Director Filippo Antonelli's statement

Filippo Antonelli, Sporting Director & General Manager of Venezia FC, spoke today at the press room of Ca’ Venezia.

Filippo Antonelli:
“Today I felt it was necessary to attend the pre-match press conference to provide a clear update on our league campaign and the path we’ve been following at Venezia and for Venezia since January 2023.
I prefer for the coach and the team to focus on preparing for tomorrow's match against Como, but I personally wanted to take this opportunity to clarify a few things for our fans.

I’ve learned that on Sunday a portion of our supporters will not be present at the stadium at the start of the match. I would never question the decisions of some of the arancioneroverde fans, who have always shown great affection for the team and respect for me, but at the same time, I won’t hide my own thoughts: I am convinced that everyone’s presence tomorrow could be an extra weapon, giving Venezia even more strength.

I must acknowledge that our current position in the standings is not pleasing to anyone: fans, the club, the local press, the coach, and last but not least, the players. The recent defeats, especially against direct rivals, have left us with a bitter taste and the feeling that we’ve left points on the table.

The trap we must avoid falling into is trying to recover ground all at once in a single match.

We are all aiming to bring the joy of victory to our fans, but treating every match as if it’s do-or-die after just 14 games is dangerous and will lead us off course.

Tomorrow we are tasked with delivering a solid performance against a strong opponent who, like us, is hungry for results.
Our goal is to secure points game by game to climb back up the table.

I take note of the disappointment among our supporters regarding the results that have been slow to arrive, and I understand it given the immense passion that fuels our fans.

However, what I don’t want to see is division and a sense of disappointment spreading among the three components—fans, local media, and the club—which must remain united in order to fight for this category and our objective: to remain in Serie A next season.

At the start of the season, fully aware of the challenges we would face as a newly promoted side, I spoke about the concept of "Venezia unity," about the need to remain compact and solid.
Team, management, fans, technical staff, media, and the city must come together to fight and compete in Serie A against giants and teams that have been playing in the top flight for years.

I believed and I still believe that unity and balance, both in defeats and in victories, from the first to the last game of the season, will give us greater strength and facilitate our growth path.

I feel that certain messages coming from outside risk undermining our unity, making our journey in Serie A more difficult.

I have read criticisms about a lack of communication and presence from the club, but I have always been on the front lines, providing clear information to our fans.
Our coach has never shied away from interviews, always offering pre-and post match insights.

The Venezia FC ownership is in daily contact with me and the management team, making many sacrifices and efforts to improve the club’s financial situation and overall stability, which has clearly and unequivocally improved since January 2023.

It feels as though some people have just discovered that Venezia has faced tough times economically and financially, instead of highlighting and emphasizing the evident improvements and the efforts made by the ownership and all of us to build a Venezia project that lasts, that is solid, and that guarantees our fans a sustainable competitive club for years to come not just for a single season.

Ours is a journey of corporate solidity and sporting growth, which will naturally experience ups and downs but will, in the long term, lead to growth and stability. Maintaining balance in our evaluations will support the club’s growth project.

When analyzing the current situation, it is always important to consider the starting point.
In January 2023, we were in the relegation playoffs zone of Serie B, facing clear economic difficulties, with a technical project that needed to be rebuilt and an evident disconnect between the team and the fans.

Today we are in Serie A with a growing team, a clear technical project, and only four points away from a more desirable position in the standings. We have a state-of-the-art training center, a municipal stadium project underway, and a significantly improved financial situation, as will be evident from the financial reports for the 2024/25 season.

This week I’ve read about 4 or 5 coaches supposedly ready to replace Coach Di Francesco. My question is: who contacted them? Certainly not me. I challenge anyone to claim otherwise, and I wonder: how does this kind of communication help Venezia?

The coach, the team, the staff, and all of us are working together to reverse the trend of results, continuing the process of technical growth and raising awareness in a young team with great potential for improvement.

This week, I’ve sensed a general atmosphere of distrust toward the club, the management, the coach, and the team. Why? Because we’re missing 4 points in the standings? Or because we had the idea though ambitious that Venezia, in its first year in Serie A, with an ongoing policy of club strengthening, would comfortably be out of the danger zone in the standings?

This is a season of battles for us, one to face with enthusiasm, match by match, with the strength to bounce back after a misstep, ready for the next game with even greater fighting spirit and the desire to learn from our mistakes to improve.

This fighting spirit must unite everyone around a common goal: Venezia and the growth of this group, so that we can strongly try to overturn the early-season predictions that had us relegated from the very first matchday.

However, we need the awareness and clarity to understand that if all parties are not united and we begin to show signs of fragmentation, as I’ve seen this week, we will play into the hands of our opponents, who will exploit our weaknesses and benefit the direct competitors who are also fighting to stay in this category.

Does this mean that the club, the coach, his staff, and I are passively accepting a negative trend in results, even if there have been good performances? Absolutely not!

Every day, we analyze what can be done to improve and better ourselves with the tools and potential we have. We feel the passion of the fans and the responsibility to do well for the city of Venice and for Venezia FC as we compete in this Serie A.

We want to lift Venezia from the bottom of the table with no excuses, earning points one by one, fighting match by match until the end.

We are building something important, and we must not allow anyone from the outside to break our unity—the Venezia unity made up of fans, local media, the team, and the club."