Incompetence at the top Italian Football Federation (FIGC) President Carlo Tavecchio is responsible for the hiring of Ventura and as such the blame for the arrival of the catastrophe he warned of should rest on his shoulders. Ventura did not step down on Monday and the FIGC is dithering on firing him, with Tavecchio announcing he will decide his fate on Wednesday. That is an emblematic final scene of a tenure that has at times resembled a slow-motion car crash and observers say it highlights the lack of leadership Tavecchio offers to the Italian game. A country for old men The 74-year-old Tavecchio is a symbol of a gerontocratic Italy where age is often valued more than youth. He hired Ventura, who will be 70 in January, and Ventura stuck with the old guard, like De Rossi (34) and Andrea Barzagli (36). Tavecchio was elected president of the FIGC after a landslide vote in his favour in 2014 that saw 18 of the 20 Serie A clubs back him against former AC Milan and Italy midfielder Demetrio Albertini. Tavecchio won the vote despite it coming just weeks after making racist slurs, referring to black players who “ate bananas” before they came to play in Italy. Lack of identity Ventura’s inexperience at the highest level showed as the qualifying campaign unfolded, as he failed to find a settled team or tactics. The coach’s mishandling of Jorginho and Lorenzo Insigne angered critics, with the coach refusing to play an attacking trident that would have got the best out of wing dynamo Insigne with a midfield three that would have mirrored the system in which the pair shine at Napoli. Instead Ventura flip-flopped between formations and ignored Jorginho for almost two years before throwing him into the fray on Monday with Italy’s World Cup hopes hanging by a thread. Giving Insigne 14 minutes in midfield in the first leg of the play-off in Solna and not playing him at all on Monday infuriated fans and left Roma captain Daniele De Rossi openly bemused on the bench. To Receive SKYTREND NEWS Alerts On WhatsApp, Add 0802 739 7554; For Adverts Enquiries, Whatsapp 0802 739 7554, Send Articles & News Stories To editor@skytrendnews.com. Punch Newspaper READ ALSO! First Bank’s Appalling Customer Service And Utter Disregard For Its Customers READ ALSO! Between GoDaddy And Namecheap: Making The Best Choice For Domain Name Registrar READ ALSO! Google Developing New Tools To Enhance Article Search For News Publishers On Subscription READ ALSO! The Hurdles Nigerian Youths Must Cross By 2019, By Dele Momodu READ ALSO! The Internet’s Future Lies With Its Next Billion Users — Sundar Pichai, Google CEO READ ALSO! Nigerian Filmmaker, Zuriel Oduwole Makes Forbes List Of 100 Most Influential African Women READ ALSO! Woman Marries Her Son After Getting Pregnant For Him READ ALSO! Smartphone Sales Fall As Samsung, Apple Consolidate Market Share READ ALSO! The Smart CEO: Top 5 Websites To Get Cheap Domain Name Registration ]]>