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“Facts, not talk.” This appeal concludes with the harsh response of the lawyer Giuseppe Carratelli, Vincenzo Rota’s lawyer, to the statement released by the ownership of Cosenza Calcio on the negotiation for the sale of the rossoblù club.
According to the reconstruction provided by Rota, the story told by the club “does not correspond to the facts” and requires some clarifications “for the sake of the truth and out of respect for public opinion, the fans and the institutions”. At the center of the reply is the passage from the Cosenza press release in which the owners claim to be willing to sell the company, but not to accept “forcing or conditioning”. An accusation that the Rota front firmly rejects. «Vincenzo Rota has never set conditions incompatible with a linear negotiation», we read in the note. On the contrary, the entrepreneur would have suffered “a lack of linearity, forcing and conditioning”.
The reconstruction starts from May 22nd, the day of the first meeting between the parties and the signing of a confidentiality agreement lasting fifteen days. On that occasion, according to Rota’s version, the lawyers of president Eugenio Guarascio would have illustrated in an indicative manner the debt situation of the club, inviting the entrepreneur to formulate an offer for the purchase of one hundred percent of the shares. Three days later, on May 25, Rota would have formalized his interest by simultaneously requesting the accounting and financial data necessary to be able to present a proposal that was not “in the dark”. Documents which, again according to the lawyer’s reconstruction, arrived only after numerous reminders. And it is precisely on this point that one of the harshest passages of the note focuses. Once the documentation was received, Cosenza’s debt exposure would have been “more than double” compared to that initially presented orally. Subsequently, new accounting data would have been transmitted in which the club’s assets were even double compared to its debts, but “without any valid technical-legal justification to support it”.
Despite the difficulties, Rota and his consultants decided to continue with the negotiations, presenting a formal proposal via certified e-mail on 11 June, subject to due diligence and the possibility of examining, in cross-examination between the parties, the entire financial and equity situation of the club. This communication, however, would also remain unanswered.
Hence the repeated reminders and direct contact with Guarascio on 15 June, during which the entrepreneur reiterated his willingness to acquire the club on his own and through a legal entity to be appointed. Also on 15 June, a new PEC was sent with confirmation of the economic proposal and the request for an urgent meeting to define the figures and timing of the operation. A meeting which, according to the lawyer’s reconstruction, would never have been scheduled. The situation would have become further complicated on 17 June, when a communication from the lawyer De Sensi would have made the continuation of the negotiation subject to the presentation of “suitable real guarantees”. A request deemed unacceptable by the Rota front, according to which the guarantees should have only been discussed at a later stage of the negotiation.
The note also defines as “irrelevant” the letter of 15 June signed by some of Vincenzo Rota’s relatives and referred to in the ownership statement, since, according to the lawyer, it is an internal matter within the San Vincenzo team and not relevant to the acquisition proposal.
The conclusion is a new invitation to the Cosenza owners to move from declarations to facts. “If Guarascio is really willing to sell the club, demonstrate it with an urgent meeting and by putting on the table all the necessary documentation to represent the real conditions of the club.” For his part, the lawyer assures, Vincenzo Rota does not hold back. But it poses only one condition: “Transparency and concrete facts”.