Keep in mind Johonna’s post about upcoming games this week that include our nearest and dearest in International games.

I wanted to post this sometime before our first game this season but with all the bruahaha over the market, there were bigger stories. With the International break here, now seems like a better time.

We are on the eve of Moratti’s 13th year anniversary as President of Inter. Considering the relative longevity of his term as president (Only one president has more tenure than Moratti, Fraizzoli had 16 seasons under his belt) and the historical season that is continuing for Inter, I thought that a brief look at Inter’s biggest supporter’s time with the club would be in order.

Like the song says, you have to love the insanity that surrounds this club and Massimo Moratti has made it his dream to return this club to the glory of his father’s era in the late 1950s and almost through the 1960s. The era was known as La Grande Inter and Massimo was in his teens for most of it and it made quite an impression on him. Massimo was so enamored that many of those ex-Inter players were part of the club as scouts, directors and advisors for Massimo including the incomparable Giacinto Facchetti.

Massimo had a slow but steep learning curve as he slowly got a handle running the team and he faced several huge stumbling blocks in the road to his goals. I don’t want to go over his entire life in this article, but I thought that brief overview of his time as captain of the FC Inter might be in order considering the incredible amount of change and sensational history that has passed since Moratti took over in 1995.

Abandoned Hope Ye Who Were Supporters 1990 – 1994

The late 1980s saw Inter’s win a Scudetto after a relatively long period of good league but not quite good enough results. The early 1990s saw Inter reach 2nd place in Serie A early on and 2 UEFA Cup victories but storm clouds were looming on the horizon.

In 1993-1994 Inter finished 1 single point from relegation with 31 points (wins were 2 points and Inter still made the UEFA Cup as defending Champions). 1994-1995 saw Inter in 6th place barely making the UEFA Cup again. Ernesto Pellegrini “resigned” as president and Moratti took his place in the hope of injecting some optimism and cash in a club that not only saw it’s league position dip but also saw it’s richer cousins on top of the mountain.

It certainly didn’t hurt that Moratti promised to bring his wealth to bear on the team and his personality as a rabid fan/kind, rich uncle helped to repair the damaged relationship with the fans early on.

Hell 1995 – 2002

Net Spending: 335 million €
Key Players Brought In: Javier Zanetti, Zamorano, Djorkaeff, Recoba, Roberto Baggio, Adrian Mutu, Ivan Cordoba, Ronaldo, Christian Vieri, Clarence Seedorf, Marco Materazzi, Goran Pandev and Francesco Toldo
Managers: Suarez (95), Hodgson (95-97), Castellini (97), Simoni (97-98), Lucescu (98-99), Hodgson (99), Lippi (99-00), Tardelli (00-01), Cuper (01-
League Position: 1995 – 7th, 1996 – 3rd, 1997 – 2nd, 1998 – 8th, 1999 – 4th, 2000 – 5th, 2001 – 3rd

The first thing that Moratti did was to inject an incredible amount of wealth into the club. Within these 6 seasons inter spent a net 335m € on transfers. This amount will account for over 85% of the net spending by the club for the 15 seasons of Moratti’s presidency present season included.

I included the names of key players that were acquired so that we can see where the money went – namely Baggio, Vieri, Seedorf and Ronaldo. Also we can see the sheer number of managers that the club went through. All in all 9 changes were made at Manager. This also would account for the bulk of the managerial changes that were made at the club. It should be noted that although the club didn’t win a Scudetto in this period, the relative position of the team did improve compared to previous seasons. In fact in the 1997-1998 Inter were the top of the table in April until a match with Juventus – complete with dodgy calls that solidified the belief of widespread Juvetus wrong doing in many players and fans – sent Inter to second place. Marco Tardelli would go down in Inter history for the worst home loss ever 0-6 to Milan with teenager Frey (Yes, THAT Frey) in goal.

Inter would win another UEFA Cup in this period (The winning goal in the final from Javier Zanetti), place runner up for the Super Coppa (ie lose the game) and Coppa Italia (ie ditto) to the same team, Lazio.

