Cesare Prandelli has hit back at Fiorentina’s critics by declaring he could quit at the end of the season. “I won’t stand for this self-destructive situation.”
The tactician has become a hero to the Viola faithful after taking them into the Champions League, but their UEFA Cup exit at the hands of Ajax midweek prompted a radical rethink.
“At the end of the season I will evaluate my position and consider my future,” said Prandelli in a tense Press conference.
“I will not stand for this much criticism. I can accept them as long as I am given my three and a half years of compliments, too, but people in this city seem to forget those.
“I am not acting today. I shall not stand for such a self-destructive situation. In Italy there is a schizophrenic approach to football and it is psychologically crippling.
“Is it possible I could leave at the end of the season? I said a while ago that a club needs consistency, but if there are people who want to blow everything up here, then I won’t stand for it.
“A few months ago I said that in six or seven years this side could compete for the top honours. We are in our fourth year and have already achieved great things.
“We are held up as a positive example at both nation and international level.”
Prandelli warns that the supporters and media have become accustomed to ambitions that the club simply cannot see as the norm.
“If Fiorentina are economically a side who belong between fifth and seventh place, then finishing fourth is a miracle,” he pointed out.
“There are too many expectations and automatically that raises the tension. The big clubs have more money than we do and perhaps Florence doesn’t want to accept these limitations.
“In any case, for these next three months the team and I will give more than 100 per cent, whatever happens come June.”
It is a bitter blow to Prandelli, who stayed in his job even after the tragic death of his wife from cancer last year.
The tension is set to be sky high when Fiorentina visit Reggina on Sunday afternoon, as they are under pressure from Genoa and Roma for fourth place.
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