In a strange piece of news, Cagliari surprised everyone yesterday with the announcement that they had sacked Massimiliano Allegri.

“Cagliari announce that they have relieved Massimiliano Allegri of his position,” said a statement on the club website. “Academy coach Giorgio Melis has been put in charge.”

Normally when a coach is fired this late in the season it is because of poor performance, but Cagliari are nine points above the relegation zone in 12th place with five games left.

Yes they have been on a poor run of late, losing seven and drawing two of their last nine league games, but Allegri is considered one of Italy’s best young managers. Allegri won Italy’s “Golden Bench” award in February after his peers voted him Serie A coach of the year ahead of Inter Milan’s Jose Mourinho.

There have been rumors that Allegri is heading to Turin to take over at Juventus next season as maybe Cagliari decided to let him go on their terms instead of waiting for him to leave.

Cagliari Calcio is usually a club on the brink of relegation.  In the last three seasons, Cagliari has barely been able to fend off opponents finishing 14th, 16th, and 14th respectively.  All three years the Rossoblu have survived demotion to Serie B by a few matches and in some cases just a few points.  This year though Cagliari transitioned from a mediocre bottom of the rankings club into a top ten finisher.  Cagliari improved a league best five spots in the rankings this year and finished the year in ninth place.

Cagliari’s biggest impact this year was on the offensive side of the ball.  Robert Acquafresca led the team in goals with fourteen and has made a serious impact on the club in his only two seasons with the Rossoblu.  Last year the forward put up ten goals in his first year in the Serie A.  Neves Capucho Jeda was the most improved player on the squad putting up an impressive eleven goals this year to improve on his three from last season. 

Offensively the club has made the most improvement.  Two seasons ago when the club narrowly avoided relegation in 16th place, Cagliari only scored a lowly thirty-five goals for the season.  Last year with the addition of Acquafresca, the club improved that total to forty goals for the season.  And this year the Rossoblu continued their development and finished the year with forty-nine goals.  If Cagliari can continue to improve year-by-year then very soon you can expect to see them qualify for a spot in the UEFA tournament for the 2010/2011 season.

Nickname(s): The Islanders

All-Time Ranking: 14th

2007/2008 Finish: 14th

2008/2009 Position (as of 04/07): 7th

Coach: Massimiliano Allegri

Key Players: Daniele Conti, Federico Marchetti, Michele Fini

History:

Cagliari was founded in 1920 and the team is located on the island of Sardinia (hence their nickname). They play in a 24,000 seat stadium called Stadio Sant’Elia. The squad’s only great success came in 1970 when they won the Serie A title (which is called the “scudetto”) due to the legendary play of Gigi Riva, a fantastic ITA National Team player.

By 1987 though, Cagliari had dropped all the way down to Italian soccer’s third tier. Coach Claudio Ranieri led them all the way back to Serie A in just two seasons, but the team has been up and down since. However the team has enjoyed some very good results as of late and has climbed all the way up to 7th on the Serie A tables, quite a feat.  

American Sports Doppleganger:

Cagliari hasn’t competed for a title in 40 years, but their rabid fans have remained dedicated despite that fact. Though the last four decades have been tough, the team actually appears to be on the rise. So, I think Cagliari are very much like the MLB’s Detroit Tigers. Sure, both teams haven’t won a title in a long time, but things are at least looking up.