At this time in the team’s history I remember everything being very chaotic. Decisions were made to go one way and then very quickly things were scrapped and restarted in a new direction. As an outsider it always seemed to me, and I have no evidence of this, that Moratti had surrounded himself with his boyhood heroes to help him run the team. That is, that he had a group of ex-players making suggestions and he had to wade through the politics a bit. It also didn’t help that Moratti was trained in the business world, and football isn’t really a business at all yet – I would read the excellent but at flawed and anglo-centric book Socernomics for more on this topic – especially at that time. It’s getting a little better now, but back then, especially in Italy, football was where presidents donated huge sums of money and preached glory to their fans. Moratti had jumped into the deep end and needed help navigating the waters. Fortunately, help would come.

Purgatory 2002-2004

Net Spending: Profit of +2.6m €
Key Players: Fabio Cannavarro, Christiano Zanetti, Adriano, Cruz, Stankovic
Managers: Cuper (-03), Verdelli (03), Zacceroni (03-04)
League Position: 2002 – 2nd, 2003 – 4th

Hector Cuper is the Manager that started to bring all the money players that Moratti was assembling into a semblance of a team. The main indicator that the team was fundamentally better can be seen in the amount of money NOT spent in this time period. The team was considered good enough to compete and as it can be seen above, it did. In Cuper’s hands the team did no worse than third. Unfortunately for Cuper, he was in charge of the May 5, 2002 (2001 – 2002 season) game at Lazio. That day’s games would decide the Scudetto for 3 teams: Inter in the pole position, Roma and Juventus. Inter would lose 4-2 to Lazio under baffling circumstances and finished the season in 3rd place. Cuper would guide Inter to a distant 2nd in the next season and then be fired a few games into the next season.

Fan complaints and protests were at an incredible high with no help from Christian Vieri, who protested his unhappiness on the team by refusing to celebrate goals. To placate the crowds Moratti stepped down as President in 2004 and anointed fan favorite Giacinto Facchetti as the leader of the team. As the new President, Giacinto took over running the team -at least on the face of things – and allowed Moratti the chance to step back and watch a “football guy” do the job that he took over in 1995. Giacinto was probably more hands off than Moratti was, but Facchetti made the running of the team a four person task (Facchetti, Moratti, Oriali and Branca) not a hundred person tug of war.

While all of this is going on, the team that had been at the top of the Serie A heap in the latter stages of the 1990s and the beginning of the 200s was falling apart at the seams. Juventus had in 2002 been on trial for doping its players with PEDs after a comment by then Roma manager Zeman started an investigation into the team. The team itself escaped sentencing by a technicality (a team doctor would take the fall) but the judge handling the case was incensed at this result. Soon after the trial ended, that same judge would hear wire tap evidence during a Mafia case mention Juventus director Luciano Moggi as an associate and would authorize an investigation into the team again.

Paradise 2004-2010

Net Spending: 43.1m €
Key Players: Burdisso, Cambiasso, Veron, Figo, Cesar, Mihajlovic, Samuel, Crespo, Ibrahimovic, Maicon, Maxwell, Vieira, Balotelli, Chivu, Muntari, Santon, Milito, Motta, Eto’o, Lucio, Sneijder
Managers: Mancini (04 – 08), Mourinho (08-10)
League Position: 2004 – 3rd, 2005 – 3rd*1st, 2006 – 1st, 2007 – 1st, 2008 – 1st, 2009 – 1st, 2010 – 1st

In 2004 things at Inter were definitely on the upswing. Inter would finish 3rd in the League and capture it’s first domestic Cup since the 1989 SuperCoppa. In 2005 they would do all it again – finishing 3rd and winning the Coppa. They would win the SuperCoppe that accompanied those honors.

Then in the spring/summer after the 2005 – 2006 season all hell broke loose. Accusations against Juventus not playing by the rules had been building since the late 90s but between the last stages of the season and the beginning of the World Cup, Newspapers were running with wiretap transcriptions that showed an incredible amount of – not permitted – influence that the Juventus director Luciano Moggi had over every aspect of Italian football – from television producers at TV stations down to referees in a secret phone network.

