Another Era??? Even though its been a bad year for Ascoli, and certain italian teams competing in Europe, many positives are arising. Positives that could possibly put italian football in another era, similar to the late 80's to the mid 90's. In the next few years it is likely that the old guard will be back and firing (scary thought), maybe except for Ascoli . With many of the old clubs starting to reclaim financial stability, and with large big support bases, italian football can once more take the next step. Currently its not like italian football on the park is struggling (except for Spalletti's poor tactics against ManU), and still competing at the highest levels and doing well. Take for instance Inter, played the better football against Valencia, and Milan - semi-finals. The old guard - who are they??? The old guard is made up of teams such as Napoli, Genoa, Bologna, Juventus, etc. These clubs hold some of the biggest supporter bases in italy, especially Napoli (most supported club within an area imo). With all 4 teams financially stable it looks like, they will built for a promising future. With the case of Napoli, many napoletano players, expressing interest in joining the club, players such as Cannavaro, Quagliarella, etc, etc. Genoa and Bologna are big clubs as well, hailing from large cities. Especially Genoa who seem to be fiancially stable once more, and the return to top flight football, would see packed out crowds. Genoa have a massive potential but won't be so effective initially. Juve, simply a world football powerhouse, and will return very soon. The current guard - who are they??? Serie A this current season, has seen awesome progress. Teams struggling before have been producing some fantastic football, under awesome managers. We have seen the return of the Roma, last season, same with Fiorentina. Palermo's have finally shown what they can offer, hailing from a large city, and hopefully next season will have a continuation of the club form (with maybe Budan and Amauri patnering upfront, fixing their forward problems). Lazio have also continued last seasons good form, and turned themselves into a top club once more, with a bunch of great players, going from the back to the front, you cannot see any clear problems. Inter with the taste of the championship, will be like an animal tasting their ememies blood, their gonna want more, and with the players in their team, their gonna get more. Milan the old warhorse of italian football, they will only get stronger especially if they can bring in some young talent. CL they'll always be up there, because they know how the system works The managers??? Its unbelieveable on the managers front, so many top established managers, coupled with some young exciting managers. All producing a brand of exciting attacking football, starting from the strength of the defence to quick pacy wingers and wing backs. All playing a system of defensive midfielders, wingbacks, and bombers. who are they??? Mancini, Lippi, Rossi, Spalletti, Ancelotti, Mazzarri, Giampaolo, Cagni, and Prandelli. All looking to have a bright future in italian football. Other clubs - The other clubs are also really strong, with no easy game anywhere. We'll start in Serie B, the competition is so strong with the amount of loaned talent going around, and with some traditional teams within. These clubs are always with Serie C producing the next italian talent. The clubs in Serie A, the clubs such as Empoli, Reggina, Livorno, Udinese, Cagliari, Sampdoria (can be massive again as well), Atalanta, Torino, etc, etc. We have all seen the strength within these clubs, and these clubs are making the league stronger. These guys make the mid-table, but lately have really impressed with the brand of football they play. They attack the big teams, and often enough pinch the result (always been the case in italy, but now in style). If you watch these teams play, they are fantastic, just look at Empoli, a team with such a low budget, but yet produces great football under Cagni, a budget that English Chapionship side would may even better. Reggina are another great story under Mazzarri with players like Mesto, Modesto, Amorusso, Bianchi, etc. Explosive down the wings. How bout Ascoli last season??? Straight from B to A in two weeks, produced a team, who fought for everything, only losing 3 times at home (fiorentina was at a nuteral venue). Often Ascoli would outplay the opposition, even away from home. This was under Giampaolo. It seems italy the country of the current world champions, are heading into a new era, with the classic big clubs, and with extremely talented managers. Not to mention some of the most technical and tactically gifted players, who've learnt under the system. Its a scary thought thinking in 3-5 years time - Juve, Inter, Milan, Fiorentina, Napoli, Genoa, Sampdoria, Palermo, Roma, and Lazio could be all battling each other for the top spots in Italy. A scary thought, considering no other place can offer such potential. Thats ten clubs fighting for a few european spots. *sorry that i haven't gone into incredible depth, i could of simply talked about each individual club, with how they play currently and were they are heading. I didn't do this because it would of taken forever, so i've just put down a few good points*
