He took a risk. He called upon a 24 year old Argentine maverick. He broke the world record transfer fee by paying £6.9 million to Barcelona for the services of a certain Diego Armando Maradona. As 75,000 passionate Neapolitans queued for hours to watch one of the world's greatest players pull on the light blue jersey, Ferlaino knew he had found the catalyst to take Napoli to a new level.
Maradona quickly became a club legend, but the club's progress was slower than expected. Before Diego departed to Mexico to represent his country - where he single handedly won Argentina the world cup (literally) - he drew up a shortlist of players that he believed would give Napoli the final touch, the winning touch.
The following season, the new additions were proving to be money well spent. Maradona went on to score 17 goals in 41 games and helped Napoli to their first 'scudetto' title and for good measure made it a double with an emphatic 4-0 cup win over Atalanta. Napoli and Maradona had made history. Napoli were the first team from the south of Italy to win the league title.
However, Napoli got a bit caught up in the moment. They failed to maintain the high standards reached in the 1986-87 season. The following campaign, plagued with inconsistency, left them in contention for the league title, but their hopes were hanging by a thread. All hopes were dashed after an uncharacteristic end of season slump, rumoured to have been caused by a betting scandal.
A trophyless campaign in 1987-88 was backed up by a UEFA cup win in 1989, before Maradona's stay turned sour. Run in's with the Camorra mafia and apparent cocaine abuse caused a bitter fall out between Ferlaino and his marquee signing. In Carlos Tevez like fashion, Maradona returned home to Argentina and refused to return to Napoli, after being denied a move to Marseille. In 1992, after receiving a 15 month drug ban, Maradona said goodbye to Naples, only after a brief renaissance where Napoli controversially won a second league title after being awarded two points for an incident which saw one of their players being hit with a coin.
Fast forward a decade and Napoli had slipped back into their comfort zone, only this time it resulted in relegation to Serie B. Their big name signings in the 80's began to catch up with them, as they struggled financially. In August 2004, with debts of around £70 million, Napoli filed for bankruptcy. It was the end of an era. Despite having one of the biggest fan bases in Italian football, Napoli were as the Italians say 'finito'.
But not for long. Thanks to the help of a local film producer, Napoli immediately started over. They would have to start at the bottom and work they way up, but at least their fans still had a team to follow. And mainly due to the support from their fans, Napoli gained back-to-back promotions. Before they knew it, Napoli were once again mixing it with the big boys. In a bizarre twist of fate, Napoli had subsequently eradicated their ever problematic comfort zone.
The first few seasons back in Serie A were surprisingly good, with the club finishing eighth and eleventh in consecutive seasons. Napoli then called on the services of former Sampdoria manager Walter Mazzarri who guided them to a sixth place league finish and a return to European football. Napoli were beginning to recapture the glory days of Diego Maradona and co.
Mazzarri showed an ability to find young up and coming players. His unorthodox tactics continued to out smart league rivals, and Napoli finished the 2010-11 season in third place. This resulted in qualification to the Champions League. In just under seven years Napoli had gone from the bottom tier of Italian football to Europe's paramount club competition.
Napoli made a good account of themselves in this years Champions League. After being drawn in the so called 'group of death', many naive fans outside of Italy saw Napoli to be cannon fodder for the big guns. They proved to be anything but, qualifying for the knockout stages, before being narrowly knocked out by a rejuvenated Chelsea. Napoli had, however, by no means disgraced themselves in the spotlight.
As far as the current league campaign goes, Napoli are making a late push for another top three finish. With a team containing mainly Italians and South Americans, Napoli play an exciting style of counter attacking football. A somewhat unconvincing defence, is neutralised by a dynamic strike force, lead by the much sought after Edinson Cavani.
So, two decades after Diego Maradona left Napoli in typical Maradona fashion, Napoli have seen it all. Bankruptcy, promotion, European football and title contention have all been written into Naopli's roller coaster history since they parted company with the Argentine. There is no doubt that the Maradona effect transformed Napoli - for better or worse is for you to decide. One thing is for sure, today's Napoli are creating a new comfort zone, but this time it's a comfort zone that sees them challenging for titles.
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