More importantly, Giacinto Facchetti lay on his death bed as pancreatic cancer had ravaged his 6 foot plus frame. The man that many had come to think of as the Savior of Inter was dead by September of 2006. Around his calm death bed the Inter family held vigil as the hurricane of accusation and embarrassment circulated the sport. The focus of the storm was clearly Juventus but as other team names came up there was a call for someone from Inter to step up and answer questions regarding the team. Early in the proceedings Moratti gave an interview that probably saved the team from any sort of taint of Calciopoli at the time. In the interview he was honest and clear about referee designator contact (there was some, but it was for information on the next crew, complaining about the last crew or friendly conversation) and referee gifts (as in Christmas gifts, usually a ham or something edible to the crew who worked your stadium). In short, he acted like the President of Inter again in public.

As the aftermath of the points deduction hit, he ruthlessly took advantage of his rivals poor luck/rightfully gained penalties and bought their talented young forward (just what Inter lacked at the time was a young partner for Adriano) who had a falling out with Juventus management in January, Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Once Inter started winning domestic titles again Moratti turned his attention to the dream of winning the Champions League. Once thought nearly impossible when he started his journey, it now became the obsession. But Mancini, who was managing the upswing of Inter before the scandals hit, was disappointing in the Champions League. Fatally, for his job, he let the frustration of losing in the round of 16 again get to him and he quit his job at the press conference after the loss to Liverpool. He then pulled a George Costanza and walked into work again the next day. Moratti had seen enough and showing some on the job maturity, waited until after the season was over to sack Mancini.

Mancini’s downfall was probably a 40-60 percentage respectively of the poor Champion’s League showing and the lack of testicular fortitude shown during the “I quit” interview. The chaotic and at times volcanic dressing room probably didn’t hurt, either.

Moratti welcomed his new Manager by spending more on transfers (@50m €) than he had since the 2001 – 2002 season. Mourinho, by the time he was done, rewarded the faith shown to him by winning Serie A twice, the Coppa Italia, the SuperCoppa twice and the Champions League.

Rafa, it seems whether he wants to or not, is destined to begin the next (Last?) era in Moratti’s stewardship: Financial Rehabilitation.

FORZA INTER

Since the next couple of days will be kind of slow around the club news circuit, I feel like nows a good time to talk about some of the thoughts that I’ve amassed recently about our beloved club. It’ll just be a quick little chat between friends to help this Juventus fan sleep at night. Most of all, I encourage your feedback as my girlfriend often says that sharing your feelings with others is somewhat therapeutic.

Juventus, I fucking hate your guts sometimes. Everyone do yourself a favour between now and the last game of the season. Do not search for Juventus videos on Youtube and surf through twenty pages of content on La Grande Storia della Juventus, or La Vecchia Signora, because that will only make you infuriated with what’s happening to our team. Gone are the iconic members of football’s high society, as they’re replaced with mediocrity; players, coaches, and management alike.

The reality, one that I’m sure many of you are aware, is that we’re more than just a few pieces of the puzzle away from the glory days. We’re about 8-9 men short by my calculations which is mind-boggling considering the shit-load of resources we’ve spent over the last four years. We need to focus on building the team’s spine once again, and Chiellini can be the rock we can build our revival on.

‘And I say to thee. Thou art Giorgio, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.’ Matthew 16:18, sort of.

Marotta, for my money, was going good until the Diego deal. From now on, he’s got an uphill battle to win back my good graces after the costly Fabio loan, and the move for the Serie A unproven Armand Traore. However, he did manage to secure a capable partner for Chiellini in Bonucci, as well as a potential homerun for our midfield in Aquilani. Now if the Aquaman gamble pays-off, we’ll have finally made a solid start in our re-construction.

From top to bottom, the Serie A is the world’s most competitive football league, and for that I am truly proud to be a fan of Italian calcio today. But the taste in my mouth left after Calciopoli has yet to be purified, and thus, my overwhelming sense of anger looms. It’s agonizing at times being a Bianconeri fan because that bar was set so high decades ago. Not to mention just how tough it is to play for Juventus today as the jersey can weigh so much.

The truth is though; I will stand by my club even when it seems that there is no hope in sight because I’m sure that when we taste that success again, it’ll taste that much sweeter. I guess that’s the difference between a fan and a supporter.

IERI… OGGI… DOMANI… SEMPRE JUVE!!!

Rarely are any of my primavera stories positive, but read today and smile as I follow up on a past story about a boy with Lazio in his blood who fell foul of Lotito. Read on also, as I discuss why one particular young laziale is at a crossroads, between becoming a symbol of the club or the next in a long line of talents to pack his bags.

