Spal stuns Serie A: Semplici, the emerging manager following Sarri’s footsteps
Semplici did not, unlike many of his rival managers, play for top level or top flight clubs during his player career – instead playing primarily with amateur and minor teams; one of which being a spell with Sangimignano; the first team that the coach would go on to manage. After this, he spent four years with Figline, a team he managed to raise from the amateur leagues to being a promotion away from Serie B, before he then spent two years with two Tuscan teams, Arezzo and Pisa.
In 2011, Semplici was approached by Fiorentina to become head of their youth team, something the Italian did successfully for three years before he was approached by then ‘Serie C’ club SPAL to become the manager. This was the biggest club Semplici had ever managed and would be both his toughest yet most rewarding job yet.
In the 2014/15 season, Semplici managed to hold SPAL’s place in the Lega Pro (also known as Serie C1) before, in the 15/16 season, Semplici managed to get SPAL promoted up to the Serie B. Plateauing would be an acceptable accomplishment at this point but Semplici took it a step further and, in the 16/17 season, SPAL were promoted straight up to Serie A; consecutive promotions to put them in Italy’s top flight for the first time in around 50 years.
In the 17/18 Serie A season, SPAL finished 17th, as Semplici managed to keep the team in the top flight for his first season at Italy’s top level. Things are looking brighter for Semplici now with SPAL winning two from their first two games of the Serie A season: a 1-0 away win at Bologna and 1-0 home victory over Parma.
In his 153 games as manager of SPAL, Semplici has won 75, drawn 40 and lost 38 – for an average of 1.73 points-per-game and scoring around 1.46 goals per game. By no means are SPAL a high-scoring team but there is a genuine belief that, with the management of Semplici, they can do a bit more damage in the league this season, potentially aiming to challenge for a place in the Europa League – although this may inevitably result to be nothing more than a pipe dream.