Maurizio Brambatti/European Pressphoto AgencyRoma players celebrating at the Stadio Olimpico after last week’s 1-0 victory over Juventus.

MILAN, Italy — Several hundred protesting Roma supporters awaited the manager, Zdenek Zeman, and his players outside Stadio Olimpico in Rome. His time at the helm of the capital club was all but officially over after a devastating defeat against Cagliari.

“We have to make decisions, but the wound is too fresh at the moment,” said the club’s general manager, Franco Baldini, in the immediate aftermath of the game. The faith of a team marred by inconsistency on and off the field was in the balance.

Baldini held an emergency meeting the next morning with members of Roma’s management such as the sporting director, Walter Sabatini, at their Tonucci offices. The team president, James Pallotta, was consulted at length on the issue from the United States, and supporters gathered outside the building eagerly awaiting the verdict. On Feb. 6, Zeman was sacked having been in charge for a little more than seven months after his arrival from Pescara in June 2012.

Despite the majority acknowledging the requirement for a change of scenery on the sideline at Roma, the decision was still greeted with general animosity. Fans held the Czech tactician in high esteem for his unique style and earlier stint at the helm in the late 1990s. The reason behind the aggravated frustration, however, was a sense of disappoin…