In July, I wrote a couple of posts about the failings of our once illustrious youth system. One followed the story of a very talented, now ex-Lazio player Simone Santarelli, whose career was severely damaged by Claudio Lotito and then-youth sector director Giulio Coletta. Well, you may be pleased to learn that, last month, Simone signed a contract with Foggia. The side from Puglia are currently playing in C1 (or Lega Pro Prima Divisione, as it’s now called), and are being coached by the man who launched them onto the world scene in the 1990s: Zdenek Zeman.

Foggia are desperate for promotion to B this season, and see it as the year when their dreams may be realised and they edge closer to mixing it with the big boys once again. It remains to be seen how successful i satanelli will be, but hopefully they can have a good year. Hopefully too, Simone can be a big part of it. On Thursday, he will turn 22 years old, which makes him the oldest goalkeeper that Foggia have on their books! The pugliese side is so young, that the oldest first teamer is only 28. Currently, Santarelli is the second choice goalkeeper behind Bulgarian import Ivanov, but at his age, and with the maestro himself Zeman at the helm, anything is possible.

***

The first post I wrote on the youth system back in July was a general look at the failings of the club. The numbers of talent capable of playing at the top level coming through is declining, and that which does come through is being weeded out rather than nurtured.

We can go on for hours about those who have left us in the past couple of years, and the list is quite painful to read. The likes of De Silvestri, Macheda and Faraoni are all as talented as each other and all left under different circumstances. They are gone and have moved on with their careers, while it is obvious to me each of them would fill gaps in this current Lazio side.

This is why we have to learn from past mistakes and look after what we’ve got. When the transfer market closed the other day, we were left with several players who we couldn’t find new homes for. These players are now training separately from the main group, as they have no role to play in the team and the situation isn’t good for them, nor is it good for the club. Joining them, is one Riccardo Perpetuini.

Perpetuini was wanted by a few Serie B clubs during the mercato. Crotone were keen to take him back, while Vicenza and Frosinone saw him as a valuable young asset in their respective promotion campaigns. Just for good measure, Modena, Pescara and third division Verona all had a good look. In the final days of August, it appeared that Triestina would provide Riccardo with a place to grow for the upcoming season. I thought that the alabardati would be a good fit. Triestina were only restored to B after Ancona went bankrupt and they are horribly underprepared for the season. They will probably be relegated for the second straight year, and while that is bad, it is likely Riccardo could’ve been a fixture in their midfield. In the end though, for whatever reason, the move collapsed and poor Riccardo was left stuck at Lazio. Worse still, he has been lumped with the likes of Quadri and Artipoli, players who genuinely do not have a future in top level football.

It seems that Perpetuini will have to content himself with playing as an overage player in the primavera competition. This will not help him develop as a player at all. After all, he has spent the past couple of seasons as one of the better midfielders in the primavera. The only thing he needs now, is senior first-team action. In the few appearances he made in the past two seasons, he impressed. Be it Serie A or the Europa League, he showed that he has the potential to become a solid midfield option for us. He even proved he can slot in at left back in a back four, without being a defensive liability. This is a very good sign.

His natural role is as a defensive midfielder. He is a workhorse and physically strong, but with a good range of passing abilities and a knack for winning the ball and keeping possession of it. Personality wise, he is very much like Fabio Firmani. Having grown up in Cisterna di Latina, young Riccardo has supported la Lazio for his entire life. As we have already established, players like that don’t come around very often. If you look across the city, you’ll see that Roma have Daniele De Rossi. He is an idol of the fans and a symbol of the club (and a very similar type of player to Riccardo!). We too have our idols, but homegrown they are not.

In pre-season, Perpetuini put in impressive performances against several opponents in friendlies. Reja confirmed that he is impressed and sees him as something for the future. Riccardo is not a fantasista, he isn’t a bomber. Unlike Kozak’s goal haul or Cavanda’s blistering runs, Riccardo won’t raise too many eyebrows, but it doesn’t mean he has any less talent. He is currently part of the Italian youth international side and has the potential to be our idol. So my suggestion to Reja is this, bring the boy back into the squad, make him the vice-Brocchi and give him a chance.

Sadly, Riccardo could well join the list of talents to walk away from Lazio in less than pleasant circumstances, and it disappoints me, as he could well be our very own bandiera.

