Back in the early 90s we had an Italian neighbour who either thought I was a good kid or he was trying to groom me (maybe both?) and got me a Sampdoria shirt with the ERG logo on it. So I’ve always had them as my Italian side I barrack for. This was when they had Pagliuca, Vialli, Mancini, Lombardo, Wierchewod and Katenec amongst others. Iconic and I was legit gutted when they lost the European cup final. Still to this day feels surreal that Samp ever made it that far but their squad was truly world class.
comment by Robb - Marry me Alissa White-Gluz (U22716)
posted 1 minute ago
Back in the early 90s we had an Italian neighbour who either thought I was a good kid or he was trying to groom me (maybe both?) and got me a Sampdoria shirt with the ERG logo on it. So I’ve always had them as my Italian side I barrack for. This was when they had Pagliuca, Vialli, Mancini, Lombardo, Wierchewod and Katenec amongst others. Iconic and I was legit gutted when they lost the European cup final. Still to this day feels surreal that Samp ever made it that far but their squad was truly world class.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
As a teenager when Serie A became the first 'export' football product coming to the UK (looking back on it, that was our first experience of the nascent globalisation of the sport), I didn't appreciate the fact that the money washing around Italian football was quite novel, and that some relatively small sides were punching above their traditional weight. Just about every team seemed to have one or two world class players.
Later on we saw European dominance on the part of La Liga, but I don't think the 00s Spanish league (without forgetting Valencia, Deportivo and Atletico) quite matched the depth of talent that we saw in 90s Serie A.
AC Milan for me too, just because I like Milan. Took the grandsons there a few years ago, it had smart motorbikes as decoration. Gilera, Moto Guzzi, Ducati etc.
Great article RR, and educational for me I don't watch Italian football so know nothing about the teams or players. I've always thought Italian football to be dull, but not anymore it seems. I must try and catch some.
comment by manusince52 (U9692)
posted 1 second ago
AC Milan for me too, just because I like Milan. Took the grandsons there a few years ago, it had smart motorbikes as decoration. Gilera, Moto Guzzi, Ducati etc.
Great article RR, and educational for me I don't watch Italian football so know nothing about the teams or players. I've always thought Italian football to be dull, but not anymore it seems. I must try and catch some.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Smart hotel
My favourite team in Italy has always been AC MIlan. As a kid in the mid 1990s I fell in love with the side during the George Weah era watching them on the Champions League.
What a team that was!
And yes , that red and black shirt is as iconic as as any in world football. There's just something about the AC MIlan mystique.
comment by manusince52 (U9692)
posted 7 minutes ago
I've always thought Italian football to be dull, but not anymore it seems. I must try and catch some.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I think Serie A has become more tactically diverse overall while also featuring a lot of teams that play enterprising, attacking football.
I've only visited Milan once, and really liked the place. Some beautiful areas and the buzz of a big city with plenty going on. Everywhere I've visited in Italy has been great, but in general I find the further south I go, the more I like it. In Milan I felt like I was in a central European city. It could have been Munich or Vienna, only with better dressed men. By contrast, in Palermo (my favourite Italian city I've visited so far) there's no doubt you're in southern Europe, and its electricity has a higher voltage.
I know what you mean about Milan, Turin also. But Bologna, Ferrara are a little different, Florence also, and of course Venice. I must have been lucky in Naples, never scared, great food, good small hotel with a great owner. This was in the 70s,so I just asked if they had a room,. Amalfi coast is lovely.
A little story, I was going North from Rome, along the coast towing a caravan.
Arriving at a small town the road gor very narrow. Comi the other way was a German in a Merci. He didn't want to back up, I couldn't. An Italian chap took charge, persuaded the other car to back up, beckened me to follow, then to stop. He gestured for us to follow him, we went down some stairs and into a room where the family were just starting lunch. Two extra chairs were found so we ate with the family, about ten! It was great, good food, laughs and a well used phrase book he wouldn't take any money but I pushed some in his wife's apron pocket. I love Italy.
Used to love trying to catch clips of Recoba and Ronaldo when C4 would have the Serie A highlights on a Sunday morning.
And I always liked tuning in for a Juventus CL game when you could get to watch Nedved, Camoranesi, Davids, Thuram etc...
On Osimhen... I've only seen bits and pieces, but if we were able to get him, I'd be a happy bunny. Kvaratskhelia is one of my favourite players around at the moment. If it wasn't for the fact that we have Rashford & Garnacho on the left already, he'd be one I'd love us to sign. But alas, Mohammed Kudus it is...
I remember years ago that there was a bunch of sports writers in the South London area who formed a football team and called themselves A3 Milan. For those who don't know the A3 links London and Portsmouth.
It always amused me (not hard to do). Do they still exist?
