With three promotions in six years, and merger with another club following two bankruptcies
this century, SPAL are one of the smallest clubs competing in Serie A, a league to which
they earned promotion in 2017 for the first time in 49 years.
The club began its life in an unusual way. It was started by Salesian priest Pietro Acerbis,
who founded the side in March 1907 as an “Art and Work Club”. Then, in 1913 the organisation
morphed into its sporting form under the name of Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor, making
the acronym SPAL.
Professional football would begin in 1919 in the second-tier, however their modern story
starts with the 2013 merger with local side Giacomense. That was spearheaded by owner
Roberto Benasciutti after the Ferrara-based club had gone bankrupt back in 2005, and the
team were allowed to continue with the name SPAL 2013.
New boss Leonardo Semplici was brought in during December 2014, after having coached
the Fiorentina youth team for several years, and SPAL have never looked back since. Back
then, they were competing in Lega Pro, the third tier of Italian football. The very next
season, Semplici took his side to the second tier for the first time in 22 years, and they
would astonish those who looked on by wining Serie B in that first attempt.
Hellas Verona – a team with much more experience of Serie A – would take the second automatic
spot, and Benevento would complete the promoted trio after they also secured back-to-back
promotions. History tells us that there is a huge gulf between the top two divisions
in Italy, and time after time teams have fallen foul of going straight back down to where
they came from.
Indeed, that would happen to both Benevento and even the more seasoned professionals Hellas
as they scored just 21 and 25 points respectively in a 38 game campaign. That duo would concede
an astounding 162 goals between them, making the achievement of SPAL in staying up even
more incredible.
Semplici’s men averaged a point per game as they stayed up with a total of 38 and conceded
a comparatively much healthier 59 times. But how did they accomplish what so many others
have failed to effectuate?
The Coach admitted that his team struggled to adjust to life in Serie A at first, as
they went through a tough month of September without a single win. They would lose to Inter,
Cagliari, AC Milan and Napoli, and October wasn’t much better as they rescued a single
point from the next four games.
Yet Semplici demonstrated his ability to both roll up his sleeves and learn quickly as he
recognised that making his side tough to beat would be the key. By November, he had overseen
draws with both Fiorentina and Atalanta and from then onwards many Serie A teams would
become frustrated by the tenacity of SPAL.
Come the end of the campaign, the minnows had secured 0-0 draws with both Juventus and
Fiorentina, and crowned their avoidance of the drop with a resounding 3-1 win over Sampdoria
on the final day. Former Leeds striker Mirko Antenucci finished as the team’s top-scorer
with 11, but in truth it was their defensive prowess and the intelligence of Semplici that
helped them most in achieving what previously had seemed impossible.
Of course, a second season in the top flight was going to be equally as tough, but early
indications show that SPAL have worked over the summer to become more resilient than ever.
Before the aforementioned 3-0 loss to Fiorentina, the team from Ferrara had conceded just once
in four matches as they won to nil versus Bologna, Parma and Atalanta.
Behind the scenes, the club are working hard too. In the years between bankruptcy in 2005
and 2016, the capacity of their Stadio Paolo Mazza home was reduced to just 7,500 due to
safety concerns. Yet SPAL have taken steps to rectify this problem, renovating the stadium
for last season in Serie A in order to allow a capacity of just over 13,000.
They would take the remodeling one step further this term, proudly unveiling their superb
work in adding 3,000 extra seats before their midweek win over Atalanta on September 17th.
While many midsize and small Italian clubs are lagging way behind, SPAL have very much
got their heads screwed on. They are moving forward in the right direction with an intelligent
Coach who already knows what it takes to remain in the top division, and it would be very
surprising to see them fail to do so this season.