As we all know, “The human animal differs from the lesser primates in his passion for lists.” As I am an human animal, I thought I would quickly post up a couple lists. We sort of glossed over the Champions League list and I thought I would post a guide to our boys on their national teams. I know, I already missed some qualifiers on Friday, but better late than never.

First, Benitez has submitted his list of 31 players for the Champions League. It inlcudes 4 club-trained players (*), 4-locally trained players(‡), and 6 youth players (†):

Goalkeepers: Julio Cesar, Luca Castellazzi‡, Paolo Orlandoni*, Alberto Gallinetta†

Defenders: Ivan Cordoba, Javier Zanetti, Lucio, Maicon, Marco Materazzi‡, Walter Samuel, Cristian Chivu, Davide Santon*, Felice Natalino†, Cristiano Biraghi†, Andrea Romano†, Lorenzo Crisetig†

Midfielders: Thiago Motta, Wesley Sneijder, Sulley Muntari‡, MacDonald Mariga, Esteban Cambiasso, Dejan Stankovic, Amantino Mancini, Joel Obi*, Coutinho, Obiora Nwankwo

Attackers: Samuel Eto’o, Diego Milito, Goran Pandev‡, Jonathan Biabiany*, Simone Dell’Agnello†

So there you go. Even the famously international Interzationale has the requisite number of locally and club-trained players to meet with UEFA regulations (whatever those may be. Their web page is not the most forthcoming). In fact, we have some club-trained players to spare! I will admit to being startled at seeing Mancini on the list, but what are you going to do? Besides, this list only hast to get us through the group stages. We get to submit a new one after Christmas.

For those of you looking for a little Inter fix this weekend, we have 15 players off with their respective national teams. I know, I missed a couple games today, but on the up side, now we have youtube highlights.

Cambiasso, Milito, Samuel, and Zanetti. Catch them in an internation friendly against the mighty Spain in Buenos Aires, Tuesday, Sept 7, 5pm local time (1pm pacific, 4pm eastern)

Cuchu, back among the chosen.

Cordoba: Mexico v Columbia (international friendly) in Monterrey, Tuesday 7 Sept, at 7pm local time (5pm pacific, 8pm eastern – I think)

Sneijder: San Marino v Holland (Euro 2012 qualifier), finished 0-5 with a hattrick from Klaus Jan Huntelaar.
Holland v Finland (Euro 2012 qualifier) in Rotterdam, Tuesday 7 September at 8:30pm local time (11:30am pacific, 2:30 eastern)

Chivu: Romania v Albania (Euro 2012 qualifier), finished 1-1, Chivu didn’t play.
Belarus v Romania (Euro 2012 qualifier) in Minsk, Tuesday 7 September at 7:30pm local time (10:30am pacific, 1:30pm eastern)

Dejan Stankovic: Far Oer v Serbia (Euro 2012 qualifier), finished 0-3 with a great free-kick goal from Deki.
Serbia v Slovenia (Euro 2012 qualifier) in Belgrade, Tuesday 7 September at 7:30pm local time (11:30 am pacific, 2:30pm eastern)

Goran Pandev: Slovakia v Macedonia (Euro 2012 qualifier), finished 1-0 for Slovakia. Pandev played the whole game
Macedonia v Armenia (Euro 2012 qualifier) in Skopje, Tuesday 7 September at 7pm local time (11am pacific, 2pm eastern)

Samuel Eto’o: Mauritius v Cameroon (Africa Cup of Nations 2012 qualifier) in Bellevue, Saturday 4 September – no time given

McDonald Mariga: Guinea v Kenya (Africa Cup of Nations 2012 qualifier) in Bissau, Saturday 4 September – no time given

Cristiano Biraghi, Felice Natalino: Bosnia U21 v Italy U21 (2011 UEFA Under-21 Championship qualifier), finished 0-1, both Biraghi and Natalino where unused subs.
Italy U21 v Wales U21 (2011 UEFA Under-21 Championship qualifier in Pescara) Tuesday 7 September at 5pm local time (8am pacific, 11am eastern). This one is a must win for the kiddies.

