Pescara president Daniele Sebastiani has backtracked on his announcement that he will leave the club at the end of the season by saying he will not surrender to the hooligans who burned two of his family's cars earlier this week.
Two of the 48-year-old's cars were set alight on his driveway in the early hours of Tuesday morning following Pescara's 6-2 defeat to Lazio.
Sebastiani's immediate reaction was to declare he will sell the club in the summer, although he has now taken a step back by saying that while he still may leave, he is not going to let the behaviour of a minority force him out.
"I'm not bothered about the cars -- I can buy some more -- but what is worse is the damage this does to the city," Sebastiani told Il Corriere della Sera. "They have tainted the image of this city and thrown away all the good work done in the past five years.
"I am willing to sell the club and leave at the end of the year, if somebody serious comes forward, but I am not going to let Pescara be extorted from me by delinquents and by intimidation. I am not afraid."
Pescara have yet to win a game this season -- although they did gain a 3-0 victory over Sassuolo earlier on in the campaign by default as their opponents fielded an ineligible player -- and they are propping up Serie A with just nine points from 23 games.
Sebastiani is nevertheless standing by coach Massimo Oddo and refuses to cave in to pressure to relieve him of his duties.
"If I had laid a hand on Oddo six months ago, we wouldn't be talking about having two cars set alight, but of having 30 bombs planted in my home," Sebastiani said. "He was the idol of the whole of Pescara.
"Today, Oddo has become an imbecile in everybody's eyes, but not for me. He's still a good coach as far as I'm concerned. Yes, I'm an oddball in this world of football because I'm keeping hold of the coach since the team are behind him, but I know we are limited in terms of the resources we have here, on and off the field."
Sebastiani's faith in Oddo would be unwavering even in the event of relegation.
"If he wants to stay, we would start out again with him [in Serie B], I don't have any doubts about that," Sebastiani said. "But in light of the current situation, I really do not know what is going to happen and whether I will be here still or not.
"I've led Pescara from Serie B into Serie A twice and taken them into a playoff final too, but everybody has a short-term memory in football."
Sebastiani's daughter, Michela, condemned the actions of those who set her family's cars on fire in a Facebook message published by La Gazzetta dello Sport.
"I'm disappointed, disgusted and angered ... I cannot forgive something like this...my father is not just the president of Pescara, but he is first and foremost a person who has a family and he is certainly not a delinquent," she wrote. "You are a horde of imbeciles who, not knowing what to do with your lives, just want to ruin the lives of others!!"