Paolo Zanetti relieved of managerial duties

Venezia FC announce that Paolo Zanetti has been relieved of his duties as First Team manager.

The club would like to thank the coach for his professionalism and his contribution to Venezia’s historic promotion to Serie A last season.

President Duncan Niederauer:

“As we have said in recent days, we all share credit for the successes of last season, and we must all take accountability for the failures of this season.

It is also clear that we must challenge ourselves to fight with everything we have until the season is over, and do whatever we think it takes to create an environment where delivering a miracle is possible. Our fans deserve nothing less.

With this in mind, we've asked Zanetti and his staff to step aside for the remainder of the season. We have been through good times and bad times together, and have built a good relationship. These transitions are normal in the world of football.

For the remaining five matches, we have asked Andrea Soncin to lead the team. Andrea knows the club and the players very well, and in our opinion, he did an excellent job with the Primavera team this season.

Andrea understands that we are not asking him to take the job permanently. This is just for the remainder of the season.

He also understands that we are asking him and the players to try to deliver a miracle. We have nothing to lose and we will learn a lot about our team by how we finish the season.

By making this change, it is now up to the players to show that they are prepared to do their part. The responsibility for our performance this season also belongs to them, and how we perform from now until the end of the season is entirely up to them. No alibis. No excuses.“