Jonathan Biabiany: Ukraine U21 v France U21 (2011 UEFA Under-21 Championship qualifier), finished 2-2 with Biabiany playing roughly 30 minutes.
France U21 v Malta U21 (2011 UEFA Under-21 Championship qualifier) in Amiens, Tuesday 7 September at 5:00pm (8am pacific, 11am eastern). Also a must win for the baby blues.

Coutinho: training camp with Brazil in Barcelona until Thursday 9 September

How super cute is Coutinho training with the big-boy Brazilians?

And now, just what you have been waiting for: The Contest Entries (drum roll please)

Name…………Points..Goals for..Goals Allowed
Miki…………………78………. 68………. 30
Skyder……………..78………. 68………. 41
Mites……………….78………. 72………. 35
Nikko……………….80………. 70………. 30
Mikko ………………80………. 70………. 35
Inter Forever………80………. 77………. 30
Pedro ………………81………. 85………. 44
Maryam…………….82……….78………. 34
Yormie……………..82……….79………. 38
ronny……………….82………. 81………. 43
Thatdude…………..83………. 70………. 20
fandibong…………..83……….70………. 29
Paolo………………..83……….73………. 32
Kabir………………..83………. 78……….35
Sandro …………….84………. 39………. 22 (Sandro, is your goals for number a typo?)
Gerrymc……………84………. 74………. 48
Kirby………………..86……….79……….32
Nomad……………..86……….79………. 42
Vinod………………86……….82………. 40
vincent vh…………87………. 73………. 37
Kazaan……………87……….79……….38
Anthony…………….88……….79……….42

And just for comparison, Inter’s actual stats for the last few years:
2004/5……………..72……….65……….37
2005/6……………..76……….68……….30
2006/7…………….97……….80……….34
2007/8…………….85……….69……….26
2008/9…………….84……….70……….32
2009/10……………82……….75……….34

So, as you can see, some of you think this will be a break-out, record setting season. The highest guess for number of goals was Vinod with 82 goals. That means that Inter has to average 2.2 goals a game for the rest of the season. They better get cracking! The lowest was Sandro with 39. I double checked the email and that is what he sent me. It will be tough to get to 84 points with only 39 goals.

Well, that is about it. I will be going out of town this weekend so unless MAD gets something up (did you get my email?), you will all just have to stare at this for a few days.

Have a great weekend

FORZA INTER

And just in case you need some reminding as to who Cristiano Biraghi is:

And how the hell do I stay?

Italy and Juve’s history and futures are inextricably linked, it seems. When Juventus wins, Italy wins. When Juventus concede record amount of goals and lose every game, so does Italy. Evidently, Pepe’s strange inclusion into the Nazionale, under 2 coaches now, meant he had to come to Juventus. And now, both Juventus and Italy are stuck with him playing just terrible, as he did today against Estonia, of all teams.

My conclusion on Pepe is this- Italy is so desperate for a naturally wide player, that he has gone from Palermo bench player to Juventus and Italy regular. Apparently no coach has ever tried to convert him into a fullback (as many young wingers in Italy are) and thus, he is the only “mature-age” winger we have. Seems Italy and Juve may have been a bit hasty in getting rid of a creative winger this summer…

In the summer of 2009, Fabio Quagliarella was coming off his best seasonal as a professional. Although the (then) 26 year old managed only 13 Serie A goals, he scored 8 more goals in 11 UEFA Cup matches for Udinese. Internationally he had been a squad member of Italy’s Euro 2008 side managed by Roberto Donadoni, who had recently taken over his hometown club Napoli. Quags was in the prime of his career, and the only thing left was for him to complete a dream move home to reunite with his former Italy boss. When Napoli brought him home, there was euphoria among the fans. But as so often happens in calcio, a fairy tale story became a bad movie script as Quags was shipped out to Juventus after just one season with his beloved azzurri.

Exactly where did things start going wrong? Most likely with the transfer amount former d.g. Pierpaolo Marino shelled out to bring Quagliarella home. Udinese was very smart and sold Quags at his peak market value. But at the same time, they took advantage of a weak negotiatior in Marino who was desperate to improve on the previous season’s 12th place finish. The bottom line was that Quags absolutely had to come home to Napoli, and there was no way Marino was going to let a couple of million euro stand in the way.