Just don't actually go to Naples or you will be stabbed many times. It was dodgy enough just going through on a bus. Climbed Mt Vesuvius though which is nice. Also Pompeii is great to visit.
Great anecdote, 52.
"a German in a Merci" I'm guessing this is French autocorrect
comment by Patrizio Billio (U1734)
posted 1 minute ago
Just don't actually go to Naples or you will be stabbed many times. It was dodgy enough just going through on a bus. Climbed Mt Vesuvius though which is nice. Also Pompeii is great to visit.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
So the locals can get a bit stabby? It's just how they express themselves. It's not considered offensive in their culture.
comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 11 minutes ago
Great anecdote, 52.
"a German in a Merci" I'm guessing this is French autocorrect
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ah yes I never noticed. My keyboard and autocorrect are English and French
I’ve always had an affection for Italian football, and had a soft spot for Milan, but it’s often liking players or a team with a good style of football. I really like Spalletti’s Roma, so I’m glad he’s finally going to win the Scudetto, as him and Napoli have been the nearly men of football for a long time. Just a shame Roma have been lumbered with the Special Once.
I’ve always had an affection for Italian football
----------
That's not a sentence you see very often
comment by Clockwork Red: With or Wout You (U4892)
posted 9 minutes ago
I’ve always had an affection for Italian football
----------
That's not a sentence you see very often
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It is for anyone that watched it on Channel 4 in the 90’s.
comment by Lisandro The King Martinez (U10026)
posted 19 minutes ago
I’ve always had an affection for Italian football, and had a soft spot for Milan, but it’s often liking players or a team with a good style of football. I really like Spalletti’s Roma, so I’m glad he’s finally going to win the Scudetto, as him and Napoli have been the nearly men of football for a long time. Just a shame Roma have been lumbered with the Special Once.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Roma as a club seems to be about the right fit for Mourinho. Roma have the resources to back him enough for him to improve them (relative to recent underperformance). At the same time the club's ceiling is low enough that his limitations aren't badly exposed. A credible push for CL places is within his grasp, and would probably keep the club happy. A title challenge isn't realistic, but the fans wouldn't demand it under any manager.
Generally, Mourinho seems a bit happier in Italy, and Italian football is more inclined to respect a pragmatic, attritional manager. I find his Roma side more watchable than his Spurs or United.
comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by Lisandro The King Martinez (U10026)
posted 19 minutes ago
I’ve always had an affection for Italian football, and had a soft spot for Milan, but it’s often liking players or a team with a good style of football. I really like Spalletti’s Roma, so I’m glad he’s finally going to win the Scudetto, as him and Napoli have been the nearly men of football for a long time. Just a shame Roma have been lumbered with the Special Once.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Roma as a club seems to be about the right fit for Mourinho. Roma have the resources to back him enough for him to improve them (relative to recent underperformance). At the same time the club's ceiling is low enough that his limitations aren't badly exposed. A credible push for CL places is within his grasp, and would probably keep the club happy. A title challenge isn't realistic, but the fans wouldn't demand it under any manager.
Generally, Mourinho seems a bit happier in Italy, and Italian football is more inclined to respect a pragmatic, attritional manager. I find his Roma side more watchable than his Spurs or United.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Funny that Nazio finish above them, though.
As for Spalletti's Roma, I also remember them with affection. Especially through the lens of the memorable ties we had with them in 2006-7 and 2007-8. Fergie was supposedly influenced by his use of Totti as a false nine in crafting the fluidly ambiguous attacking formation of the side that won his second CL.
Funny that Nazio finish above them, though.
-----------------------------------------
I wonder if Wahl has noticed the bat signal yet
comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 1 minute ago
Funny that Nazio finish above them, though.
-----------------------------------------
I wonder if Wahl has noticed the bat signal yet
----------------------------------------------------------------------
He died in Qatar.
comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 1 hour, 2 minutes ago
comment by Patrizio Billio (U1734)
posted 1 minute ago
Just don't actually go to Naples or you will be stabbed many times. It was dodgy enough just going through on a bus. Climbed Mt Vesuvius though which is nice. Also Pompeii is great to visit.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
So the locals can get a bit stabby? It's just how they express themselves. It's not considered offensive in their culture.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I no u guys r joking butt it is so unfare 2 Naples have this reputation based on a phew! yrs in the 80s
Best city in the wurld
Sorry 4zA, can't understand a world of what you're saying
comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 13 minutes ago
Sorry 4zA, can't understand a world of what you're saying
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sign in if you want to comment
Serie A - Napoli - Osimhen
Page 2 of 3
posted on 30/1/23
Back in the early 90s we had an Italian neighbour who either thought I was a good kid or he was trying to groom me (maybe both?) and got me a Sampdoria shirt with the ERG logo on it. So I’ve always had them as my Italian side I barrack for. This was when they had Pagliuca, Vialli, Mancini, Lombardo, Wierchewod and Katenec amongst others. Iconic and I was legit gutted when they lost the European cup final. Still to this day feels surreal that Samp ever made it that far but their squad was truly world class.
