Palermo are a club in a hurry. The impetus added by the arrival of the City Football Group in 2022 is beginning to bear fruit.

A state-of-the-art training ground is already in place, and focus is now on the renovation of the Renzo Barbera stadium. The battle with local authorities was ratcheted up a notch this week with the CEO Giovanni Gardini warning that the club is prepared to explore other avenues if an agreement to bring the ground under the club’s ownership cannot be finalised by the end of this month.

There is a push to interact with their global fanbase, too, with a focus on those in the USA of a Rosanero persuasion. Plans off the pitch are gathering pace.

Central to the blueprint, though, is what happens on the turf, too. With money once again spent in January, there is an expectation that head coach Alessio Dionisi has the tools at his disposal to deliver promotion to Serie A.

“We all want to go there as soon as possible, especially those who put as much money as those who have put the CFG in until today and every year of Serie B have to put even more,” Gardini said in a radio show interview this week.

“It is an objective that must be achieved without a shadow of a doubt in the shortest possible time.”

With Serie B’s top two appearing to be battling it out themselves in their own mini-procession to the top tier, the play-offs provide the only realistic route available to Dionisi and his squad.

Palermo have had joy in the process previously – they escaped the clutches of Serie C courtesy of their version of promotion roulette, beating Padova over two legs in 2022. Last season represented their first shot at a return to Serie A since 2017, but defeat by Venezia in the semi-finals has prolonged their stay.

There is no hard evidence to suggest they’re ready to make that final step this year, either. A 3-0 win against bottom of the table Cosenza will have instilled some confidence, but Palermo’s wider form has prevented them from cementing their place in the play-offs’ chasing pack.

A win at the Renzo Barbara stadium against Brescia will go some way to instilling belief that this campaign could yet deliver the progress the ownership wants. It would also be just the second occasion this season they have managed to record back-to-back victories in Serie B.

Brescia for their part are in their own form of purgatory. They remain in Serie B’s mid-table but are far from safe in their obscurity. Despite sitting in 12th place, they are just a point above 16th and 17th – places that bring with it a dreaded two-legged play-out to avoid relegation.

A chance to get on the road may suit Rolando Maran’s men, having just recorded the club’s worst ever run at home in Serie B history. Their 0-0 stalemate with strugglers Sudtirol last time out was their tenth match at the Mario Rigamonti Stadium without a win.

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