yes, one of the things that gives me hope for the near future is that napoli, genoa, and juve are going to be in serie a with their large crowds, and ability to buy/keep good players (but hopefully these clubs can do it responsibly this time, which I think with some uefa rule changes being bandied about, this will be very likely). this will add depth tot eh league beside just the big three (who in a couple of years will be back to the best of europe, with roma, lazio, and fiorentina being right behind them. these have been dark days in calcio, but we are on the upswing, even if it is hard to believe. things were worse in 2003/2003 as many of those clubs were in financial shambles, and you still had the violence and corruption that is nopw outed and seems to be starting to be addressed finally. the last piece of the puzzle was the dilipidated stadiums in some parts, but hopefully that will get addressed to some extent anyway soon. maybe I'm just being an optimist, but the leagues are cyclical, and I think in the next 5-10 years, italy can be right up there at the top again, and this time have a solid base to maintain it. some people want to write off italian soccer, but I would be feeling a lot worse if this was two years ago than I do now. no doubt about that
I think no league in the world can be what the Serie A is. It's the only league left on the G14 scale that can allow supporters to show maximum passion where as commercialised versions of the game have been introduced in the EPL and Primera which, to me, have taken something away from the game and held supporters under water.
A great, positive post. I like your thoughts and hope it pans out like you said. I am excited about having teams like Napoli in Serie A (with that fanbase, that is the only place they should be), and look forward to things stabilizing after the scandals. I really think Italian football will be dominating in the not too distant future.
Great thread aussie_ascoli. You made some good points. Italian soccer has been going through some tough times in the last year or so but there are some promising players coming through the ranks. The controversial moments of recent times has given calcio a chance to rebuild. Juve in Serie B has started to play a few more Italians again and there's no scum like Moggi around and there has been some new confidence in the smaller teams. Some of the lower squads like Reggina, Empoli and Atalanta have had good seasons and even Catania was looking promising. Rosina, Quagliarella, Bianchi and co can be stars of the future. Parma are full of youngsters and they too have been in severe debt but the club's youngsters like Dessena, Paponi, Cigarini and Italo-American Giuseppe Rossi have showed their promise also. In the last five or ten years, there have been clubs that have folded and reformed. Clubs like Torino, Fiorentina and Napoli have improved their finances and hopefully they can achieve more success on the pitch. Fiorentina have been very impressive. Mutu and Toni have formed the deadliest attacking duo in the Serie A and their back-ups, Reginaldo and Pazzini are more than capable of filling their boots. Genoa has been making a few good purchases and if their board avoids paying bribes to anyone, they should be better than a team trying to avoid the relegation zone. Roma has some quality players and that thrashing against Man U was a blemish on what has been a good season by Roma. Totti is one of the in-form players of the world, Panucci is still playing well despite his age and the likes of Perrotta, Taddei and Chivu are usually solid performers. Milan has had one of their weakest squads in the Berlusconi-era this year (1996-97's squad was the weakest) and yet they are in the semi-finals of the CL. Inter has brought several big names and dominated the league but Lazio have had a great season without have the great names of the past. Palermo despite their second-half of the season slump, has bought some fine players and until Amauri picked up an injury, il rosanero looked like CL material. Several changes need to be made though. Corruption has been around in Italy for many years but if anybody is to be punished, the penalties have to be severe. Stadiums need to be updated and crowds need to be controlled. I still want to see banners and flares at the stadiums but flare-throwing must be punished with strict penalties. Can the Serie A be a dominating force again? Let's hope so. At least the potential is there.
