There have been many cases in the past where a player is appointed to serve in a dual role, i.e., serving as coach alongside a player. This time, this is something that happened to former AC Milan player Gennaro Gattuso who joined Swiss club FC Sion last year. His amazed promotion is the surprised demotion of club’s manager Victor Munoz who will now serve on other duties for the club. Interestingly, Munoz has not been fired by the president while initially it was assumed he will have to go after team’s terrible performance in the Swiss Super League; perhaps their last 4-0 loss on Sunday required urgent action from the management; hence he is demoted to serve in other capacity. Sion issued a formal statement mentioning its bold step where it said, “Until further notice, the players will manage their activities themselves. The management entrusts responsibility for the group to its captain Gennaro Gattuso.”
Sion has to play in the quarterfinal of the league on coming Wednesday which would be the first match for Italian midfielder in dual capacity. However, officially, Munoz will remain on his post coz Gattuso doesn’t have a valid coaching license as required by the Swiss Football Association. Actually, no one has been able to remain with Sion permanently this season; perhaps this is fifth such change by the Swiss club which shows how volatile position is this. Performance wise, its stand in the leaderboard is not that bad, coz he is well placed on the fourth place trailing from top position holder by nine points. Since, it is a ten team’s league; its fourth stand shows its descent performance.
Individually, Gattuso has played 18 matches this season and scored only one goal, so he is not in best of his forms, yet management believes he can manage dual responsibilities easily. Notably, he has been a World Cup winner in 2006 and played for various high profile clubs, including AC Milan and Perugia in the past, so experience wise he has lots of potential to lead the team.
There are other views to this change as well, coz players were not in control of the Spanish coach Victor Munoz; in fact, they were not responding to him; hence such a move became necessary to maintain the integrity within the team. Club president Christian Constantin had then to take this matter more seriously and appoint a new coach with whom players could mix up well.