Angelo Miceli was born in Palermo, on July 25, 1910.
He moved to Rome for work reasons and became a well-known building constructor.
His first experiences in the football world were in the late 1950's when he became president of Romulea, a well-known amateur club based in San Giovanni.
In the same period, in 1960, he was on the Lazio board of councillors that elected Andrea Ercoli as temporary president, taking the place of Leonardo Silato who had some health problems.
Ercoli was a huge Lazio fan but was old school and his idea of running a club was considered outdated and he soon gave up his position to Costantino Tessarolo who had already been president between 1953 and 1956 and was now made "Commissario Straordinario" (Special Commissioner).
Tessarolo however was unable to find the economic backing needed to solve Lazio's financial crisis. A situation that had worsened since the death of former president Remo Zenobi (1929-32, 1932-33, 1938-39 and 1949-53) in 1953.
Massimo Giovannini therefore became Special Commissioner.
On July 21 1962, Miceli joined Massimo Giovannini in charge of running Lazio. Another change came on September 27 when a new president was surprisingly chosen, a bizarre character called Ernesto Brivio who it soon became clear had little and dubious financial strength. Miceli and Giovanni became vice-presidents.
In February 1963 Brivio mysteriously disappeared (Japan, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Lebanon where he was arrested by the Interpol) just as Lazio, led by Argentine manager Juan Carlos Lorenzo, were in the heat of the promotion battle to return to Serie A.
On February 21 1963 the duo Miceli-Giovannini were again put in charge. On June 16 Lazio won promotion back to Serie A.
On June 18 1963 former president Silato asked Miceli to help him out to resolve Lazio's dire economic situation. The idea was to raise money and make Lazio a joint-stock company. Miceli accepted but only seven million lire were gathered and Miceli himself, as Special Commissioner, was forced to pay off basic and urgent expenses to keep the club going.
On December 12 1963 he was nominated Lazio president. The club was obviously still short of funds so he and the manager Lorenzo came up with a plan, the so-called MI-LOR plan. The idea was that at least 3,000 fans would pay for four years season tickets in Monte Mario (the most expensive sector) in advance. This would raise 600 million lire to finance the transfer market and pay the players wages. On the pitch Lazio finished a decent 8th.
In the summer of 1964 Lorenzo cynically betrayed Lazio and joined bitter rivals Roma. Miceli at this point was disappointed and tired and first returned to being a commissioner and then resigned. He however stayed on the board.
He left the reigns of the club to Giorgio Vaccaro, one of the heroes who opposed the merger of several clubs to form A.S Roma in 1927. This period coincided with the appearance on the board of a property constructor called Umberto Lenzini who would later change Lazio's history. Lenzini became president on November 18, 1965 and Miceli was still on the board.
Miceli from this point on started to lessen his involvement with the club. One reason was his attempt to involve three players (Idilio Cei, Nello Governato and Paolo Carosi) in politics and proposed them to run for the Monarchic Party in the local elections. The Lazio Council of Directors disagreed and the club doctor Renato Ziaco threatened to resign. It blew over but Miceli gradually had less and less to do with the Biancocelesti.
Miceli played an important role in Lazio's history. In a moment of serious financial difficulty, he played his part in keeping Lazio alive. An astute accountant and austere character he did not bring enthusiasm to the masses but was a wise and shrewd administrator in one of Lazio's many periods of crisis in their history.
Angelo Miceli died on September 11, 1974, in Grottaferrata near Rome.
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