Sampdoria with Nuytinck and Lammers relegated from Serie A in turbulent season

On the pitch where Napoli celebrated an exuberant championship celebration four days ago, tears flowed tonight at Sampdoria. After a 2-0 defeat against Udinese, the club of Bram Nuytinck and Sam Lammers has been relegated from Serie A after eleven years.

With four games left to play, Sampdoria can no longer close the gap with the seventeenth spot. The bottom three clubs are relegated to Serie B.

And so comes a fitting end to a turbulent season for Sampdoria. Supporters of the club from Genoa turned against president Massimo Ferrero out of dissatisfaction with performance. A severed pig’s head was found on the sidewalk of the club office and Ferrero received a bullet letter.

Sampdoria is struggling with a debt of reportedly 100 million euros. Every month it is waiting to see if player salaries will be paid.

Under those circumstances, Sampdoria won three league games this season. The club, which won the European Cup II as recently as 1990 and lost the final of the European Cup I two years later, bivouacked at the bottom of the league table all season.

Defender Nuytinck made the switch from Udinese to Sampdoria during the winter break. He was usually in the starting lineup and also played 90 minutes tonight. Lammers also experienced the relegation within the lines. He came on in the 89th minute. The striker came over from Empoli during the winter break and scored only one goal in 15 games.

Extra painful for Sampdoria: city-mate and rival Genoa secured promotion to Serie A last week. Besides the club of Kevin Strootman and Ridgeciano Haps, Frosinone also makes the step up from Serie B.