And so to the vibes men. Which is all Sampdoria have left in their bid to avoid relegation to Serie C for the first time in their 79-year history.

Alberico Evani this week became the fourth manager of the season to take charge of the Blucerchiati. He replaced Leonardo Semplici, who was sacked on Monday with the club 18th in the table, three points from safety.

Evani spent four years at Marassi as a player and 31 years ago this month was part of the team that lifted the Coppa Italia, Sampdoria’s seventh major trophy in a decade, and their last.

For now, success for those of a blue, red and white persuasion will be retaining their Serie B status. Survive over the next six weeks and this dismal season may be written off as an aberration. Lose, and the very future of one of calcio‘s most storied clubs could be under threat.

In his quest to steer the Genoese clear of the abyss, Evani has been joined by fellow Sampdoria great Attilio Lombardo, with Roberto Mancini acting as an advisor in a personal capacity. And how the Blucerchiati could do with some wise words from their greatest ever player.

Winless in two months, Sampdoria are three points off 15th-placed Cittadella, who travel to the Luigi Ferraris on Saturday.

Semplici’s troubled reign came to an end after a dismal 2-0 defeat at Spezia in the Ligurian derby last Sunday, a meek surrender which was a microcosm of the Tuscan’s spell in charge.

Semplici had demanded his players turned the disappointment of a 3-0 thrashing at home to Frosinone the previous week into anger for their short trip down the Ligurian cost, but Sampdoria barely laid a glove on Spezia.

Evani’s predecessor left Marassi with two wins, nine draws and five defeats to his name in 16 games, a dismal run which may well still condemn Sampdoria to relegation. But while chaos marked the Semplici era, as evidenced by the 34 players he used, the 57-year-old is not solely responsible for Doria’s dismal showing this season.

The buck should stop far higher on the food chain, namely with Matteo Manfredi, whose scattergun ownership saw Sampdoria sign 27 players either permanently or on loan over the past two transfer windows.

Nothing encapsulates the confusion surrounding the club more than Manfredi claiming this week that Mancini had joined on a consultancy basis, only for the former Italy manager to row back just hours later and insist he was simply providing advice to Evani in a personal capacity.

Evani is expected to switch to a four-man defence against Cittadella and M’Baye Niang may still be fit after picking up a knock against Spezia. But the biggest shift from the Semplici era should be in the atmosphere at Marassi.

The arrival of Evani and Lombardo has re-energised an environment that had been far too negative for far too long, with a crowd in the region of 28,000 expected on Saturday afternoon.

Whether that will be enough to inspire Samp to a first win since February 8 remains to be seen. They have scored once in their past three home games and haven’t kept a clean sheet in almost two months, while Cittadella are unbeaten in their last two road trips, beating play-off chasing Juve Stabia and drawing against fourth-placed Cremonese.

But while the Granata travel reasonably well, they have won just two points in their last four games and conceded nine times in the process. There may, after all, just be a glimmer of hope for Samp.

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