Former Fiorentina Boss Vincenzo Montella Sacked Too Soon?

Here at Viola Nation we like to take care of our own. Vincenzo Montella was one of the more successful managers to come through Florence in the past 20 years. Even though he only lasted three seasons with the club, his impact will never be forgotten by la Viola’s fans. For some fans (like the guy writing this article), they are still bitter that the Della Valle brothers decided to go in a different direction after the 2014-2015 season. Imagine a world where Paulo Sousa never strolls the sidelines at Artemio Franchi. Doesn’t that sound like a past everyone deserved?

Enough living in a fantasy land, we are in the real world and currently have Stefano Pioli as manager. To be honest, he has done a decent job while in charge and should not be judged just yet. There is a different timeline where Montella is still the coach of Fiorentina. Who knows how different that would be for the club.

To continue on, Montella was let go by Fiorentina and moved on Sampdoria in November of 2015. This move made sense as a way to revitalize his career. He is a former Sampdoria players and fit well with the club. Unfortunately, Montella could not find the same coaching success he found in Florence, with Sampdoria. Apparently, it was enough for AC Milan to offer Montella the job of top boss.

This was looked at as a great most for the Rossoneri. He was considered one of the brighter Italian managers after his success with Fiorentina. The first season proved to be an excellent one for Montella in Milan. He led il Diavolo to the Supercoppa Italianna title in 2016. This was the first title AC Milan won since 2011. If that is not early success, not much can be considered success. Then from there the rest of the season was great compared to the prior season. In the 2015-2016 season, Milan missed a shot at European football by finishing 7th in Serie A. Montella was able to get the team to finish 6th in his first season in Milan to get the team back into European action. This ended a three year drought.

This success was enough to earn Montella a contract extension with Milan putting him with the team until 2019. As we all mostly know that ended prematurely. Montella was officially relieved of his duties on November 27, 2017. This was after Milan started the season 6-2-6 with 20 points on the season. From a Fiorentina perspective, that does not sound like a terrible start to the season. With all things considered Milan is resting at 7th place and Fiorentina is in 12th place on the Serie A table. Montella had plenty of season left to right the ship and Milan axed the boss too quickly.

Milan is one of the biggest markets in Italian football. With that comes the added pressure to always have success in the league. Even though Montella did not have the team in the worst shape his leash was shorter than it would have been in other markets. This is a knee jerk reaction to try to get a spark out of Milan’s players. Montella did not deserve to lose his job after only 14 games on the season. Seventh place is not a bad position to be in with 24 games left in the Serie A season. If Stefano Pioli does not pan out, the fans would welcome back Montella. Management would not have that same sentiment though because they were the ones that wanted him out in the first place. Overall, Montella is a fantastic manager that should get another shot somewhere in the world, who knows maybe he could become the next United States National team’s head coach (only mostly kidding about that one).