Spal and the bitter memory of the 2011-12 playouts: between penalties and relegation

Spal has not played the playout since the 2011-12 season. A First Division championship in which without the huge eight-point penalty, Stefano Vecchi's team would have finished in mid-table. Instead, Cesare Butelli's disastrous management dragged the white and blues to the play-offs against Pavia. Spal drew the first leg away, then lost the return leg at the Mazza stadium, relegating to the Second Division. Then, in the middle of summer, the white and blues fell into the amateurs following their failure to register, but that's another story. The goalkeeper of that team, who was also one of the players with the most experience and personality, was Luca Capecchi (pictured) who remembers with regret that season that ended in the worst possible way. "It was a stormy season to say the least, with as many as eight penalty points that ruined our championship - Capecchi recalls -. Several times the club gave reassurances, in reality promises that were never kept. Empty words that at a certain point we no longer believed: the Spal situation had become a joke". On the field, however, Vecchi's team did not seem to be affected, at least until the playouts.

"We had made a pact in the locker room: to move forward despite everything, achieving an incredible salvation. A bit like Lucchese is doing this year: without the penalty points they would have been saved, instead they will play for salvation in the playouts".

What do you remember about those playouts? "We were determined to hold on, but after having pulled the rope to the max all season, it finally broke. The team was exhausted, not so much physically as psychologically."

Moreover, the play-offs were played in a very particular period for our city. "Yes indeed! The first leg was played on Sunday 20 May 2012, a few hours after the earthquake which shook our territory. We were in retreat in Pavia, but the news coming from Ferrara where our families lived made us spend a turbulent night".

But Spal failed in the return match at the Mazza, right? "In Pavia we drew goalless, an excellent result in view of the return match. In Ferrara we were the favorites, but things went badly".

Do you see any similarities between that season and Spal today? "No, fortunately today's situation is completely different. Of course, things are going badly and the club is contested by the fans, but at this point I think it's appropriate to pull everyone in the same direction and help Antenucci and his teammates".

Won't it end like 13 years ago? "I hope so with all my heart: even if it's a B team, the prospect of facing Milan is a bit scary. Let's hope that experience makes the difference, even if we've lost two out of two games in the championship".

Stefano Manfredini