Genoa Nervy

The current Serie A campaign has been anything but kind to the clubs of Liguria. For the first time in nearly a century, the most north westerly coastal region of Italy is providing three clubs to the top flight, for a second season on the trot too. Only Lombardy can equal the trio of representatives, although they can boast three of the top four places, whereas Liguria has three of the bottom six. 

Spezia are suffering that tricky second season syndrome, not aided by the loss of Vincenzo Italiano, the boss who successfully guided the club to its first proper Serie A campaign last term. His credentials are continuing to grow as he presently guides Fiorentina into a stronger position than they have been for years. The angst just got a whole lot worse in the regional capital with the Sampdoria Chairman, Massimo Ferrero arrested in December by the Guardia di Finanza (finance police), meaning the likelihood of new investment becoming a struggle in the short term at least, players might need to leave, which can only worsen their situation. 

Our feature club is the third Ligurian club in Serie A, the one who carry the name of the biggest city of the region, Genoa, or Genoa Cricket and Football Club, hence the unusual CFC you will see attached to the club name when shortened. As the name suggests it was a club started by the British, initially more for athletics and cricket. At the outset Italians were not permitted to join as it was deemed a British Sports Club abroad, but by 1897 under the guidance of James Richardson Spensley (if the Spensley part was missing it would be an amusing coincidence with the great Italian presenter of the modern era!), football became the dominant sport, and Italians were given access to play. Incidentally, the pride in the origins of the original club has seen a cricket wing reformed in 2007, and they play in the top flight of Italian cricket.  

Genoa CFC are the oldest club in Italy still playing, and were the inaugural Champions of the Italian league back in 1898, three years after the club was formed. I Rossoblu (the red and blues) have nine Italian Championships, but the most recent one was in 1923/24 just as the likes of Pro Vercelli were getting in on the act. Prior to 1929/30, the clubs played regional league campaigns followed by a mini cup competition between the various winners to decide the overall title. As the powerhouse regions of Lombardy and Piemonte started getting stronger, these leagues back in the day could still only provide one club each for the end of the season finals. Genoa also have one Coppa Italia trophy win too, the clubs most recent domestic trophy as far back as 1936/37, but added a 1995/96 Anglo Italian success at Wembley versus Port Vale, which was the last Cup the club won.

However, no matter how long ago the Scudetto was in Genoa’s possession, these are gongs no one can take away and while the club might have a real rival for the best team in the city with Sampdoria now, the traditional team of Genoa carries the self same name. Even in the late ‘80’s, early ‘90’s when Samp made three European Finals, it acted as an inspiration to Genoa, as in 1991/92 they qualified for Europe too, making it all the way to the UEFA Cup semi-finals before bowing out to Ajax. However, one claim il Griffone (the griffin, a nickname from the club badge) can always brag about was becoming the first Italian team to beat Liverpool at Anfield, doing the double over the Reds in the Quarter Finals.

Every city with more than one club always has a serious rivalry, with the exception of the extraordinary circumstances that make Hertha and Union quite chummy in a largely trophy-free German capital. Sampdoria are the young pretenders having only been formed in 1946 (a merger of Andrea Doria and Sampierdarenese), but having long bedded down in Serie A, at times they’ve been left holding the fort as the sole city and Ligurian representative in the top flight. If a team drops down the leagues and is away for too long, a generational thing can see fans of a younger age get confused, and in that more modern craving for a short term fix to back a winner, fans start supporting the more successful side. This occurrence is less common in Italy, where the family root of support stands the test of time and no matter how awful their clubs form might be, many would merely choose to avoid going rather than contemplate switching allegiance and going to watch “the other mob”. That said, Sampdoria have built up a fairly equal fan base these days, and while they’ve had some Serie B days in the ‘90’s, Genoa’s days away from Serie A have been too long and at times traumatic. 

In 2003/04 it looked as though Genoa were headed to Serie C when they finished in the relegation slots, only to be saved by the football authorities deciding to increase the size of the second tier to 24 from twenty, saving all relegated sides. The contrast couldn’t have been greater, as the very next season they won the league and were headed back to Serie A until the league got wind of a bribe paid to Venezia to aid a victory en route to promotion. They were penalised by being placed last and relegated to C after all. A late hiccup in the third tier saw them knocked off the top and into a play off which they managed to get through narrowly against Monza, 2-1 on aggregate. 

