Βy Niki Bakouli/ bakouli@eurohoops.net
Mens Sana had a great idea, after they confirmed that there’s a hole of 5.4 million euros in the club’s budget from June of 2013 till now: to declare bankruptcy and then to create a new organization (like let’s say Siena 2) with no debts. A procedure that in Italy is well known as “spin off”. When the administration of Mens Sana inform the Italian federation (FIP) for their idea, the president, Mr. Gianni Petrucci just said no. FIP decided that if Mens Sana doesn’t find a way to pay their debts, it will no longer exist as a basketball organization and its end will come at the end of this season.
Outside FIP’s headquarters, where they discussed Mens Sana’s case, fans of the team were gathered to ask for the salvation of their favorite team, the one which for many years was the crown jewel of Italian basketball. When they saw Ferdinando Minnuci – the former president of team who decided to step down at December 2012 and be just the general manager and was recently voted as the new president of the league – exiting the building, they started screaming “shame, shame” and they even suggested that they will find a way to cover the missing 5.4 million euros. Policemen were there to help Minucci enter his car and leave.
Now Siena, which officially accepted the financial problems, has to liquidate their belongings in order to gather the money needed to pay at least a part of their debts. If they are not able to find some new sponsors to support the system, because the deal with the bank Monte Dei Paschi ends this season, it’s almost a given that the European basketball will suffer a great loss.