For the coach it is the second promotion in two years, after the one in 2025 with Entella: “Next season I see myself here again. I dedicate every victory to my dad. Who do I admire most? Cheerful for managing the group”
Fabio Gallo’s first thought as soon as he won promotion to Serie B with Vicenza was for his father Romeo, who passed away a year ago: “I dedicate every victory to him, I know he is watching me from up there and is happy. I started playing thanks to him, he was my coach in my time at Bollatese. As a child he accompanied me at Pinetina when I tried to make my way in the Inter youth team. Everything good that happens to me in life will always be thanks to him.” The coach led the red and whites in an incredible season, managing to win the championship with six matchdays to spare: “We made a dream come true. At the beginning of the season the club asked me to finish at the top, achieving this in such an important club is never easy. The credit goes to the team”. The group wanted to pay homage to the coach with a special surprise: “The boys gave me a beautiful painting. It’s a stylized rooster with all their signatures, I immediately hung it in the living room.”
During the celebrations we saw her climb under the curve to hug the fans.
“A moment of absurd joy, I wanted to share the feat together with the people of Vicenza. We continued to celebrate with the team, we treated ourselves to a few spritzes. After a triumph like this, I’d say it’s possible.”
He made a promise to the group in case of promotion, now he will have to keep it.
“We are organizing an excursion in the mountains. I love walking, it helps me reflect. In 2014 I did the Camino de Santiago: 120 kilometers in 8 days, backpack on my shoulders. At that moment my life changed.”
Tell us.
“I had moved away from football, I had started working as a financial consultant. During the pilgrimage the phone rang, I had left it at the bottom of my backpack, I never used it. I stopped and answered. It was Pietro Fusco, in charge of the youth team at Spezia at that time. “Do you still want to coach?”, he asked me. It was like a signal”.
What had disappointed her?
“In Brescia I was prevented from doing my job, in 2013 Giampaolo wanted me as assistant in the blue and white. The fans’ protests over my past as a player with the Bergamo club blew everything up.”
Thirteen years later he wrote history: he was the first coach to win two championships in a row in Serie C with two different teams.
“It’s an enormous satisfaction that I share with two clubs, Entella and Vicenza. Solid clubs and exceptional groups. In the red and white, as in the last season, I found guys who followed me with determination from day one.”
The strongest encountered in the field? Ronaldo the Phenomenon, played another sport
Speaking of records, between Entella and Vicenza he totaled 58 consecutive matches without losing. Like Capello in the Invincibles’ Milan.
“Fate wanted me to stop at 58, I would have liked to continue. It’s a fantastic, almost unimaginable achievement.”
Who is the colleague you admire most?
“When it comes to managing the group, I believe that Allegri is the best in Italy. He always manages to bring out the best in the teams he coaches. We even challenged each other as players. From Giampaolo to Pirlo, after the promotion I received many congratulatory messages.”
And his teacher Lucescu?
“He was busy with Romania. Thanks to him I made my debut first in Serie B and then in Serie A with Brescia. He was an innovator, he showed us the matches recorded on VHS at increased speed. And he commanded respect. I’ll tell you an anecdote.”
Please.
“On an away match in Bolton, during the Anglo-Italian Cup, we drew and we needed a point to go through. A teammate touched the ball with his arm in the area, the referee didn’t notice, but the assistant did. The manager started running shouting towards him. In the end he managed to convince him, no penalty. The opposing fans didn’t even protest.”
In ’95 he moved to Atalanta, together with Vieri you drove Mondonico crazy.
“So many evenings with Bobo, he loved to have fun. The security manager checked the hood of our cars every morning. If it was still hot, he scolded us. It meant we had been out all night. And it happened often. Once the mister caught us asking a toll booth on the motorway. They knew our license plates by heart.”
In Bergamo, however, he let the pitch do the talking.
“With a goal against Juventus in the Italian Cup in ’95 I entered the club’s history. Even today, the fans remember that volley against the Bianconeri. The assist was given to me by Federico Pisani, who died a year later in a car accident. That goal ties me to his memory.”
The most difficult opponent to face?
“Ronaldo the Phenomenon. He played another sport. I even challenged him when I was at Brescia and he at PSV in the Gamper Trophy of ’94. He was 17 years old, he was already uncatchable.”
Will he also lead Vicenza in Serie B?
“I don’t see myself far from this club.”
Do you still have a dream to come true?
“Continue to improve myself to achieve increasingly important goals. Being a coach is the most beautiful job in the world. Luckily that time during the Camino de Santiago I answered the phone.”
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