The entrepreneur took over the glorious Piedmontese club last summer, avoiding the second bankruptcy in two years and bringing it back to the fourth series with 4 days to spare
A team entered into the championship at the last second, built in a week, without a sporting director. A presidency born under a lime tree, in a garden in Monferrato. If it seems like an unlikely story, that’s because it is. But it is also a winning story. In fact, it is from here that Alessandria started again: from a place that wanted to become great again and from a president who makes numbers, not football, for a living. Antonio Barani, born in 1984, entrepreneur in the renewable energy sector, founder of Renergia and today at the helm of the Santa Devota family office, which invests in agriculture, environment, real estate and energy, took it like this: as a challenge. Personal, even before sporting. His group took over the club last summer, saving it from its second bankruptcy in two years and immediately returning it to Serie D, with four matches to spare.
President Barani, you come from the world of entrepreneurship. How did you come to the decision to acquire a football club? And why Alexandria?
“My entry into the Alessandria Calcio project is a coincidence, but as an entrepreneur I have made chance a reason for living. The seed of this approach of mine was the move with my family to Monferrato, a life choice. I didn’t believe that Alessandria was for sale, no one knew. Then I discovered that even last year, after having won the Promotion, the company was in enormous difficulty and was going bankrupt. I put in the 7,000 euros needed to signing her up for the championship at the last second. From there it became a personal challenge: I wanted to see if, even in a business so far from mine, I would be able to do well.”
Is it true that it was a group of fans who asked you to save their favorite team?
“In reality, the person who proposed to me to take over Alessandria Calcio is my gardener, part of the ‘Museo Grigio’ fan group. My presidency was really born under a lime tree, in my garden. This person, who addressed me on a first-name basis despite having worked in my house for years, made me understand that buying the club could be a possibility. This intrigued me. My family office saw an opportunity: to take over a company from bankruptcy and bring it back to life. In the end I decided to found myself with a team in Serie D, with the Alessandria coat of arms, paid a tenth of what a similar club would cost today.”
What situation did he find when he intervened?
“An Alexandria close to bankruptcy from a financial point of view, with a very helpful outgoing president who clearly told me: ‘This thing is bigger than my possibilities’. He had won the Promotion, but in the end he had lost a lot of money and was no longer able to sustain the situation. There was no conflict, on the contrary: it was almost a ‘you come and save it'”.
We built the team in a week: the players stood in line outside my house to negotiate
And how do you rebuild a society on the brink of bankruptcy?
“The beautiful thing, even a little romantic, is that we built the team that won the championship in a week, in my house. Alessandria didn’t even have a headquarters, it was dilapidated. So we invited everyone to my farm in Monferrato. I remember a surreal scene: outside my house the players lined up, in the heat, waiting their turn to bargain. It looked like the queue outside the health insurance doctor.”
What was the role of coach Alberto Merlo in the reconstruction?
“He was closer to the figure of the coach-manager: he had maintained contact with the players, who until the end had hoped that someone would save the club. Players who didn’t receive a salary, but were still there. I gave them the logo back, the chance to play with this historic shirt: for them it was a dream, and in turn they trusted. ‘This is the new president? Perfect’. They signed and we saw each other at the first training session. It surprised me a lot. Merlo also managed aspects that normally fall to a sporting director, had space, a higher budget in the category and built a team that was not only winning, but dominant.”
You won the championship, gaining promotion four days early and also the regional Italian Cup. You are in the semi-finals of the national team… Did you expect it?
“I didn’t expect it so quickly. I understood that the team was strong, but I didn’t think so much. What I hadn’t considered as an entrepreneur is the non-economic motivation. I think in numbers, KPIs and results. Here, however, the love for the shirt emerged. I wrote a letter to everyone at the beginning of the season: the goal was Serie D. Everyone was focused on winning, from the president to the warehouse worker: he too would have received a bonus in the event of promotion.”
Now all that’s missing is the icing on the cake…
“The Italian National Cup, for example, is not something I had considered. I hadn’t thought of having to go to Gorizia or Urbino with 30 guys. But it’s a satisfaction to see us there. Winning that too would be like a small treble…”.
The Alexandrian wants the facts: I work a lot and speak little, I am very close to the needs of this city
How is your relationship with the fans and the city?
“The Alessandria native is wary and is not used to a figure like mine. I am not the classic entrepreneur-fan who realizes a dream by taking over his favorite team. I am becoming a fan, in fact, now I am almost too much of a fan. A person once told me: ‘In Alessandria they don’t ask you who you are, but they ask you who you think you are’. By working hard and speaking little, I am very close to this need: that of a city that wants to find feedback in fact.”
Is Serie D a point of arrival or departure?
“Until eight months ago I would never have thought of owning a team. Today, for who I am, my team must be among the professionals. I’m not a dreamer: if I have to achieve an objective, as for all my companies, it must be within reach. Amateurism cannot be our point of arrival. Then I certainly won’t be the one to bring Alessandria to the Champions League, as the fans ask me…”.
Dreaming with a limit, therefore…
“I’m not Hartono: it’s true, Como were in Serie D a few years ago and are now fighting for the top European competition, but I’m a pragmatic person who knows their possibilities. With me Alessandria can easily reach Serie C, then we’ll see. Football is changing, I have an important network. If the project grows, I won’t rule out dynamics already seen in my companies. But first you have to get to the professionals: that’s where value is created. There are many funds interested in Serie C teams, especially in clubs with the coat of arms and history of Alexandria”.
Do you think not being a football man was an advantage?
“Undoubtedly. Every time I made ‘football’ decisions, based on my gut, I made mistakes. When I reasoned as an entrepreneur, on numbers, which is what I know how to do, I made right choices. Before now I have never had a favorite team, I have never played football. I see this as a project that I care a lot about: taking something from failure, building value and taking it to a higher level. As long as I remain clear-headed, I will continue to do well. And so will Alessandria.”
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