 While more recently the club has found a perch in the lower reaches of the top flight, they did have one cracking campaign in 2014/15 finishing sixth, and that should have brought European football back to the club, but astonishingly the stadium didn’t have a UEFA licence. I use the word astonishing because the Luigi Ferraris stadium in Genoa is a relatively modern construction and was up to standard for the 1990 World Cup, but another issue was also lurking as Genoa couldn’t meet UEFA’s financial constraints and weren’t granted access to European competition that season. It became even more ironic when the 7th placed side were invited to participate instead, and who were they? Sampdoria of course, the club who share the ground! They did have to upsticks to compete, registering the Mapei in Reggio Emilia as their home venue, a great distance from home. As for Genoa,  even in celebrating the club’s 125th anniversary on 7th September 2018, it came with tragedy at its core as just a short time before the event an horrendous accident saw the Ponte Morandi Bridge collapse high above part of the city killing far too many people.  

It’s been a struggle these last years for Genoa, with last day survival acts beginning to tear the relationship between fans and the owner apart. Relief seemed to have arrived this autumn with the news that the club had been bought by a US Private Investment Fund. How serious, or willing to dig deep into their pockets to aid survival this season will only be known upon the opening of the January transfer window, but they have already changed the manager bringing in highly successful player, and ambitious manager Andrei Shevchenko, but any thoughts of a new manager bounce hasn’t happened, and after four games in charge he is yet to see his new side even score a goal.

Over the last few years I have become increasingly friendly with a Genoa fan based in Edinburgh, Matteo, and he has very kindly supplied me with some photos of games for previous articles on Alessandria, Vercelli and Cremona. There perhaps is a natural aspect to our friendship, as we have inadvertently played out one of those great fan kinships that exist between Italian clubs, as one of the strongest bonds for my boys Ancona is with Genoa. Indeed, if there are any SPAL fans in Edinburgh get in touch, and then we’d have the complete set! One fine example of how these friendships work happened a number of years ago when an Ancona match was cancelled at Savona not far from Genoa. Rather unusually it was decided to play the fixture the following day, and in order to help the Ancona fans with accommodation for the night, the jungle drums went out amongst the Genoa tifosi who came to their aid for ease of returning to Savona the next day. Strong friendships are forged on the back of such goodwill, but goodness knows when Ancona will play Genoa again, but one thing is for sure, when it comes around, a love in between the fans is guaranteed!

Matteo was back in Italy in late November, finally home after a pandemic restricted period of not being able to travel. Genoa were hosting Roma, Shevchenko’s first game in charge, so he made sure he was at the Marassi, the more commonly used name for the stadium. It was a most foul evening with relentless rain, but such was the enthusiasm of the Genovese to see Shev’s first game, he was unable to get a ticket for the home Gradinata Nord, essentially a Curva behind the goal, but the Genoa fans don’t like to refer to it this way! Still, just being there was enough, but as alluded to previously, the new manager bounce was woefully lacking with Jose Mourinho’s Roma dominating proceedings. However, it needed two late goals from a very young super sub, Afena-Gyan to get the job done. Afena-Gyan became the youngest ever Serie A scorer that night, one of them was an absolute beauty. Alas for Matteo and the rest of the Genoa fans, the suffering goes on.

I have been to the Marassi stadium twice, both within a matter of months in 1990. In pre internet booing days, the World Cup Italia tickets bought outside travel club membership could only be purchased by actually pitching up at a Bank in Italy! I headed across in April 1990 to secure briefs for me and a few chums in Scotland and whilst I was in Genoa I took in a Sampdoria v Cesena Serie A fixture on the penultimate round of fixtures in an early finished campaign. Gianluca Vialli missed a penalty as the visitors clung on for a vital point in a 0-0 draw, a point that would have confirmed safety had it not been for the news flashing up on the big screen just as they were all shaking hands, Hellas had beaten AC Milan, and to a man the Cesena players collapsed on the ground in horror. They did see the job through the following week though, beating Hellas to save themselves and sending the Verona club down.

