Manna said Napoli were at the end of a cycle before they fell to seventh

"We need to start changing a little, because we have probably reached the end of a cycle that began with Spalletti." Giovanni Manna, Napoli's sporting director, said it in September on the podcast "Colpi da Maestro".

The first revelation goes back to summer 2024, when Manna joined the club. "In my head there were Gasperini and Conte. Because Antonio and Gasperini were two strong figures." He speaks of Conte with complete gratitude: "I will thank him for the rest of my life. He made me win a scudetto [the league title], I hope it is not the last."

He also explains how he got the job. He was 36, the club had just finished tenth, and he calls the club's decision "important and, in some ways, also a bit crazy". His first contact was Andrea Chiavelli, who told him: "Either you are really good or you are a great actor." Manna replied: "At worst we'll make a film."

Then came Allegri, whom Manna knows from their time together at Juventus. "He is someone who gives everything he has." He adds: "After Conte it was important to have a personality, perhaps a different one, but a strong one all the same, that the dressing room, the city and the president can recognise." The aim, he says, was to build on work that "has not been interrupted, certainly not for this year".

Even then the ambitions were modest: "We think we can have a good season, maybe give ourselves some satisfaction." Fourth place is the stated objective, and it is now six points away, with Como on 20. On Sunday at the Allianz Stadium, where the two men worked together, Allegri will not be on the bench. He is serving the second game of a two-match ban for his red card against Roma, and Marco Landucci will take his place.

An "unlucky" season and a lower bar

The line that has caused the most argument is a different one. Manna says that after Milan, Allegri has a "desire for revenge. The same one we have after a slightly unlucky season like last year's."

Unlucky is a generous word. The 2025-26 season ended with Napoli second on 76 points and with the Supercoppa (the Italian Super Cup) won 2-0 against Bologna. It also brought 30th place in the Champions League league phase, a 6-2 defeat by PSV that is still the worst European defeat in the club's history, and a penalty shoot-out exit to Como in the Coppa Italia (Italy's cup competition) quarter-finals. Bad luck does not explain a 6-2. If the man who has to lead the change of cycle reads last season that way, it is fair to ask what diagnosis he is preparing for this one.

"Trying to reach the play-offs would already be a very important result."

That is how plainly Manna sets the Champions League target. Napoli are 22nd with 3 points, after a 0-1 against Arsenal, a 3-1 defeat at Villarreal and a 4-3 against Bodø/Glimt, the club's 100th European win. Next is Porto, still without a point, at the Dragão on Wednesday 4 November at 21:00 CET (20:00 UK, 15:00 ET).

After finishing 30th it is an honest target, but it should be called what it is. For a side that has won two of the last four league titles, "already very important" means the bar has been lowered.

That leaves the question supporters have been asking for weeks. If the cycle is "probably" over, who decides what changes, and with which coach? The transfer window reopens on 2 January. Before that come Juventus on Sunday 1 November at 20:45 CET (19:45 UK, 14:45 ET), and then Porto. This Juventus side is coached by Spalletti, the man Manna names as the start of the cycle, and they have the same 14 points as Napoli.