whats common knowledge? that fiat's troubles started way before umberto's time? or that Montezemolo was more of a gianni protege
No, Umberto is the idiot brother. FIAT's troubles began long before him, bingo. They began when the idiot brother's elder brother decided to put the Lapo life (common knowledge) to rest for a bit, demanding a real job in the family business.
Montezuma....Montezuma truly is a textook case of the Italian Dream. Let's see :
He joined Ferrari in the 70's solely for his ability to provide girls and cocaine to the aging patriarch. At the time Agnelli was going through that all too common phase among them 50-something men o' the world. Surrounded by fresh female youth, he wanted to feel young again. Enter Montezuma, who presented him with the keys to that world. What Lele Mora is to Berlusca, Montezuma was to Gianni Agnelli, simple as.
Alas, soon enough it emerged that Montezuma was taking bribes left and right to introduce all sorts of not very recommendable people to Agnelli. Pressed by FIAT's board, the latter reluctantly kicked him out of FIAT, parking him at Cinzano for a few years, where he promptly managed to run another healthy company of the Group into the ground.
So in order to avoid further damage, or maybe as a reward, Agnelli put him at the helm of Italia 90's organising committee. The late 80's were the golden years for men of his stance and moral calibre (Tangentopoli was yet to be uncovered) so Montezuma made the most of it by presiding over the biggest financial scandal in the history of Italian sports. Which I have documented in detail on this forum in the past, much to the dismay and incredulity of the bimbiminkia's.
What next then for Gianni's protégé? Why the presidency of Juventus of course. Culminating with the worst season in the history of the club, who for the first time ever did not qualify for the Europan cups.
It is perhaps no coincidence that after this Giampiero Boniperti, a honest, admirable gobbo if I ever saw one, creator of the "stile Juve" if such a thing existed, was humiliatingly forced into retirement by idiot brother Umberto, paving the way for the advent of Moggi, which he (Boniperti) had always fiercely opposed.
Anyway, after this umpteenth success story, it was time for Monty to make a return to his roots : the presidency of Ferrari. Ferrari that hadn't won squat for a decade at the time, and was therefore bound to do better. And it did : after only one more decade of magnificent defeats (the years of Prost, Berger and Alesi) and a few more billions splashed down the road, Montezuma's Ferrari was on top of the world again (in part due to Schumacher's arrival too, just maybe).
So what's Monty up to these days, you may ax? Paying hommage to Gianni's memory while nostalgically looking back on a life of achievements? Not exactly.
Today, Mr. Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, a man who, if his name had instead been Marco Biglia, would be screwing bolts at FIAT Pomigliano.....today Montezemolo, my dear gobbi friends, is laying the foundations of a brand new, moderate, centre-right political party born from the ashes of Forza Italia, with the intention of running for Prime Sinister in the next election.