History of AS Roma
[8] After a slump in league form and the departure of high key players, Roma eventually rebuilt their squad, adding goalscorers such as the Argentine Enrique Guaita.
At the time, Italy was involved in World War II and Roma were playing their home matches at the Stadio del Partito Nazionale Fascista.
[13] After returning to Serie A, Roma managed to stabilise themselves as a top-half club again with players such as Egisto Pandolfini, Dino Da Costa and the Dane Helge Bronée.
The dawning of a newly successful era in Roma's footballing history was brought in with another Coppa Italia victory, they beat Torino on penalties to win the 1979–80 cup.
Aside from finishing runners-up to Torino in a Coppa Italia final,[15] the rest of the decade was largely sub-par in the history of Roma, especially in the league, where the highest they could manage was fourth, in 1997–98.
[23] They started the decade in great style by winning their third Serie A title in 2000–01; the scudetto was won on the last day of the season, with Roma edging out Juventus by two points in the league table thanks to a 3–1 victory over Parma.
The club also delayed the tax payment [39] in order to improve the cash flow, but further scandal was exposed after Roma was investigated by judicial authorities for irregularities on player transfers.
[40] The club originally hired Cesare Prandelli but he resigned for family reasons prior to the start of the season, prompting Roma to appoint Rudi Völler, Luigi Delneri and Bruno Conti.
Roma finished in eighth, their worst league position in recent seasons, but gained entry to the UEFA Cup as runners-up in the Coppa Italia.
The club signed Rodrigo Taddei, Samuel Kuffour, Dimitrios Eleftheropoulos, Gianluca Comotto and Shabani Nonda on free transfers, and loaned in Houssine Kharja and Cesare Bovo.
Meanwhile, troublesome duo Ivan Pelizzoli and Antonio Cassano were both released, the former in July to Reggina on a free transfer and the latter in January to Real Madrid for €5 million.
Coach Spalletti explored the abilities of Mancini and Rodrigo Taddei in attack and Brazilian Doni as starting goalkeeper, and the team finished fifth in Serie A.
Meanwhile, the club purchased Júlio Baptista from Real Madrid (€9M), Jérémy Ménez from Monaco (€10.5M + 1.5M bonus) and defender John Arne Riise from Liverpool (€5M).
Despite the changes, however, Roma once again slipped to sixth in Serie A largely due to its poor defense, despite the club signing defender Marco Motta from Udinese mid-season during the winter transfer window.
In 2009–10, highly rated midfielder Alberto Aquilani was sold to Liverpool for €20 million, although no major signings arrived until centre-back Nicolás Burdisso joined on loan from Inter.
As the Sensi family was unable to repay the debt owed by the club, Unicredit put A.S. Roma Spa on sale; five bids were received before the deadline on 31 January 2011.
[46] The club did not spend during the January 2011 transfer window, but sold highly paid Júlio Baptista to Málaga and loaned his fellow Brazilian Cicinho to Villarreal.
