Gullit’s final push has equaled Maradona at 12 top 10 finishes. However, the error of GS will give the prize to Gullit. More on that later. Milan has clinched the title and controversy started to cement itself in Naples about how could Napoli and Maradona let the scudetto escape from their pawns. The final ratings of GS coming up soon.
There are some elephants in the room here: 1) The crackdown against organized crime and the investigations in the 1990s had as a direct result Napoli was literally starved from money and thus they relegated. There is a connection between both events. Furthermore, the sporting directors Allodi and Moggi are arguably the most notorious of all. It's not entirely right nothing was proven, just not those specific events. 2) Milan 1987-88 had the advantage in the table anyway after their away win. They didn't need to win their last two matches, but the edge was already there. Gullit was strangely red carded as well in the middle of the season (9th minute) and Milan dropped points and goals in those two games he missed (in general Milan conceded many more goals when he wasn't playing between 1987 to 1990 - this is just factually the case). edit: I assume red cards result in vastly diminished grades too 3) The difficulty with 'tanking games' is of course that it is often not visible on video. Successive referee calls can be a different matter in that respect, like this Verona '90 game in the end where about ~5 inexplicable referee decisions happened (not just one or two strange decisions, but a handful big calls and red cards). 4) The article has a point that in theory the team shouldn't perform as bad, even without the main stars. Napoli was table leader at the start of 1989-90 as well, after the first six games, without their two main stars. It is not impossible but then again, Milan had the advantage for the last two rounds anyway (in the end they didn't need to win those). It's a pity you'll not post the end of the season Gazzetta ratings. Maybe @Krokko has them.
I only have the top positions: 6,70 Júnior (Pescara) 6,63 F. Baresi (Milan) 6,60 Mancini (Sampdoria) 6,57 Maradona (Napoli) 6,55 Cravero (Torino) 6,54 Maldini (Milan) 6,53 Giannini (Roma) 6,51 Brio (Juventus) 6,50 Comi (Torino) 6,44 Tacconi (Juventus)
How can that be so different from the other Gazzetta overview? (also shown on your website) http://www.calciomio.fr/archive/tot...-notes-de-la-gazzetta-dello-sport_217342.html
At this stage Gullit is on 6.68. For the 3 games after that, GS gave him 7.5 (vs Napoli), 7.5, 7. It'd be strange if Gazzetta ended up with him lower than 6.68 I guess?
Ah, that explains it re: the Gullit thing! I nearly checked what had been posted before submitting my (unnecessary now) reply too!
Mate, I don’t have the May or June Gazzetta newspapers. My information stopped April 30 and only continues from October 1988 onwards.
The final GS top 10 finishes list (note; GS made an error and both Maradona and Gullit had 12 top finishes but Maradona was removed one point by error). Ian Rush is at the bottom of the list as top worse finishes
Mancini was the Guerin d'Oro winner of course too (based on the average of a few select publications): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerin_d'Oro Based on DBS Calcio sources though, Gullit was top (also for 1993/94 with an even higher average though, and I think La Stampa rated him particularly well for that season - think I noticed it on Football-Ratings Blogspot before), so in essence much higher than they rated him for 1987/88, which was more the peak of his fame and recognition!: https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/best-football-players-of-all-time.2011432/page-27#post-35279296
I do remember Vialli being seen as a star in Italy at that time by the way, like Vegan alluded to earlier, even if I guess I didn't see a lot of him in action. I think, at 10 years old, I decided Italy were my tip to win Euro 88, and I seem to recall having Vialli down as top scorer or best player or something like that in my guess/prediction (which like I say wasn't really based on much, even if potentially I'd seen more than I remember in terms of highlights etc - I think I made this prediction about the same time as the Hungary vs England friendly in April 1988).
Last time I checked up till round 27 (the last Gazzetta newspaper I own of that season) the top ranked were like this:
At this point in the 1980s decade, the GS foreigner winners look like this: 1980-81 Krol 1981-82 Krol 1982-83 Falcao 1983-84 Platini 1984-85 Maradona 1985-86 Boniek 1986-87 Maradona 1987-88 Maradona
This must have been till round 29 because Junior dropped slightly under Maradona in the final rankings.
The problem of suspicion also stems from Napoli conceding 12 goals in the last 5 rounds when they had only conceded 15 in the previous 25 rounds. Then Maradona missed the last 2 rounds and it’s evident by the grades that only he was performing well on a consistent bases when others were failing. This wasn’t the case for the first 20 rounds or so. Something just doesn’t seem right in this season. You have the team in the lead until the last 3 rounds, virtually coasting to victory, with Maradona basically in top form week after week, and suddenly they start conceding 2-3 goals per match. The accusations of Maradona partying after the scudetto was lost with mafia men at their den also strengthens the speculation that the championship was purposely lost. Obviously it shouldn’t be surprising though considering the nature of Italian football and its history of corruption.
Final conclusions of the 1987-88 season. Gullit had a powerful first half of the season, only to tail off between the rounds of 16-26 but made a strong impact in the last 4 rounds to clinch the title. He was generally ranked in the top 5 throughout many sources by the end of the season. Maradona retained his crown as the best player in the views of the experts and was generally ranked in the top 5 throughout various sources. An outstanding steady campaign was marred by the lack of winning the championship. Franco Baresi really had an outstanding campaign and arguably his best as a professional. Ditto with Maldini. Goalkeeper Tacconi was generally viewed as the top keeper of the season but Drago also competed as best or joint-best. Mancini was top dog of GS and had an outstanding season. Junior and Giannini left strong impressions. Hyped up Italian ‘poster boy’ Vialli also performed to the expected standards. Dunga and Casagrande also performed well while Careca had strong moments followed by mute performances. On the downside, Roberto Baggio received mixed reviews. Ian Rush was the biggest disappointment and he would not return to Juventus. Many of the other famous foreigners did not receive final favorable reviews and ratings, including Scifo (he would be released and not return to the club) and Voller, the new signings to Italian football. It was the end to several foreigners like Passsarella, Elkjær and Briegel. Next up the 1988-89 season.
Average marks 1980-88 (at least 4 seasons): 6,69 Maradona (4) 6,68 Falcão (5) 6,54 Júnior (4) 6,53 Platini (5) 6,46 Krol (4) 6,43 Barbadillo (4) 6,41 Passarella (6) 6,40 Toninho Cerezo (5) 6,38 Brady (7), Dirceu (5) 6,32 Francis (5) 6,30 Boniek (6), Edinho (5), Briegel (4) 6,26 Elkjaer (4) 6,23 Berggreen (5) 6,20 R. Díaz (6) 6,15 Bertoni (7) 6,02 M. Laudrup (5) 6,00 Schachner (7) 5,95 Corneliusson (4) 5,94 Juary (4)
Look at who Napoli played the last few rounds... Not the easiest opposition. Not impossible to concede goals against those, with Ferrara returning hastily from an injury (I think). In six of their last seven rounds they played top six opponents. Similar to the Milan situation, with a tough schedule too at the end. The opponent Verona also perhaps better than their 10th place finish would suggest since Verona lost their last three matches of the season. Milan and their stars did better against the top teams (had that too in the last rounds), including both head-to-head matches with Napoli itself. Consequently, Gazzetta (the most reputable perhaps) and DBScalcio show Milan players on top.