Parma have turned to Alberto Gilardino, the forward whose goals once carried the club through its most anxious days, to guide them through another fight for survival. The 44-year-old replaces Spanish coach Carlos Cuesta, returning to the place where his top-flight career found its true direction.
The decision
Gilardino’s appointment has an unusual symmetry. On 18 June 2005, he scored with his knee in the return leg of Parma’s relegation play-off against Bologna at the Dall’Ara, a goal that secured the Gialloblù’s Serie A status. More than two decades later, he comes back with the same broad task, this time from the bench.
He left Parma aged 23 and returns at 44, with a substantial playing career and the beginning of a coaching one behind him. His three seasons at the club, from 2002 to 2005, were formative. Gilardino had already made his Serie A debut for Piacenza before turning 18 and had spent two years at Verona, but he has often described Parma as the place where he understood the standards required of a professional footballer.
Under Cesare Prandelli in his first two campaigns, followed by Silvio Baldini and Gedeone Carmignani in the final season, Gilardino made 116 appearances across league and cup competitions. Parma were regular UEFA Cup participants in that period. After scoring four times in a limited role during his first year, he struck 23 league goals in each of the next two seasons, adding the decisive play-off goal in 2005.
Those two 23-goal returns remain his best individual Serie A seasons. Parma did not win silverware during his spell, although Prandelli led the side into the UEFA Cup twice, while the final campaign ended with survival secured at the last possible moment. Gilardino prospered alongside teammates who supplied and understood his movement, notably Marco Marchionni, Mark Bresciano and Domenico Morfeo.
It was also at Parma that his international standing developed. He won the 2004 European Under-21 Championship with Claudio Gentile’s Italy, finishing the tournament both leading scorer and player of the competition. At the Athens Olympics, his goal against Iraq helped Italy claim bronze.
Marcello Lippi handed him his senior Italy debut against Norway in 2004. Gilardino’s first international goal arrived at the Tardini in a 4-3 win over Belarus, and he eventually scored 19 times for his country. He went to the 2006 World Cup, beginning the tournament in the side before losing his place, but still contributed a group-stage goal against the United States and the assist for Alessandro Del Piero’s second goal in the semi-final victory over Germany in Dortmund.
His Parma years also produced the violin celebration that became his personal trademark. The gesture was suggested during a dinner with teammates in the city centre; three days later, after scoring from a Marchionni assist, Gilardino followed through on the promise.
His performances soon drew the attention of Europe’s leading clubs. A possible move to Real Madrid was discussed while José Antonio Camacho was in charge, but Gilardino ultimately joined Milan in 2005. He finished his Serie A playing career level with Del Piero and Giuseppe Signori in tenth place on the competition’s all-time scoring list.
There was an off-field episode during that same Parma period. Gilardino challenged an obligation to begin civil service in Cossato, his birthplace in the province of Biella, having opted for it rather than the then-compulsory military service. His appeal sought exemption on sporting grounds under a 1997 decree, and the regional administrative court ruled in his favour, accepting his football achievements as artistic merit.
For Parma, though, the value of the appointment lies less in memory than in the work ahead. Gilardino knows the club’s history from inside its dressing room and understands the weight that comes with a survival campaign. The old goal at the Dall’Ara remains part of Parma’s past; his new role is to help shape what follows.
