Garcia says Napoli sacked him for acting like a coach, not

Garcia says Napoli sacked him for acting like a coach, not for results

Rudi Garcia claims Aurelio De Laurentiis wanted to choose the starting line-up during his four months at Napoli. The interview comes with Napoli tenth again, as they were in the season Garcia began as the first of three coaches.

by Rosaria CimminoSaturday 14 November, 13:22 CET· 2 hours ago

Garcia riapre il 2023-24: «Esonerato non per i risultati, ma perché volevo prendere le decisioni di un allenatore» — Grafica Arena Napoli

"Even at Napoli – I was only there four months before being sacked by the president, not because of results but because I wanted to make the decisions a coach should make – I enjoyed myself." Rudi Garcia has gone back over his time at the club in an interview. He has put in writing what nobody on the inside had said so plainly until now. According to the Frenchman, Aurelio De Laurentiis wanted to decide which team took the field.

The rest of the interview is the portrait every coach who has passed through Naples eventually leaves behind. "I have coached big teams where the fans created an incredible atmosphere: Roma, Marseille, Lyon, Napoli. That brings pressure and it can be complicated, but it is also wonderful when you win." Then the self-portrait: "I am Mediterranean by nature and I am hot-blooded."

Those words sound familiar in Fuorigrotta, the district around the stadium. They are not the news.

We know that season. After Spalletti's title came three coaches, Garcia, Mazzarri and Calzona, and a tenth-place finish. Things did not improve after the sacking; they got worse. That is Garcia's most convenient argument, and it is not entirely wrong. Changing the coach saved nothing, which suggests the problem was not only the man in the dugout.

Why these words matter now

The point is the timing. Napoli are tenth with 15 points after 11 matches, matching the lowest total of the De Laurentiis era, set in 2007/08. They have gone three games without a win: Juventus 2-0 Napoli in Turin, Porto 4-1 Napoli, and Napoli 1-1 Lazio at the Diego Armando Maradona, which ended in whistles and chants against the president.

On 6 November De Laurentiis spent about an hour at Castel Volturno, the training ground, with Allegri and Manna. He backed the coach and promised reinforcements in January. After the Lazio game the club confirmed that support again, while calling the league position not acceptable.

To be clear, this is Garcia's version. We have nothing to show things really worked that way, or that anything similar is happening now with Allegri. He is under contract until 2029 and has spoken only of a "boat" to be "brought into port".

But the question every supporter is asking is a fair one: at this club, who answers for the decisions? If a former coach says he was pushed out for wanting to do a coach's job, the line between president and dugout becomes an issue. It is not gossip to be shrugged off.

There is another side, and we will not hide it. Garcia was sacked while defending the title. A coach looking back on his own failure years later has every reason to shift the weight elsewhere. His account does not clear him. It only makes it more urgent to understand who decides what at a Napoli that has to recover now.

Torino visit the Maradona on Saturday 21 November at 20:45 CET (19:45 UK, 14:45 ET). It is the first home game since the protest, and Napoli are 9 points off fourth place, the stated target. Garcia's words about the past matter little. What counts are the choices we see that night, and who takes responsibility for them.