Damiano Tommasi, the president of the Italian players association has revealed what some directors have accused him of due to his handling of the current situation.
“Some directors accused me of terrorism. I have learned one thing from the epidemic and that is our will and our future plans are pure dialectical exercise, the agenda is called the Coronavirus, unfortunately,” he wrote in a letter to Rome based newspaper Corriere dello Sport.
Tommasi briefly touched upon Juventus’ decision to reach an agreement with their players over salaries before the AIC could speak with everyone and come to a general agreement.
“Nobody overstepped anyone. We were constantly updated and when players and clubs get along I do not see why the AIC should feel shelved. We work to have the clubs and players together.”
Tommasi then went on to recall warning everyone about the dangers associated with continuing to play and train even whilst the situation was in its early stages.
“I warned everyone about the risks of continuing to play and train. Those were the days when attempts were made to reopen the airports of Seville and Madrid to allow Roma and Getafe to travel.”
He then went on to reiterate the role the the AIC have to play during this crisis situation and admitted that the decisions made may not be popular with everyone.
“We will have, together with the other managers, to make choices and act even at the cost of appearing inconclusive.
“We have the role of guiding footballers during this dilemma, health emergency and economic emergencies. Our task is to summarise things not so much to just tell them what they want to hear but to tell them what it is correct to.
“We need to make the right choices, even if sometimes they will be unpopular. All decisions are forced, some more, some less, by the economic emergency that seems to be doing more harm than the health emergency.
“It is a very slippery ground but it will be the real problem from here on out. Total closure is relatively easy to share, it will be the gradual opening that will make us fight.”
Tomassi, who is perhaps best known for his time as a player at Roma, then went on to insist that everyone wants football to return but it remains unclear when the circumstances will allow this.
“It is needless to say that we all want to play, just like we all want to go to the beach and reopen the schools. When will be right time to do this, when will we have no risk to health and I am not just referring to the health of athletes.
“In fact, I fear that the real discussion will not concern physical contact or not, the doors open or not, but it will be about travelling or not and if so how.
“The players will do their part. We just have to understand what that is.”
