Ex-Italy boss Gian Piero Ventura quits Chievo after just four matches

Chievo Verona blew a 2-1 lead against Bologna, but a draw was enough to erase their Serie A points deduction and get back to zero for the season.

Former Italy coach Gian Piero Ventura has tendered his resignation as coach of Chievo after picking up his first point at the fourth attempt on Sunday.

Just minutes after the Flying Donkeys’ 2-2 draw with Bologna, Ventura entered into the dressing room and told his players he would be stepping down, according to the club’s sporting director Giancarlo Romairone.

“We are still trying to make head and tail of it,” Romairone said at the post-match news conference, which he attended instead of Ventura. “I wasn’t on the bench today as I was in the stands, but we crossed paths in the dressing room and he told me he needed to speak with the players because he had a fundamental sense of uneasiness and he had to inform them.

“In truth, something inexplicable and unexpected emerged, because he made this announcement [of tendering his resignation]. The president [Luca] Campedelli was not even present because, as you know, he is suspended and as a consequence it happens that in the heat of the moment you make certain decisions that then have to be discussed with a clear mind with me and with the president.”

Romairone added that he had not yet accepted Ventura’s resignation, confirming when asked that the 70-year-old is still Chievo’s coach until further notice.

Ventura only took charge of Chievo a month ago, replacing Lorenzo D’Anna and taking on his first job since being sacked as Italy coach late last year.

Chievo lost 5-1 to Atalanta in his first game in charge and defeats to Cagliari and Sassuolo extended the Veronese club’s losing streak to seven matches, up until Sunday’s draw with Bologna which brought their season’s points total to zero, following their three-point deduction for falsifying player sale accounts.

It is almost a year to the day — Nov. 13, 2017 — since Ventura refused to resign as Italy coach after they failed to qualify for the World Cup following a goalless draw with Sweden, which completed a 1-0 aggregate playoff defeat.

He was sacked two days later and was out of work until Chievo called on Oct. 10.

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