Alessandro Rapinese: “Who is that idiot who would like to make his community miss out on such an opportunity? And then we will think about redoing the stadium entirely new. We work very well with Suwarso and Como. Every time we meet, in five minutes we get to the point”
“Everyone here in Como wants to hear the Champions League jingle. So the answer is yes, we will do everything and more to be able to play important events at the Sinigaglia. And then we will think about doing it all again.” Alessandro Rapinese, mayor of Como, speaks with serenity and confidence, special guest of the traveling episode of ÉSport Como, the first video magazine dedicated to Como sport.
UEFA parameters
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“Let’s start by saying right away that, even if I’m ashamed of it, I’m superstitious”, began the mayor “and I don’t even want to hear about the Champions League. However, I can certainly say that we work very well with Suwarso and Como 1907. Every time we met, in five minutes we got to the point. I’m lucky enough to have to deal with serious, good-speaking, reliable people and I don’t know how many clubs in the world of football have these qualities. Superstition aside, to understand how much Alessandro If Rapine wants Sinigaglia to be ready to host “important events”, you have to try to identify with a mayor of a city the size of a small neighborhood in Rome who has the opportunity, during his mandate, to hear the sound waves of Zadok the priest, the Champions League anthem, echoing in the sound box of his own lake until he reaches the hills overlooking it. Who is that idiot who would like to make his community miss out on such an opportunity? yes, we will do everything and more to be able to play ‘important events’ at Sinigaglia. Then there are a series of aspects, and I’m talking about the UEFA regulations. We have to widen the pitch by two meters but that is not a problem, as is moving access to the pitch. Then there are other things in which UEFA is rigorous, such as spaces for media activities. There must be 150 parking spaces, but we have the city in our hands… in the sense that from a practical point of view this is a problem. problem that is easily solvable. In summary, we are certainly oriented towards carrying all this forward.”
Timing
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“From the point of view of the project and the timing”, explained Rapinese, “I am a public official and I cannot go into the details of a procedure which in any case concerns a private entity, our concessionaire. There are authorizations that must obviously be requested, but I can say that we were very far-sighted. In the context of the permits that could be requested from us, which could have been requested from us. We, let’s put it this way, moved in time. We prepared for the war in order to live in peace. So let’s recap, the pitch is not a problem, we are the owners and we don’t need anyone to widen it by two metres. As for the work of replacing the curve, there is certainly an authorization to be requested from a higher body, the Superintendence, but we have verified what the parameters may be and this doesn’t worry me either. The 150 parking spaces are also not a problem… so let’s see what else there is to worry me about… Ah, here are Atalanta, Roma, Juve, the teams that they fight with us to go to the Champions League, they must worry me, we’ve already done a lot, we started with 4,999 seats in a stadium that was in pitiful conditions and look where we are today.”
New stadium
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“The discussion on the new stadium is different”, concluded the mayor. “But the answer is always the same, yes we are aligned on the desire to do it. We know what happened in Milan or Parma, new stadium yes, new stadium no, in the centre, outside… We immediately agreed with the club, from the first moment that first Wise and then Suwarso arrived. They have to make the definitive economic and financial plan in relation to what the Superintendency’s observations were also in terms of volumes, as soon as they give us the economic and financial plan we start. This evening when I go home I will I’ll undress, take a shower, put on my pajamas and go to sleep and tomorrow morning, with the same naturalness, if I get the financial plan I’ll approve it. What I want to say is that I have no doubts and I’m calm. The answer is “yes”, period.
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