If you were to guess at the first team to go through an entire Serie A season unbeaten, a few obvious names leap out. The Milan clubs, Juventus, maybe Roma or Lazio. But in the 1978-9 season, in a long, difficult title fight against Milan, it was a small regional side from Umbria, Perugia, who achieved the feat. And yet, more remarkably still, they somehow still failed to win the Scudetto.
Continue reading “The Heartbreaking Story of the First Italian Invincibles”
Following their success at the 1966 World Cup, and the disappointment of a Quarter-Final exit in 1970, there was shock in 1973 when England, still under the command of Sir Alf Ramsey, was unable to qualify for the competition to take place in the following year. Jan Tomaszewski, branded a clown by Brian Clough, put in a man of the match performance for Poland, and Alf Ramsey left his post to be replaced by Don Revie. But that didn’t mean England had no representation at the tournament. Most famously, Jack Taylor refereed the final between West Germany and the Netherlands. But more intriguing is the story of Joseph Wilson, Lazio legend and Italy international.
Continue reading “The Darlington Maldini”