Somebody Snap Up Sinisa

By: cathal | November 16th, 2009

Over the course of the weekend, I asked you to choose your successor for Ballardini should he be shown the door at Formello and we have a comfortable winner. It seems many fans are hoping and praying for the return of a former legend and if the choice is between Edy Reja and the volatile Sinisa Mihajlovic, it really is a no-brainer for some people. Is our hearts ruling our heads on this one or do people genuinely think Sinisa can do a job for us? That’s a tough question to answer.

sinisa

For me, the left-footed wizard never got a proper shot at things in Bologna. The team was poor, they were relegation candidates at the very least and I think what he achieved there in his short managerial stint was respectable. In saying that, the challenge of taking the reigns at Lazio would be a colossal task and one I don’t think he is ready for. What I feel we need now is an old, wise head on hardy shoulders; someone who has been down every road and seen it all. I think one of the greaest obstacles with Ballardini is that despite his obvious intelligence, he hasn’t experienced a crisis of this nature in his career before and he is stumbling. Legend or not, if Davide can’t hack it, I can’t for the life of me see how Sinisa can. One for the future perhaps but I think what we already have is better.

reja

As for Reja, he fits the bill aside from two potential problems. Firstly, I don’t rate him highly as a coach although he has all the essential qualities I think we need. The fact he likes to roam around a bit is not exactly a negative at present but he has carved his reputation from being an excellent Serie B coach and you have to wonder if he has the class to push us up the table. Secondly, he is still contracted and will cost some cash; not much, but I think there may be one or two free options that could be better. Would I prefer him over Sinisa though? Yes, every day of the week.

nove

I already said it last week but I’ll say it again, if it was my decision, I would stick with what we have got but if the gaffer is sacked, my choice for the job would be Walter Novellino. Over the last ten years, I think he has shown that he is a good option and worth consideration. He lead Venezia into A, then Napoli, then Piacenza and finally Sampdoria where he had a very successful five-year spell. Torino brought its ups and downs and a terrible start to the season cost him his job at Reggina but I still feel he would have the experience to do a solid job with us. Forza Lazio!