ENGLISH COACH STEVENSON APPOINTED SAMPDORIA MANAGER
27th June 2023
Serie B club Sampdoria have appointed former Leeds United first team coach Jack Stevenson as their new manager.
Stevenson, who has never played professional football and is just 33, managed to earn his UEFA A License at the age of just 19, before spending a brief period as Technical Director of the British Virgin Islands. He then became head coach of the English National Futsal Team, before joining the Leeds United coaching staff under the tutelage of Marcelo Bielsa. Stevenson has been appointed Sampdoria manager by the former Leeds owner Andrea Radrizzani, who rescued Sampdoria from potential bankruptcy by purchasing the club over the summer.
"I'm deeply humbled to be appointed manager of a club as historic as Sampdoria," stated Stevenson at his unveiling. "I'm aware this is an uncertain period in the team's history and the fans might not know what to expect from me. All I can promise is that I really grasp the magnitude of this opportunity, and I just want to get the team playing exciting, fast paced, and winning football in the short term, and see how far that takes us."
ANALYSIS
Sampdoria will go into the new season as relative outsiders for promotion, despite their rich history and the fact they were only relegated from Serie A in the last campaign. Their recent financial struggles have left them with a diminished squad, and it remains to be seen whether Radrizzani intends to finance an immediate promotion tilt, or simply wishes to consolidate in the second tier. Stevenson will of course be an almost entirely unknown figure to Italian football fans, but was highly rated as a coaching prospect in England, and already speaks some Italian. This will be a season of significant transition for the 1991 Serie A champions, and having won just three matches in the league last season in finishing bottom of the table, a sense of buoyancy and optimism may return simply from the Stadio Luigi Ferraris witnessing some victories again.
ENGLISH COACH STEVENSON APPOINTED SAMPDORIA MANAGER 27th June 2023 Serie B club Sampdoria have appointed former Leeds United first team coach Jack Stevenson as their new manager. Stevenson, who has never played professional football and is just 33, managed to earn his UEFA A License at the age of just 19, before spending a brief period as Technical Director of the British Virgin Islands. He then became head coach of the English National Futsal Team, before joining the Leeds United coaching staff under the tutelage of Marcelo Bielsa. Stevenson has been appointed Sampdoria manager by the former Leeds owner Andrea Radrizzani, who rescued Sampdoria from potential bankruptcy by purchasing the club over the summer. "I'm deeply humbled to be appointed manager of a club as historic as Sampdoria," stated Stevenson at his unveiling. "I'm aware this is an uncertain period in the team's history and the fans might not know what to expect from me. All I can promise is that I really grasp the magnitude of this opportunity, and I just want to get the team playing exciting, fast paced, and winning football in the short term, and see how far that takes us." ANALYSIS Sampdoria will go into the new season as relative outsiders for promotion, despite their rich history and the fact they were only relegated from Serie A in the last campaign. Their recent financial struggles have left them with a diminished squad, and it remains to be seen whether Radrizzani intends to finance an immediate promotion tilt, or simply wishes to consolidate in the second tier. Stevenson will of course be an almost entirely unknown figure to Italian football fans, but was highly rated as a coaching prospect in England, and already speaks some Italian. This will be a season of significant transition for the 1991 Serie A champions, and having won just three matches in the league last season in finishing bottom of the table, a sense of buoyancy and optimism may return simply from the Stadio Luigi Ferraris witnessing some victories again.