Ahead of Sampdoria’s day of reckoning against Juve Stabia, Alberico Evani urged his players to use the fear of relegation to Serie C to their advantage.

“I believe that fear must exist,” he told reporters. “Only the unconscious are not afraid. The important thing is to direct it in the right way.

“There are those fears that block you, then there are those fears that put you in a position to be afraid of the opponent but put you in a position to overcome it.”

This was very on brand for Evani. But, it was to no avail as a goalless draw put the final nail in their coffin, an 18th-place finish sending them down.

The 62-year-old was brought in last month along with fellow club legend Attilio Lombardo after Leonardo Semplici’s disastrous reign ended with a meek defeat away against Spezia.

Evani’s managerial experience was limited to AC Milan’s youth teams and Italy’s Under-18 and U19 side, making him a calculated gamble and a desperate roll of the dice by a club drifting towards the abyss.

And why not? Having churned through three managers this season, Samp may as well try a “vibes man”.

Since their appointment, the success of Evani and Lombardo’s rescue mission has always seemed to be predicated on a shift in approach, rather than a tactical revolution.

Could they get the players to tap into the emotional resevoir of Sampdoria’s history and success to escape the trap door?

And for a while, the Blucerchiati rolled with the vibes. They beat relegation rivals Cittadella on Evani’s first game in charge at a raucous Marassi and won again on Friday, overcoming Salernitana to give themselves a chance of staying up.

But it was a chance they failed to seize, their stalemate at Juve Stabia on Tuesday condemning them to relegation to Serie C for the first time in history, along with Cosenza and Cittadella. Frosinone and Salernitana will contest the relegation play-out while Brescia have Matthias Verreth’s 81st-minute winner against Reggiana to thank for securing Serie B status for another season.

In a campaign of feeble performances, this followed the usual script for Sampdoria, again going through the motions, resigned to the inevitable and waiting to be put out of their misery.

And now, at last, there is no more fear, just acceptance. Dwindling hope has been replaced by the cold, hard reality that a club that won the Scudetto 34 years ago and lost to Barcelona in the European Cup final the following campaign will be marooned in calcio’s third tier next season.

Up until August, Sampdoria had spent just five seasons in Serie B in over four decades. Now, the abyss beckons. From a footballing standpoint for now, potentially from a financial perspective in the future.

It is hard to reconcile the club that was once of Roberto Mancini and the late Sven-Goran Eriksson with the 2025 iteration. Bar the iconic kit, there are no discernible similarities. 

Evani may have been in charge when Sampdoria’s fate was sealed but this, plainly, was not a mess of his making. Chaos has permeated every aspect of the club this season. 

Described as “a key part of the project” by owner Matteo Manfredi, Andrea Pirlo was sacked three matches into the season, just two months after taking Sampdoria to the play-offs.

The decision to part ways with the former AC Milan and Juventus midfielder increasingly feels like an ominous sliding doors moment. 

Andrea Sottil replaced Pirlo and oversaw a win against Genoa in the Derby della Lanterna in the Coppa Italia, the high watermark in an otherwise historically disastrous season.

Sottil was jettisoned after just four wins in 14 games and replaced by Semplici, whose tenure was bookended by fixtures against Spezia.

The draw at Marassi in December suggested Sampdoria may have found the kind of defensive solidity that remained frustratingly elusive throughout Semplici’s tenure.

The defeat at the Armando Picco in April, meanwhile, left them teetering on the brink and spelt the end for the Tuscan, who left with just two wins in 16.

Against this backdrop, Manfredi’s role in the sorry demise cannot be overstated. 

The London-based financier took over along with former Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani – who has since divested his shares – in 2023 as Samp stared down the barrel of bankruptcy.

Manfredi’s Gestio Capital company and their investors control 99.96% of the club and invested £45m last season in a bid to bring it back to Serie A at the first time of asking.

A further £5m went on transfers in the summer, the third-highest amount spent by a Serie B team behind Pisa and Sassuolo, who both clinched promotion.

The arrivals included two of the division’s best strikers in Massimo Coda and Gennaro Tutino, along with Barcelona starlet Estanis Pedrola.

A battery of loan signings, meanwhile, were meant to add experience and depth to Pirlo’s squad. 

But it all spectacularly backfired. 

Coda claimed eight goals in 32 appearances this season and became the division’s all-time top scorer equalling Stefan Schwoch’s record, but Tutino managed just five before an ankle injury in January curtailed his season.

Pedrola, meanwhile, made just nine appearances before being loaned out to Bologna in January, when Sampdoria embarked on another squad overhaul.

In came former AC Milan striker M’Baye Niang on a free, while Giuseppe Sibilli, Pietro Beruatto, Remi Oudin, Giorgio Altare, Marco Curto and Alessio Cragno all joined on loan.

Niang hit the ground running with three goals in his first eight starts, but his last goal came on March 16. His miss nine minutes from time on Tuesday night could go down as another great sliding doors moment in the club’s history.

Scoring has been a huge problem for Samp. Only Frosinone and Salernitana, both with 37, and Cosenza and Cittadella with 32 and 30 respectively, have scored fewer.

And it is no coincidence three of them will join Sampdoria in Serie C next season.

Consistency has been equally elusive, with Doria managing two consecutive wins just twice this season while their longest unbeaten run was four draws.

So, what now? In the immediate future, another squad overhaul beckons with a new manager tasked to pick up the pieces in the summer.

As Padova and Avellino can attest, the road out of Serie C is tortuous and paved with obstacles. Vicenza, Foggia, Pescara, Perugia and Ascoli, meanwhile, are a timely reminder that pedigree alone does not guarantee a pass back to Serie B.

Thirty-one years ago, Sampdoria lifted the Coppa Italia, their seventh major trophy in a decade and hitherto the last.

But that glorious past is a memory that risks fading away as Samp head for a grim and uncertain future.