In June that year Genoa had been converted to a corner of Scotland as we were playing Costa Rica here. The less said about that the better, although to be fair Costa Rica were a fine side, doubtlessly underestimated by all in the group as they made the knockout stage. The only memorable moment on a dry Monday (due to match day alcohol ban within a certain limit of the stadiums at WC’90) was alighting the train at Santa Margherita di Ligure (none of the other Tartan army seemed that adventurous in their choice of location) and bumping into a downbeat, but entertaining Rod Stewart quaffing a pint (still in the dry zone, technically) brought a smile. Anyway, he was very nice and was up for coming to watch England start their campaign in a bar with us until his bouncer whispered something in his ear and that arrangement was quickly swept away.

The stadium

The Luigi Ferraris or Marassi if you prefer is relatively central in Genoa, built on a rare piece of flat land in a city that hugs the slopes of the hillsides leading down to the enormous port and Ligurian Sea (part of the Mediterranean ). It is the most British looking of all Italian stadiums with the fans close to the action in four two tier stands, with the corners acting as stairwells. It’s official capacity is 36,600 these days, but with both clubs struggling the capacity is rarely challenged at present.

The stadium has been totally revamped since its 1911 inauguration when it held 20,000, but peaked at 60,000 with Italy hosting Portugal in 1949. It was buffed up for the 1990 World Cup, where it hosted group matches and a memorable Quarter Final between Romania and the Republic of Ireland. It still hosts occasional International football matches as well as one Rugby Union test versus Argentina in 2014.

Getting there

The stadium is within easy walking distance of the nearest train station, Genova Brignole if you are headed to Genoa for the day, and it’s merely 1 kilometre from here. If you find yourself at the other principal station, Genova Principe, you can jump on bus 13 which will take you directly to the stadium, or walk through the beautiful city centre via Brignole and onwards to the Marassi. This option will afford you the chance to glory in the Caruggi, the narrow alleys of old Genoa Town.

The good news is that there are a lot of places offering beer and food around the stadium, focacceria (focaccia bread sandwich bars) are especially popular pre-match nibbling for the local fans, but pizza and kebabs can easily be tracked down if that is more your thing.  

La Citta di Genova

You will see Genoa written as Genova in the majority of places, that is the Italian equivalent of the English name Genoa. It is because of the British roots of the club, they go with the English name!  The flag of the city and its coat of arms will both be a welcoming sight for any English visitors as it is essentially the St George’s Cross. 

Genova is an ancient and historical post city, and to this day it is still Italy’s busiest port. In the curious ancient world of fiefdoms it was one the most powerful maritime republics on the planet for nearly 700 years. It was a major player in the importation business, as well as harbouring a frightening array of naval vessels. It has been said that Genova was at one time the richest city in the world. 

Step into the modern world, and the beautiful buildings of downtown Genova still drip with that rich opulent past. It will come as no surprise that UNESCO have placed it’s mark upon the historical centre, an area that to this day is one of the most densely populated central areas of a city in Europe. The total population of the city at the last count was 580.000.

As alluded to before the wonderful narrow lanes and streets, “caruggi” are maybe only rivalled by the closes and alleys off Edinburgh’s Royal Mile. When you see the high hills close by it is understandable why Genova hasn’t seen a mass exodus to the suburbs as their are limited places to you go, and as you start heading south or west out of the city, Portofino, Santa Margherita and San Remo all come at an excessively high purchasing price. 

One of Matteo’s favourite parts of the city is an area called Genova Nervi, a coastal barrio just south of the city, where despite the name, in truth the people couldn’t be more laid back. The views from Nervi back towards the port and the city centre are just wonderful across the bay. It affords a place to walk, eat, drink and enjoy with a morsel more room than the busy central area. 

Genova is a fabulous base to get easy access to Nice in France for example, and also more locally, the names mentioned above as well as the incredible Cinque Terre, a group of five little villages perched and built in the most incredible coastal cliff top locations. Whisper it quietly if you’re a Genoa fan (not so much if you’re Samp inclined) but La Spezia is within easy reach too, another city with a rich port and naval history, and a relatively new fancy marina to bring the uber rich yachts to town.