For once, Cagliari started a season with what looked like a sense of stability on and off the pitch. Their issues with where they would play their home games was finally resolved as the new Stadio Sant'Elia renovation had been approved. Volatile owner Massimo Cellino sold the club and veteran coach Zdenek Zeman was appointed as the new manager. The club had managed to survive the past few seasons under much worse conditions so just how exactly did they manage to crumble this term? Well, their Czech manager's maverick approach to football known as "Zemanlandia" looks like it could finally become extinct. Cagliari were far too open and even though they were able to pull off the odd shock result such as an early season 4-1 win over Inter at the San Siro, Zeman's kamikaze tactics brought more harm than good. He was soon replaced by a man who ended his legendary playing career at the club as Gianfranco Zola took the helm but his first game in charge saw his side lose 5-0 at Palermo and it was the start of a short but mostly disastrous stint for the former Italy striker. Even though Cellino had gone, his style of chopping and changing as well as bringing back managers remained. Zeman was given another go but he could only pick up one point from five games and stood down on his own terms this time - his time in the game altogether may well be over. Inexperienced former Middlesbrough defender Gianluca Festa was given the almost impossible task of keeping the club up in the final few weeks of the campaign but he inevitably didn't manage it. On the pitch, Cagliari actually had some really talented players with Brazilian pairing Diego Farias and João Pedro having very respectable debut seasons. Albin Ekdal provided an attacking threat from midfield including a superb hat-trick in that famous win over Inter whilst teenage midfielder Godfred Donsah is currently being touted by some big clubs. Cagliari lacked a true out and out goalscorer again though especially with the departure of Victor Ibarbo. Marco Sau ended with a respectable tally whilst Duje Cop showed promise but, when you can't score and you conceded as many as the Islanders did, it's a recipe for relegation.