posted on 30/1/23
comment by Robb - Marry me Alissa White-Gluz (U22716)
posted 1 minute ago
Back in the early 90s we had an Italian neighbour who either thought I was a good kid or he was trying to groom me (maybe both?) and got me a Sampdoria shirt with the ERG logo on it. So I’ve always had them as my Italian side I barrack for. This was when they had Pagliuca, Vialli, Mancini, Lombardo, Wierchewod and Katenec amongst others. Iconic and I was legit gutted when they lost the European cup final. Still to this day feels surreal that Samp ever made it that far but their squad was truly world class.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
As a teenager when Serie A became the first 'export' football product coming to the UK (looking back on it, that was our first experience of the nascent globalisation of the sport), I didn't appreciate the fact that the money washing around Italian football was quite novel, and that some relatively small sides were punching above their traditional weight. Just about every team seemed to have one or two world class players.
Later on we saw European dominance on the part of La Liga, but I don't think the 00s Spanish league (without forgetting Valencia, Deportivo and Atletico) quite matched the depth of talent that we saw in 90s Serie A.
posted on 30/1/23
AC Milan for me too, just because I like Milan. Took the grandsons there a few years ago, it had smart motorbikes as decoration. Gilera, Moto Guzzi, Ducati etc.
Great article RR, and educational for me I don't watch Italian football so know nothing about the teams or players. I've always thought Italian football to be dull, but not anymore it seems. I must try and catch some.
posted on 30/1/23
comment by manusince52 (U9692)
posted 1 second ago
AC Milan for me too, just because I like Milan. Took the grandsons there a few years ago, it had smart motorbikes as decoration. Gilera, Moto Guzzi, Ducati etc.
Great article RR, and educational for me I don't watch Italian football so know nothing about the teams or players. I've always thought Italian football to be dull, but not anymore it seems. I must try and catch some.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Smart hotel
posted on 30/1/23
My favourite team in Italy has always been AC MIlan. As a kid in the mid 1990s I fell in love with the side during the George Weah era watching them on the Champions League.
What a team that was!
And yes , that red and black shirt is as iconic as as any in world football. There's just something about the AC MIlan mystique.
posted on 30/1/23
comment by manusince52 (U9692)
posted 7 minutes ago
I've always thought Italian football to be dull, but not anymore it seems. I must try and catch some.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I think Serie A has become more tactically diverse overall while also featuring a lot of teams that play enterprising, attacking football.
I've only visited Milan once, and really liked the place. Some beautiful areas and the buzz of a big city with plenty going on. Everywhere I've visited in Italy has been great, but in general I find the further south I go, the more I like it. In Milan I felt like I was in a central European city. It could have been Munich or Vienna, only with better dressed men. By contrast, in Palermo (my favourite Italian city I've visited so far) there's no doubt you're in southern Europe, and its electricity has a higher voltage.
posted on 30/1/23
I know what you mean about Milan, Turin also. But Bologna, Ferrara are a little different, Florence also, and of course Venice. I must have been lucky in Naples, never scared, great food, good small hotel with a great owner. This was in the 70s,so I just asked if they had a room,. Amalfi coast is lovely.
A little story, I was going North from Rome, along the coast towing a caravan.
Arriving at a small town the road gor very narrow. Comi the other way was a German in a Merci. He didn't want to back up, I couldn't. An Italian chap took charge, persuaded the other car to back up, beckened me to follow, then to stop. He gestured for us to follow him, we went down some stairs and into a room where the family were just starting lunch. Two extra chairs were found so we ate with the family, about ten! It was great, good food, laughs and a well used phrase book he wouldn't take any money but I pushed some in his wife's apron pocket. I love Italy.
posted on 30/1/23
Used to love trying to catch clips of Recoba and Ronaldo when C4 would have the Serie A highlights on a Sunday morning.
And I always liked tuning in for a Juventus CL game when you could get to watch Nedved, Camoranesi, Davids, Thuram etc...
On Osimhen... I've only seen bits and pieces, but if we were able to get him, I'd be a happy bunny. Kvaratskhelia is one of my favourite players around at the moment. If it wasn't for the fact that we have Rashford & Garnacho on the left already, he'd be one I'd love us to sign. But alas, Mohammed Kudus it is...
posted on 30/1/23
I remember years ago that there was a bunch of sports writers in the South London area who formed a football team and called themselves A3 Milan. For those who don't know the A3 links London and Portsmouth.
It always amused me (not hard to do). Do they still exist?
posted on 30/1/23
Just don't actually go to Naples or you will be stabbed many times. It was dodgy enough just going through on a bus. Climbed Mt Vesuvius though which is nice. Also Pompeii is great to visit.
posted on 30/1/23
Great anecdote, 52.
