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G.Pillonas, 50, surprised everyone last season by leading a team without stars to 7th place in Serie A, meaning that after a summer scandal and penalties for four clubs, Chievo even climbed to the third position, allowing them to participate in the Champions League qualifiers.
However, the "Flying Donkeys," as the team is nicknamed, failed to qualify for the Champions League main tournament after a defeat against Sofia's Levski in the third round of qualification, and later they were the only Italian club to lose in the first round of the UEFA Cup.
Furthermore, having collected only one point in six matches in the Serie A championship, the team is at the bottom of the standings. Club officials decided to make changes, and radical changes were announced on the official Chievo website - due to poor results, G.Pillonas was dismissed, and a man already considered a club legend was invited.
That man is 56-year-old coach L.Del Neri, who coached the team from 2000 to 2004 and created the so-called "Chievo miracle." Leading the obscure club from Verona, the strategist made them rise to Serie A and in the 2001/02 season they were a surprise team and even led the league for some time, and eventually secured a spot in the UEFA Cup.
In the summer of 2004, L.Del Neri moved to the Champions League-winning Porto, but, just like at Empoli in 1998, he was dismissed without even leading the team for one match. In October, he was called to Roma alongside Rudi Voller, but even in the capital, things didn't go well for L.Del Neri, so he left this post in March 2005.
Next, L.Del Neri's career moved to the Palermo club in Sicily, but despite a successful start to the season, the strategist again failed and was dismissed after a defeat at home against Siena in January 2006. After being unemployed for almost a year, the former Chievo coach will start leading the team in away match on Sunday against his former club, Roma.
