. Ultimately though, very much unlike the city it calls home, Lazio was just a flash in the pan. Lazio fell not to the barbarians but to good ol’ securities fraud.
P.S. This blog post was focused mostly on the rise and fall of Cragnotti’s Lazio. If you want to find out more about this team that really captured imaginations in Italy and around the world, I highly recommend you read this piece by Squaka’s Matt Smith. It really does a comprehensive job capturing that sweet, sweet nostalgia.
Football Through Finances 