"a German in a Merci" I'm guessing this is French autocorrect
posted on 30/1/23
comment by Patrizio Billio (U1734)
posted 1 minute ago
Just don't actually go to Naples or you will be stabbed many times. It was dodgy enough just going through on a bus. Climbed Mt Vesuvius though which is nice. Also Pompeii is great to visit.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
So the locals can get a bit stabby? It's just how they express themselves. It's not considered offensive in their culture.
posted on 30/1/23
comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 11 minutes ago
Great anecdote, 52.
"a German in a Merci" I'm guessing this is French autocorrect
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ah yes I never noticed. My keyboard and autocorrect are English and French
posted on 30/1/23
I’ve always had an affection for Italian football, and had a soft spot for Milan, but it’s often liking players or a team with a good style of football. I really like Spalletti’s Roma, so I’m glad he’s finally going to win the Scudetto, as him and Napoli have been the nearly men of football for a long time. Just a shame Roma have been lumbered with the Special Once.
posted on 30/1/23
I’ve always had an affection for Italian football
----------
That's not a sentence you see very often
posted on 30/1/23
comment by Clockwork Red: With or Wout You (U4892)
posted 9 minutes ago
I’ve always had an affection for Italian football
----------
That's not a sentence you see very often
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It is for anyone that watched it on Channel 4 in the 90’s.
posted on 30/1/23
comment by Lisandro The King Martinez (U10026)
posted 19 minutes ago
I’ve always had an affection for Italian football, and had a soft spot for Milan, but it’s often liking players or a team with a good style of football. I really like Spalletti’s Roma, so I’m glad he’s finally going to win the Scudetto, as him and Napoli have been the nearly men of football for a long time. Just a shame Roma have been lumbered with the Special Once.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Roma as a club seems to be about the right fit for Mourinho. Roma have the resources to back him enough for him to improve them (relative to recent underperformance). At the same time the club's ceiling is low enough that his limitations aren't badly exposed. A credible push for CL places is within his grasp, and would probably keep the club happy. A title challenge isn't realistic, but the fans wouldn't demand it under any manager.
Generally, Mourinho seems a bit happier in Italy, and Italian football is more inclined to respect a pragmatic, attritional manager. I find his Roma side more watchable than his Spurs or United.
posted on 30/1/23
comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 1 minute ago
comment by Lisandro The King Martinez (U10026)
posted 19 minutes ago
I’ve always had an affection for Italian football, and had a soft spot for Milan, but it’s often liking players or a team with a good style of football. I really like Spalletti’s Roma, so I’m glad he’s finally going to win the Scudetto, as him and Napoli have been the nearly men of football for a long time. Just a shame Roma have been lumbered with the Special Once.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Roma as a club seems to be about the right fit for Mourinho. Roma have the resources to back him enough for him to improve them (relative to recent underperformance). At the same time the club's ceiling is low enough that his limitations aren't badly exposed. A credible push for CL places is within his grasp, and would probably keep the club happy. A title challenge isn't realistic, but the fans wouldn't demand it under any manager.
Generally, Mourinho seems a bit happier in Italy, and Italian football is more inclined to respect a pragmatic, attritional manager. I find his Roma side more watchable than his Spurs or United.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Funny that Nazio finish above them, though.
posted on 30/1/23
As for Spalletti's Roma, I also remember them with affection. Especially through the lens of the memorable ties we had with them in 2006-7 and 2007-8. Fergie was supposedly influenced by his use of Totti as a false nine in crafting the fluidly ambiguous attacking formation of the side that won his second CL.
posted on 30/1/23
Funny that Nazio finish above them, though.
-----------------------------------------
I wonder if Wahl has noticed the bat signal yet
posted on 30/1/23
Totti
posted on 30/1/23
comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 1 minute ago
Funny that Nazio finish above them, though.
-----------------------------------------
I wonder if Wahl has noticed the bat signal yet
----------------------------------------------------------------------
He died in Qatar.
posted on 30/1/23
comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 1 hour, 2 minutes ago
comment by Patrizio Billio (U1734)
posted 1 minute ago
Just don't actually go to Naples or you will be stabbed many times. It was dodgy enough just going through on a bus. Climbed Mt Vesuvius though which is nice. Also Pompeii is great to visit.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
So the locals can get a bit stabby? It's just how they express themselves. It's not considered offensive in their culture.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I no u guys r joking butt it is so unfare 2 Naples have this reputation based on a phew! yrs in the 80s
Best city in the wurld
posted on 30/1/23
Sorry 4zA, can't understand a world of what you're saying
posted on 30/1/23
comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 13 minutes ago
Sorry 4zA, can't understand a world of what you're saying
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 2 of 3