Search: ' Ivano Bonetti'

Aside from the chevron on their shirts, Filippo Ricci explains that Sampdoria are now unrecognisable from the team that came so close to European glory just a decade ago

On April 21, Sampdoria lost 2-0 at home to Serie B’s bottom club, Crotone, a team from a tiny town in Cal­abria. The result left the once-mighty club just four points above the relegation zone with six games to go. Ten years ago, Sampdoria lost the last the Euro­pean Cup final before the start of the Champions League, 1-0 to Barcelona at Wembley. On paper, it’s a long jour­ney, on the pitch, a quick and irreversible plunge.

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Ken Gall tries to unravel the preposterous chain of events that has turned the affairs of Dundee FC into something akin to the plot of a TV gangland fantasy

Of all the weird and wonderful tales associated with British football, can any boast a cast as varied and a storyline as fantastic as that of Dundee FC?

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Gabriele Marcotti explores the stories of some of the less celebrated Italian imports

There is a world beyond that of the Zolas and Dii Canios, one generally inhabited by Italian foot­balling refugees who, rarely by choice, take the plunge into the muddy waters of non-Premiership Britain. It is difficult to categorise them, beyond the fact that all had very compelling reasons to leave the world of calcio. Why else would you walk away?

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Saturday 2 Germany drop World Cup points in a 2-2 draw with Finland, who had been two up at half-time. Northern Ireland suffer a fifth successive defeat, 1-0 to Bulgaria (“It was Sunday park defending,” groans Sammy McIlroy) while Ryan Giggs misses an open goal in Wales’ 2-1 home defeat by Poland. The Rep of Ireland are held 1-1 at home by Portugal. The two sides’ pre-match sniping is rounded off by Portuguese coach Antonio Oliveira making a rude gesture at Mick McCarthy at the final whistle.

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Foreigners both obscure and notorious are flooding into Scotland. Gary Oliver suggests some clubs may have bought better than others

If Jim McLean is proved to have cut the lip of BBC reporter John Barnes, it will be a rare instance of a Dundee United man hitting the target this season. The team, like the former manager and chairman, has become a parody of its former self. At Tannadice there no longer appears to be a quality control department, and the club is recruiting increasingly obscure foreign players of dubious ability.

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