So Fabio Quagliarella was sold to Napoli for about 18 million euros. The transfer amount was never released, but it was probably at least 16 million euros. If you look at Quagliarella’s career though, Napoli appeared to have paid considerably more than market value. This was because Quags would be more popular with the fans than others players, and second because it was assumed that he would post huge numbers playing for his hometown team. He had a very good season with Udinese, and he was expected to score even more goals that would send Napoli into Europe.

The transfer fee ended up being a heavy issue because the following season Quags didn’t really improve on his career best season with Udinese. His Serie A goal dropped from 13 to 11, and with Napoli not playing in Europe there were no other chances to shine. In two Coppa Italia matches Quags couldn’t find the net, and it was symptomatic of his whole season – when Napoli needed the big goal in a big game, Quagliarella’s performance often left something to be desired. Look at the calibre of teams that his goals came against…

Goals 1 & 2: at home to Livorno, week 2
Goal 3: at home to Bologna, week 8
Goals 4 & 5: at home to Bari, week 15
Goal 6: at home to Chievo, week 17
Goal 7: away to Atalanta, week 18

The second half of the season continues much the same way: all of Quags’s goal came against teams in the bottom half of the table. No goals for #27 in matches against Inter, AC Milan, Juventus, Fiorentina, Sampdoria, Palermo etc. Also, from week 3 to week 14 he managed just one goal in twelve weeks. Based on last season his market value dropped from what it was before the season. Now it seems like Napoli had paid way too much.

Then there’s also the issue of Quagliarella being the highest earner on the team. If a player is going to make more than his teammates, he should be as good if not slightly better week in, week out. But too often last season Quagliarella wasn’t creating much offence when he wasn’t scoring. It reached a point where Mazzarri had to consider leaving him out of the starting lineup when he was healthy. I believe this happend for a game or two over the course of the season.

Even if a team’s star player accepts a spot on the bench, it creates huge problems when your top earner isn’t playing. Here is Mazzarri’s explanation for Quagliarella being shipped out. According to Mazzarri, Quags was pampered, and eventually being a hometown player couldn’t hide the fact that his performance on the field wasn’t what everyone was hoping for.

Speaking of Mazzarri, the managerial change didn’t help Quags at all. He had worked with Donadoni in the past and that was presumably a key factor in the timing of his move. Once Donadoni was fired, you can’t help but think that a player like Quags might have felt some responsibility for the firing. True, the entire team didn’t play well for Donadoni, but as one of the leaders Quags also led the way in not living up to expectations early in the season.

But when you look at expectations, you have to go back to the grossly inflated price Marino paid for him. This didn’t help Quagliarella one bit, in fact it put loads of pressure on him to justify his value. There was also an assumption that he would feel more comfortable at the San Paolo than anywhere else, and his career would take off. Since the story, had it unfolded as everyone hoped, resembled a fairy tale, it ignored the realities of being a professional athelete.

All of these issues combined to make it very difficult for Quagliarella to succeed. There was an enormous burden on him to score regularly to send Napoli fans into dreamland, but when this didn’t happen there were reasons to question him. Why was his transfer fee so high? Why is he Napoli’s top earner? Why can’t he score against top clubs? To summarize, underneath the surface the conditions of his move made it very easy to fail, and difficult to succeed.

And how did he end up at Juve? The Bianconeri were short on forwards, and perhaps they were attracted by his 45 minutes of greatness in the Slovakia WC game. They could also afford to overpay for his services just as Napoli did. De Laurentiis and Bigon saw a chance to correct a business mistake by Marino, and in the end the move went through. I don’t like saying this, but he may end up playing a little better for Juve than he did for Napoli. It’s a bizarre movie script that De Laurentiis the producer would never make a movie of. So if it’s fairy tales that Napoli fans want, just look at Gianluca Grava last year. Unlike Quags, he was never in a position to fail.

So it seems like as long as Mazzarri is manager, Quags won’t be returning home from Juve. Let’s try to forget all the bad stuff and remember the passion he brought whenever he played.

You may or may not have noticed on The Offside main page that our blog currently features under “Most Popular Blogs.” This means that you are visiting one of The Offside’s Top 15 blogs. What makes this feat most remarkable is that every other blog that has made the cut for August is about a club side who are currently competing in Europe. In fact, if you cast Liverpool aside, they are the elite of Europe; Champions League winners and contenders. Thus, we have broken the mould and long may that continue.

