Massimo Giacomini was a very good midfielder but is probably better known for his career as manager.
Born in Udine on August 14 1939, he began playing at Udinese in the youth teams and reached the A side in 1957. He stayed with the Bianconeri until 1961 when he signed for Genoa. In Liguria he stayed for two years helping them to promotion in Serie A in his first year.
Lazio and Genoa in the summer of 1963 had agreed a deal for Rossoblu’s Edwin Firmani, but he refused. As partial compensation, Genoa sold half of Giacomini to Lazio. He did not have an easy impact with the Biancocelesti. He had been suspended for a number of games and was involved in a car accident on the Cassia where a person died. However he was considered one of the strong points of that Lazio team. Tall, strong, he was not particularly quick but he had intuition so he always knew what to do with the ball.
Despite the fact that he wanted to stay with the Biancocelesti and the manager Umberto Mannocci wanted to build the team around him, in 1964 he went back to Genoa. In 1965 he signed for Brescia and a year later for Milan. He hardly played in Milan (one appearance in two seasons) and was considered too old. In 1968 he went to Triestina where he stayed for two years before playing the last three years of his professional football back at Udine.
He played 16 games for Lazio.
He started his managerial career at Udine in 1973-74 in Serie C taking the team to second place. A year later he took Treviso from Serie D to Serie C. After being sacked after ten games at Salerno in 1975, in 1977 he was back as manager at Udine. With him Udinese went from Serie C to Serie A in two years also winning the Serie C Coppa Italia.
In 1979 he became manager at Milan. In his first year the team was in Serie B due to the Totonero scandal, but the purgatory of the second tier lasted only a year. He quit Milan with one match to go in Serie B due to contrasts with the club management.
He would later manage Torino, Napoli, Triestina, Perugia and Venezia. Back at Udine in 1987, he was sacked after only 5 games. His last years as manager were with Brescia, Triestina, Cagliari (for just 6 games) and Pro Gorizia.
His stint at Lazio was brief but he showed he had a lot of talent and it was a pity that he did not continue with the Biancocelesti.
Lazio career
Season | Serie A appearances |
1963-64 | 15 |
Sources
Comments