Watched a bit of a couple games on TNT. Wow. The standard is absolute dog. I remember being amazed at the quality of players as a kid watching channel 4 in the early nineties. I’m not sure some of these would compete in the championship.
Sad to see isn’t it. I suppose it’s just the way it goes. Clubs that didn’t even have big fan bases like Lazio, Parma & Fiorentina etc were paying huge transfer fees & had some of the best in the world playing for them & now they get our cast offs.
Not according to my listings they aren’t? It’s on bloody viaplay. I don’t pay for that on top of sky and tnt.
Football Italia back in the day. James Richardson, Ken Wolstenholme, Joe Jordan, Luther Blissett, Ray Wilkins Maldini. Baresi. Baggio. George Weah. Batistuta. Lombardo. Totti. Glorious days.
Not got the financial muscle of the Premier League and the top sides in Spain, Bayern, PSG etc. However, Inter got to the UCL Final last year having beaten Milan in the semis, so that's not a bad effort. Milan hammered Newcastle the other night in terms of shots etc, albeit it ended 0-0. But yeah it's not like it was in the 90s.
They had a team in all three European competition finals last season. Granted they didn't win any, but the standard isn't that bad.
Italy & Germany have been two power houses of European & national football. They will return, but for the moment they are in the doldrums. Money speaks in terms of divisions, but there seems to be a lack of upcoming players, which is unusual. Croatia has never had a team paying top bucks, but they consistently produce top players, with a tiny population. That said, one of them will knock us out in the semis...
Mmm small boys in the park, Sunday mornings, channel 4, James Richardson, jumpers for goalposts, big pink paper, al fresco cappuccino, isn't it, wasn't it?
Looking at the results in the euro comps this week it might suggest that outside of the top 4 the PL isn't the 'best League in the world' either. Brighton and Villa losing to some lower ranked dross.
Ownership rules which should in theory lead to the clubs being sustainably and democratically run, sensible ticket prices. It's everything that the English leagues should be.
Even in those early days, it always, without fail, bored me to tears. S-l-o-w beyond belief. James Richardson's espresso-fuelled paper reviews were the only entertaining thing about it.
I also used to love the channel 4 show when I was young and Juve were the team that caught my eye. Davids, Del Piero, Nedved, Camoranesi, Buffon. Still keep an eye out for Juve and the league after the English leagues. As others have said, the money isn’t there like it is in other leagues, mainly the premier league blowing everyone out of the water the last handful of years.
Going to the San Siro today to watch AC - Verona so be interesting to see how the standard is upfront. #ForzaAC
The AC Milan team of late 80s, early 90s, is my favourite club team of all time (BFC of 2001/2 excepted of course). The bolded players really were the best in the world at the time. Baresi, Costacurta, Maldini, Tassotti, Albertini, Ancellotti, Donadoni, Fuser, Rijkard, Gullit, Simone, Van Basten