dor02, has touch on another great point - The Talent. The young players running around now for example Quagliarella, Montolivo, Bianchi, Modesto, Rosina, etc, etc. What these guys had that no other league posseses is top class development leagues eg. Serie B, C1, C2 even Serie D. The lower leagues such as in England, is looked at just a lower league, where ready made players play for opportunities. Whereas in Italy its all about development. This is such a great advantage of the U23's system over a reserves system, cause once a player reaches an age, or is at a point where top professional experience is needed, they are sent to the italian lower leagues. This is very much a positive cause this means players are forced to be success driven. In a reserve function atmosphere, its about individualism, not so much success. Cause in Italy many young players go to Serie B, C1, and C2 to gain experience, not only that they play infront of demanding crowds, which is success driven, mcuh more important than playing infront of the coaching staff. In Italy loaning players is extremely common, so we get the "next best" playing constantly in important games in lower divisions as part of their developments. The standards of Serie B and C1 is extremely high, and i believe this success is the mix of young and experience, playing in preassure cooker enviroments. Serie A clubs always offload talented players to lower league teams to develop, instead of rotting internally within the club, but they are broadening themselves, under different systems and preasures. Thats why in Italy they never think of "he plays in lower league" "he musn't be good", but rather Inter/Milan/Ascoli wanted a player to develop in a good enviroment against good players. Its probably a main reason to why italians are constantly producing high quality internationals. Thats why i tell these EPL lovers never under-estimate the lower divisions, simply cause we see every year many players step up to the mark coming from Serie B, C1, C2 and even D. They are schooled in a way to play in Serie A in the future if good enough. Many players also play under aspiring managers, who keep standards extremely high. The facts speak for themselves eg. The manager of italy Donadoni, started his managers career in the lower leagues and another example in the player who came on for italy Quagliarella, who also started in the Italian “development” league C2. These are not a few players, but nearly every top Serie A player has played in C1, or C2. Even Roma’s Mancini played in Serie B, straight from Brazil, also look at Milito of Zaragoza top goalscorer for Genoa a few years back in B. You can tell I watch a lot of Serie B and Serie C as well, lol. Actually Serie C is quite fast compared to Serie B. The examples we can go on and on - Modesto - Ascoli (Serie B under giampaolo who was considered as a nothing manager at that time) Barzagli - Ascoli (Serie C1 and B under Pillon another manager who in the future succeded) Montolivo - Atalanta (Serie B) Quagliarella - Florentia Viola, Chieti, Torino, Ascoli (C2, C1, B, A) Taddei - Serie B Mancini - Venezia (Serie B) Milito - Genoa (Serie B) Rosina - Torino (Serie B) Foggia - Crotone/Empoli (Serie B) From an Australian point of view - Bresciano and Grella - Empoli (Serie B) Valeri - Grossetto still owned by inter having great success now (C1) Current Serie B and C players, i'll name a few Evacao - Avellino (Serie C1) Cacia - Piacenza (Serie B) Criscito - Genoa (Serie B) How bout the many players who've even jumped from D, C2, C1 to A??? Obinna, Pesce, Guberti, Pozzi How bout the players who are experienced but never played in A til later in their careers??? Riganò, Corona, Fini, etc, etc. What about the players you went down to find form once more??? Luca Toni, Lucarelli, etc, etc. THIS SHOWS THE STRENGTH OF ITALIAN FOOTBALL, AND HOW THE TALENT IS ALWAYS DEVELOPED INTO THE TOP PLAYERS THEY ARE. So even if players are not born as a Del Piero, where they jump straight into first team, they have a better chance of being that next top player in Italy. If this continues, coupled with the iminent rise of many big clubs, our future is more than secure but scary. The standards of our players are extremely high, imagine when all the big clubs have their standards back at the top.
Explain...what do you mean by maximum passion that is only shown by Serie A supporters...???? Who is allowing what? The police or the stadium's security???
I don't believe there will be a certain degree of parity at the top of competition until the tv rights' money will be distributed more equally. Otherwise, the only club that has the potential to compete year-in year-out with the Big Three is Napoli, but its is a history of mismanagement. The real obstacle to progress/change in italian football is and has always been its populistic character, and I don't see any sign that that mentality is changing
New ownership in Napoli and I believe they will be strong again. Same with Genoa and hopefully Torino if Cairo stays out of the club's way.