Pazza Inter. Crazy Inter. All fans of the club know and love this wild side of their club. The craziness is in the fans, the players, the clubs very foundations. It is a part of the club that sees it wallow in periods of immense frustration followed by periods of highs as beautiful as a sunset panorama over an African savanna. Inter is never easy to support. It simply does not do easy. People who want easy support Juventus. People who want to suffer for their passion, to cry for their passion and, after all this, feel orgasmic joy when, after all the setbacks and dramas, the team finally climbs to the peak that everyone has suffered so much to reach, support Inter. That is the beauty of this club. Pazza Inter. Crazy Inter.
One therefore must wonder whether Erik Thorir knew what he was getting into when he bought a majority stake in the Nerazzurri. Did he really understand Pazza Inter? Did he know what it was to support Inter? Did he understand that nothing is easy at Inter, nothing is handed to you, and that everything comes only after several moments of immense frustration and drama. Surely if he didn’t realise that when he bought the club, he is well acquainted with the fact after several months at the helm. After all, one cannot say it has been a smooth ride for the Indonesian tycoon so far can they?
Obviously Thorir’s prior and rather extensive experience with sporting franchises must have helped him settle into the proverbial hot seat of Inter’s top job. After all he is part of the consortium that owns the Philadelphia 76ers basketball team; is majority owner of the D.C. United football team in the MLS, as well as the Satria Muda BritAma Jakarta basketball team and its offshoot the Indonesia Warriors. All of these big clubs, all supported by their own passionate fans. He knows the industry well and on paper appears to be someone who can perhaps remove some of that suffering that Inter’s fans have endured so much of so often.
Despite all this prior experience in sport however, there is one important tangible that he may not have factored in when purchasing the majority stake in Internazionale. That is that Inter is not the only one a little crazy. The country in which the club plies its trade is also definitely leaning in the direction of being a little mad. In fact you could probably put it in a straitjacket and no one would be able to offer too many excuses for why it should be released. This craziness is part of what makes Italy so beautiful to visit but it also must be a source of immense frustration for Thorir as a foreigner entering the football market.
What other country would not just throw away its position as the greatest football league in the world through sheer and bloody minded incompetence and mismanagement but continually refuse to recognise this constant bumbling and work to repair it? What other league would vote for a man as President of its Football Federation, Carlo Tavecchhio, who invented fictional African football players who, prior to commencing their professional careers in Italy, sat and ate bananas all day, to prove a point about it being too easy to enter Italy as a footballer? The remark was clearly racist enough to ensure UEFA, hardly the hallmark of professionalism themselves, handed him a six month ban. He still however, managed to win the election, testament to the cronyism culture that is tightly woven into much of the society’s fabric. This is also the country where Silvio Burlesconi, a man lacking in moral fibre and seemingly driven by the sole purpose of giving himself the most opulent and self gratifying life imaginable, a modern-day Caligula if you will, was elected Prime Minister on three separate occasions. Pazza Inter, Pazza Italy. A crazy team playing in a crazy country, sometimes love makes no sense.
Thorir himself has been the victim of this craziness on several occasions, most recently when he was at the receiving end of some well-intentioned, (if that is possible) abuse from Sampdoria’s President Massimo Ferrero who stated Massimo Moratti should ‘kick out that Filipino’, despite Thorir coming from Indonesia. He later claimed he meant no ill will but was simply sticking up for his friend Moratti. He has also been on the end of some not so well-intentioned abuse at the hands of one Evelina Christillin, a woman with close ties to, of all clubs, Juventus. Classy. Christillin really raised the bar in terms of crass, low brow and, despite protestations to the counter, overtly racist editorials in a piece for Italy’s version of the Huffington Post. Christillin, the former President of the organising committee for the 2006 Turin Winter Olympics really put the spirit of the Olympic’s on the backburner, when she called Thorir ‘A fat little Indonesian’ before calling him ‘cicciobello a mandorla’, loosely translated to ‘slanted or almond eyed baby doll’. But it is not just the craziness off the pitch that must have Thorir scratching his head wondering he has gotten himself into.
With results on the pitch wavering between bad and dismal, Thorir has finally cracked under the pressure from both the fans, media and reportedly Massimo Moratti and sacked Walter Mazzarri. The calls had been growing with every poor result and in the end Thorir was left with virtually no choice. The disconnect between manager and fans had reached such a point where many were quietly hoping for a big loss in the derby just to see the San Vincenzo born manager get the boot.
But it is not just the practical side of Thorir that has been shown by his removal of Mazzarri. The appointment of Roberto Mancini, the man most often credited as bringing the mentality to Inter that would eventually win them the Champions League, shows that he had a plan in place once the throne was vacated. Mancini has also proven himself adept at team building. He generally knows what players fit in where and how to get the best out of them, although his prickly demeanor and no-nonsense attitude has often rubbed high-profile players up the wrong way. Undoubtably however, Thorir’s decisiveness has lifted the cloud that has been hovering over the team, at least in regards to the fans and provided a renewed air of hope, something that will hopefully translate to better on field performances.
Thorir has proven himself someone who is willing to give people a chance but also willing to take the tough decisions when he feels it is necessary. He has also decided to ignore the slander being flung in his direction and focus on the positives he sees in the country and the league. He has risen above the filth, preferring instead to talk of a shiny future. His reputation in Italy however, is now tied in many ways to new manager Roberto Mancini. If he succeeds Thorir will be hailed as a decisive leader, should he fail questions will be asked about his ability to run a franchise as big as Inter in a country as mad as Italy. Until then Thorir must occasionally wish he could transform into Il Biscione and slide unseen under a rock until the storm passes. Welcome to the world of Internazionale Mr. President. Pazza Inter, Crazy Inter.
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