Is this all a bit of a boast? Perhaps, but please don’t misconstrue our meaning. This is not a personal achievement; this is just indicative of our fanbase and how we are, collectively, the best bunch of supporters out there. So, while you all pat yourselves on the back, I’m going to dig up my favourite 15 posts and remind you of the good, the bad and the ugly. In the comments section, feel free to chip in with the blog posts you remember fondly over the years. Ok, here we go, in no particular order…

1. “Gazza’s Cry For Help”
http://lazio.theoffside.com/team-news/gazzas-cry-for-help.html
Assessing Gazza’s contribution at Lazio is like assessing his mental health; depressing, even maddening to an extent but above all, damn difficult. For me, this is as good an assessment as you will find on the internet, courtesy of our very own Salvatore.

2. “The Presentation”
http://lazio.theoffside.com/team-news/the-presentation.html
Pre-season in Auronzo di Cadore always seems like a bit of a trip. It is a video like the above that makes the whole event seem worthwhile. Only Lazio can conjure up something like this.

3. “Gabriele Uno Di Noi!”
http://lazio.theoffside.com/team-news/gabriele-uno-di-noi.html
Not in here for the right reasons but I cannot look back on the history of this blog without remembering a true laziale. Gabriele Uno Di Noi!

4. “The End Of The Mercato”
http://lazio.theoffside.com/team-news/the-end-of-the-mercato.html
I think this was easily my most frustrated post as a blogger here but in the end, I think it must go down as our best mercato to date. After this summer’s highs and lows, there is a possible pattern emerging.

5. “At The Crossroads”
http://lazio.theoffside.com/team-news/at-the-crossroads.html
Check the date; exactly a year to the day. How things have changed but arguably, similar discontent surrounds Lazio and I. Possibly my most subjective publication.

6. “Open Letter To Claudio Lotito”
http://lazio.theoffside.com/team-news/open-letter-to-claudio-lotito.html
I think we had all had enough but few could express it quite as eloquently as Cristiano.

7. “The Downfall Of Mr. Davide Ballardini”
http://lazio.theoffside.com/team-news/the-downfall-of-mr-davide-ballardini.html
I think we had all had enough of this fellow too. I remember thinking I had presented a decent defense of the guy with this post but ultimately, it was you who decided whether it was sympathetic, empathetic or just pathetic.

8. “Liveblog: Lazio – Sampdoria (Coppa Italia Finale)”
http://lazio.theoffside.com/team-news/liveblog-lazio-sampdoria-coppa-italia-finale.html
There are some things money can’t buy. For everything else, there is an impassioned liveblog.

9. “The 4-2 Derby”
http://lazio.theoffside.com/reviews/the-4-2-derby.html
Reviews often bring us pain. This one…well…pleasure was an understatement.

10. “Latin Americans And La Lazio”
http://lazio.theoffside.com/team-news/latin-americans-and-la-lazio.html
The latin quarter in a wonderfully summarised post.

11. “The Lazio Offside Team Of The Decade: Revealed”
http://lazio.theoffside.com/team-news/the-lazio-offside-team-of-the-decade-revealed.html
Hours and hours of thought in one post. Who can forget our glory days, eh? In the Top 15 for obvious reasons.

12. “Disillusioned”
http://lazio.theoffside.com/team-news/disillusioned.html
Tessera Del Tifoso in a nutshell. The insight of Cristiano combined with the foresight of Laziofever’s renowned member, Lucky Strike.

13. “The Friday Feature: An Interview With Paolo Peroso Of Lazioland.com”
http://lazio.theoffside.com/team-news/the-friday-feature-an-interview-with-paolo-peroso-lazioland-com.html
As far as international outlets go, Paolo is the boss. For that reason, it makes the Top 15.

14. “The Friday Feature: Lazio Offside Meets Lazio Indonesia”
http://lazio.theoffside.com/team-news/the-friday-feature-lazio-offside-meets-lazio-indonesia.html
I think this one is self-explanatory.

15. “Market Reseach: A Lotito Mercato”
http://lazio.theoffside.com/team-news/market-research-a-lotito-mercato.html
If for no other reason, the effort deserves a place in the Top 15. I would like to think the content does also.