I recently discovered some of my early writing, and given this COVID period where football is scarce, I thought I would lift some of these tales from typed paper into the modern world of my blog! We start with one of my earliest games abroad, a remarkable pivotal moment in the history of Vicenza Calcio … Continue reading Vicenza Salvezza →

If Ancona’s first nibble at the Serie A top table had been too short, while then manager Vincenzo Guerini brought in some “stranieri” (foreign players), he did largely stay loyal to the squad that took the club to that historic promotion. Weeks on from the invasion of the pitch at Livorno by 8,000 excited Anconetani … Continue reading My Ancona, Part 4 (2003 to the present day) →

You might think that after four promotions, a Coppa Italia Cup Final, an Anglo Italian Cup and Coppa Italia C Semi Final, as well as the huge play out relegation dodge avoiding the drop into the fourth tier, things might start to settle down for Ancona. After all, despite three relegations thrown into the mix, … Continue reading My Ancona, part 3 (2000-2003) →

Attaching myself to the Ancona cause had been a wonderful thing. In five short years they hadn’t just returned to the second tier for the first time in 37 years, but pushed beyond that previous constraint and nibbled at the top table of Italian football with some of Europe’s greatest club sides. Okay it only … Continue reading My Ancona, part 2 (1993 – 2000) →

I am sure I am not alone in becoming interested in certain clubs courtesy of that bastion of yesteryear, the Subbuteo team catalogue! The 1974 World Cup Final kits were purchased in the flick to kick wobbly base style, but somehow West Germany v The Netherlands (or Holland as we knew them back in the … Continue reading My Ancona, Part 1 (1987-1993) →

This article will act as introduction to a Lombardia Special which will replace the planned Euro 2020 preview for the June edition of Football Weekends to be published at the end of May. Anyone who has been reading Football Weekends for any length of time will know from many of my articles that I love … Continue reading Breathing Life into Lombardia →

  I have had the pleasure of bringing more than a dozen towns, cities and regions of Italy to life for Football Weekends and only once from Serie A when newly promoted SPAL rumbled into the top flight. My world is more the characterful under card of Serie B, C and D, and writing a … Continue reading I, Como →

  I guess the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires both helped the displacement of people throughout the Eastern side of Europe in particular with Bosnia, Macedonia, Romania to name just three who have significant ethnic populations. I had certainly experienced morsels of such in Trieste, with its dual language status for Slovenian and Italian, but in … Continue reading Mountain High in Bolzano →

I am sure when you hear the name Monza in sporting chat, unless you are a Formula One guru, you’ll switch off! The town just slightly north of Milan is synonymous with the race car scene, so fire up the guitar solo from Fleetwood Mac’s, The Chain, but while Monza might be the home to … Continue reading Circus Monza →

  If you have ever seen Roberto Benigni’s film, Life is Beautiful, the funny first half of the movie is set in Arezzo, which is a real gem of Southern Tuscany. It is a wonderful region of Italy, perhaps the most famous, and also the most visited in its entirety. Yes, Firenze and the Torre … Continue reading Tuscan jousting, Arezzo style! →