Deep in Turmoil: the Situation about Jiangsu Suning and their fans
This was the original English version of my Q&A with Calcio8Cina.
Calcio8Cina: Last year Jiangsu was able to compete again at good levels with Cosmin, but this year the team is still fery far from the first positions and a champions league slot. Why Jiangsu can’t be better in your opinion?
ForzaSuning: Good question.
In my personal opinion, last year’s result was a combination of Capello’s solid training foundation in winter, with Olariou’s practical tactics and kindness.
Capello, being a world-class manager together with his coach team, Brocchi, Zambrotta, etcd, had the best training level in history of the team. There were a few classic matches in early 2018 to reflect, home match against Guoan, 5–1 over Shenhua. Some players were completely activated during 2017–2018 winter training. For example, Ji Xiang was at his career peak, spelling best DR position with help from Zambrotta. Huang Zichang, prompted into first team in the winter, scored 5 goals in early 2018 and awarded CSL 2018’s best young star even as he spent the second half of the year for injury recovery.
However, the bad part of Capello was he didn’t get well with the team, with players, management and also media. Some players complaint he was too strict in training and lack in communication. And also for some reason, Capello almost sold Alex Teixeira to Brazil until management stopped the deal at last minute, which might be a trigger for his early resignation.
Olaroiu was almost opposite to Capello. After joining the team, he listened and talked to every player, motivated them and helped them to recover from some mental issues in Capello era. And in terms of tactics, Olaroiu’s 4–4–2 focuses on defense, improved the team quite a bit. And in the summer, Eder’s join was key addition to the offense side. So in 2018 we ended up in a relatively acceptable position.
But Olaroiu’s training quality was way behind Capello’s team could deliver. After 2018–2019 winter, the team didn’t improve on either power or tactics. The 4–4–2 Olariou keeps using has some shortages for the squad Jiangsu can send:
- 2 central midfielders, typically Wu Xi and Tian Yinong, was pinned deeply and unable to provide support for attackers.
- The offense side relies too much on Teixeira and Eder’s individual techniques to break through and was unable to connect with midfielders Xie Pengfei, Wang Song
- Some young talents don’t fit 4–4–2 well and not getting chance to perform
- Our side backs were too weak, especially when Ji Xiang injuried. The 4–4–2 enlarged this issue and 2 side backs seems to be wasted in offense
In addition to this, the management tier had some changes this year. The new management has zero experience on professional football. Although the weakness in squad was obvious, they were unable to bring in right players in time. Instead, two free-agent players from League One were signed to fix something wasn’t broken. Even worse, 3 months after Ramires departed, we still have only 3 foreign players, being the unique side across the league. If you compare similar situation for SIPG, they signed Arnautovic in no time after Elkeson joined Evergrand.
Calcio8Cina: After the defeat in the delta yangtze derby supporters turned angry and asked a meeting with the club. What is your feeling about this defeat and what was the result of the meeting?
ForzaSuning: Jiangsu and Shanghai Shenhua became rival after 2009, the first CSL match after Jiangsu returned to top-flight. Our away fans were attacked by their fans and were unable to return from Hongkou Stadium until late night.
The defeat was totally unacceptable. In last ten years, even the worst Jiangsu didn’t lose to Shenhua at Nanjing Olympics. But this time it’s the worst Shenhua in 10 years that took the fist victory from Nanjing. So quite a lot fans believe the match was fixed, by what they hear before it, and that they see during it.
The lose was a trigger to fans group broke up with the club. After Suning acquired Jiangsu club, fans were asked to remove “Jiangsu” from their flag and emphases “Suning” instead. The reason behind this was to enlarge the marketing scope of Suning football but it hurts loyalty fans a lot. Also the East Stand of Nanjing Olympics, which Jiangsu fans were proud of, was reorganized and declined year after year.
Calcio8Cina: What do you think about the Suning management? Recently they didn’t invest a lot of money. What is the general opinion of supporters about Suning?
ForzaSuning: As I said in 1), the new management was completely green. And to make it worse, their efficiency and motivation was questionable. Rumor says Suning stopped invest big money on Chinese football because they feel the environment was bad. But that wasn’t a valid excuse because if they keep doing like this they will lose all money they invested. At the moment, after another massive defeat from SIPG, fans now require CEO of the club, Wang Zhe, and manager of fan relationship, Jin Jiawei, to resign. Some fans hope Zhang Jindong could reorganized the club management, while some others think Zhang is the root cause to the situation.
Calcio8Cina: Do you have any kind of feeling for Inter FC wich is the other Suning Club? What was your reaction when last year they changed the jersey color to make it look like the Inter one?
ForzaSuning: I personally was on the positive side for the acquirement of Inter, even if I has been a Milan fan since Day 1 of being a football fan :) There need to be more integration between Inter and Jiangsu, on both sporting and marketing aspect. The 2018 jersey was a great attempt and it was successful. I have no idea why they changed design again for this year. But it mostly blames Nike who wants to sell more jerseys in China. On sporting, I wish the more Italian coaches can come to China and improve our youth academy. Giovanni, who lead Jiangsu U19 to the championship of U19 CFA Cup, was a great case.
Calcio8Cina: What is your opinion about foreign players in the team?
ForzaSuning: All three foreign players, Teixeira, Paletta and Eder, are professional, skilled and passionate. It just depends on how Olariou could use them. And again, shame on the management, we have only three foreigners since early 2018.
Calcio8Cina: What do you think should change in the management and in the club to improve the situation of the club?
ForzaSuning: I agree with most fans, the CEO of club who is responsible for the situation should resign at once. And I wish Olaroiu could save the team from relegation this year. But for long term, I suggest to sign Brocchi, as recommended by Capello when he was leaving, to bring back Capello’s methodology and philosophy, with those bad part dropped.
