What's happening at AS Roma? Firing a club legend, CEO quitting, 'Yankee, go home' signs and more

It has been an intense start of the season for AS Roma inside but mainly off the pitch

It's difficult to explain what's happening at Roma this season, especially after the last few weeks. The Italian giants had a difficult start to the season, which caused American businessman and owner of the club Dan Friedkin to make a very unpopular decision as he sacked former club icon and manager Daniele De Rossi. This came after he replaced Jose Mourinho last January, and the owner appointed former Torino man Ivan Juric as the new head coach. 

De Rossi, who only coached Serie B side SPAL before joining his beloved club, had a very promising start at Roma, as he knocked out AC Milan in the Europa League quarterfinals and ended up sixth in the Serie A table. Despite not reaching the Champions League qualification and being knocked out of the European tournament by Bayer Leverkusen, which later lost to Atalanta in the final, the owners decided to extend De Rossi's deal and sign a three-year contract until the summer 2027, making clear their ambition to work together on a new long term project with their coach. 

But since that moment, it has largely gone downhill. Here's what to know:

From Mourinho to De Rossi

Mourinho was sacked on Jan. 16 after two and half years, with his contract running out in the summer, after a disappointing start of the 2023-24 season. That came just a few months after losing the 2023 Europa League final and one year after winning the UEFA Conference League, the first-ever UEFA trophy lifted by the Italian club. Sacking the Portuguese manager was an unpopular choice, and only by appointing a generational idol such as De Rossi, the fanbase could be calmed down in that moment. De Rossi was meant to be a caretaker manager until the summer, but his work convinced the club to sign a longer deal for three years. 

However, in soccer and in Rome particularly, things change very quickly. Already during the summer, there were some rumors about disagreements on the transfer strategies between De Rossi and the club, in particular with Roma CEO Lina Souloukou. As the 2024-25 season started, Roma struggled under De Rossi as they drew against Cagliari, Juventus and Genoa, but also lost their home debut against Empoli. In the meantime, more chaos was happening inside the club. 

Tensions rise at Roma

Rai Sport revealed that De Rossi and Roma midfielder Bryan Cristante had a verbal fight during a training session and the same coach confirmed what happened before the Juventus game.

"Yes, we had a discussion, but nothing more. They wrote it was a fight with me hitting him and vice versa, but that's not true. It's a very serious fact because it was real news but someone wanted to give it a different meaning. It was said that I put my hands on a player and that is not normal. Here they make up a lot of things, I have heard even worse and it is not right," he said. 

A few hours later, La Repubblica wrote that Roma defender Gianluca Mancini also had a fight with the manager about some technical choices, but this time it was the same player who personally denied the accusations. Despite what was real or not, De Rossi worked in a tense environment for some weeks, and the results were not helping him. Three days after Roma drew 1-1 against Genoa, the club decided to sack De Rossi, with another surprising and unpopular decision that became official on Sept. 18. Few days later, on Sept. 22, Souloukou also decided to depart from the club following the protests of the fans. 

Behind De Rossi's sacking

After De Rossi was sacked, there was a lot of speculations about how and what happened. Italian journalist Riccardo Trevisani explained what happened during the days before his sacking. According to him and multiple sources that confirmed this series of events, Souloukou had some disagreements with the Italian manager and was also asked to assess the situation by the owners. She called for a meeting but didn't include players like club's captain Lorenzo Pellegrini, Gianluca Mancini and Leandro Paredes, who were considered too close to the coach. In general, the team seemed to back the manager, according to this report. 

After the meeting, she reported to the owners that the players were not backing the coach, contrary to what was said in the meeting, and that was when ownership decided to sack De Rossi, explaining to him the decision at 8 a.m. before the training session and even before the players were at the Trigoria training center. The players got the news when it became official, one hour later, and the training session was postponed to the afternoon when the new manager was already in charge. 

The current Roma manager, who had a great start at the club, was also spotted in the stands of the game between Parma and Udinese few hours before he became the Roma manager. He made his Giallorossi debut at the Stadio Olimpico against Udinese the weekend after. 

Before the Europa League clash against Elfsborg, Roma captain Pellegrini spoke for the first time about this topic after he was accused to be one of the players who wanted the sacking of both Mourinho and De Rossi.

"The team didn't expect and didn't want the sacking of De Rossi. I'm not joking around, and I'm used to telling the truth. I happened to tell the truth and what I thought that day. Other things happened and they didn't ask for my version. I have a lot of respect for Daniele and his staff. But we'll move forward because Roma is the most important thing and it always moves forward."

"Yankee, go home"

The last few weeks were difficult for the Roma fanbase, who strongly reacted after the sacking of their idol De Rossi. Hundreds of Roma fans protested in front of the club's training ground the day De Rossi was sacked while others showed their support in front of his house in the center of Rome.  

During the protests, some fans printed and hung messages in the city reading "Yankee, go home," referring to the Friedkin ownership. During the games against Udinese, Athletic Club and Venezia, the Roma ultras went on strike and showed their disappointment during the games, followed by the other fans at the stadium. The protests were not against Juric and the good work he's already doing, but only focused against the players and the owners, who decided to sack their idol few months after promising him a long-term plan.