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How did Italian football fall behind?


Stadia judging by Fiorentinas match v Palace. People talk about the difference between Man United and Newcastles corporate revenue stopping the Mags progressing. Fiorentina looks like theirs wouldn't compete with most Championship clubs.
I've never been to Italy so ive got no great insights but they do seem to suffer as a country with infrastructure issues, bridges falling down, buses setting fire. Infrastructure is becoming unfortunately as important as part of your club as a decent forward or a good coach. Italy infrastructure seems like its hardly changed since watching Gazzeta in the 90s
 
herra soul mob said:
was an article in Sunday times few weeks ago and demise is multi-faceted but one of the stand outs is the control the fans ( ultras ) have over certain clubs.
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Mental that. Ultras wouldn't last 5 minutes here. Nowt irks fans more than other fans telling them what the crack is. It's weird how it seems to go on even up in Scotland. Imagine the gonks on here trying to tell you what's what and how to behave? :lol:
 
Mackem00 said:
Mental that. Ultras wouldn't last 5 minutes here. Nowt irks fans more than other fans telling them what the crack is. It's weird how it seems to go on even up in Scotland. Imagine the gonks on here trying to tell you what's what and how to behave? :lol:
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See it plenty tbf. Though as you say, those people are immediately called out for being gonks and we all move on
 
Mackem00 said:
Mental that. Ultras wouldn't last 5 minutes here. Nowt irks fans more than other fans telling them what the crack is. It's weird how it seems to go on even up in Scotland. Imagine the gonks on here trying to tell you what's what and how to behave? :lol:
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Just imagine the Ultras telling women and children they can't sit in the Roker End. The middle block is for them and you have to follow a dress code. :lol:
 
The whole ultra thing is bizarre.

I was on a stadium tour in Germany a few years ago and was walking through that section before the game. I walked past the podium and the lead ultra came running over shouting at me accusing me of trying to look at their “song order” that was written down near the podium :lol: :lol:
 
AstroSchwarz said:
The whole ultra thing is bizarre.

I was on a stadium tour in Germany a few years ago and was walking through that section before the game. I walked past the podium and the lead ultra came running over shouting at me accusing me of trying to look at their “song order” that was written down near the podium :lol: :lol:
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Yep. I was watching a game in Belgium last year on a football tour. There was an ultra section behind the goal, so a few of us joined in. They ‘tolerated’ us until one of the lads got their phone out to video it, and then they forced us back out to the normal area where the rest of our lot were sitting. There was 40-50 of us, so we started our own ‘ultra’ section singing random chants. The folk sitting around us told us that the ultras wouldn’t like it, and true to their words, at the end of the game a few of them came over to us and instigated a small ‘scuffle’. It’s just weird behaviour.
 
DieselBert said:
Stadia judging by Fiorentinas match v Palace. People talk about the difference between Man United and Newcastles corporate revenue stopping the Mags progressing. Fiorentina looks like theirs wouldn't compete with most Championship clubs.
I've never been to Italy so ive got no great insights but they do seem to suffer as a country with infrastructure issues, bridges falling down, buses setting fire. Infrastructure is becoming unfortunately as important as part of your club as a decent forward or a good coach. Italy infrastructure seems like its hardly changed since watching Gazzeta in the 90s
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A lot of truth generally in what you say about stadiums in Italy but Fiorentina are actually in the middle of a complete renovation of their stadium. It has been a massively problematic project however. One of the big issues there is that stadiums are often municipally owned which adds a lot of complexity when a club wants to renovate.

Italy has had a few high profile infrastructure failures but some of their engineering feats (eg building motorways through mountainous regions) have been incredibly impressive and there are a lot of them compared to the UK. Probably not enough money in maintaining them (or, sadly, too much corruption in contracts historically).
 
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Kent Boy 2 said:
Yep. I was watching a game in Belgium last year on a football tour. There was an ultra section behind the goal, so a few of us joined in. They ‘tolerated’ us until one of the lads got their phone out to video it, and then they forced us back out to the normal area where the rest of our lot were sitting. There was 40-50 of us, so we started our own ‘ultra’ section singing random chants. The folk sitting around us told us that the ultras wouldn’t like it, and true to their words, at the end of the game a few of them came over to us and instigated a small ‘scuffle’. It’s just weird behaviour.
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All over a sport. Odd as fuck :lol:
hospitalball said:
corruption
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PUA CORRUPCHUN
 
The Great Soprendo said:
A lot of truth generally in what you say about stadiums in Italy but Fiorentina are actually in the middle of a complete renovation of their stadium. It has been a massively problematic project however. One of the big issues there is that stadiums are often municipally owned which adds a lot of complexity when a club wants to renovate.

Italy has had a few high profile infrastructure failures but some of their engineering feats (eg building motorways through mountainous regions) have been incredibly impressive and there are a lot of them compared to the UK. Probably not enough money in maintaining them (or, sadly, too much corruption in contracts historically).
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Thats kind of my point. We built an amazing stadium thats bigger than all but 3 in Serie a in just over a year. Spurs and Arsenal built 2 incredible stadiums in the biggest city in Europe. United and Liverpools stadiums are almost incomparable to when you watch them in the 90s. Every time I watch an Italian match except for Juve it looks like a trip down memory lane.
I know they are other issues. Only 2 Serie A sides south of Rome is completely unsustainable for football in the south of Italy but the stadia thing for me just means that year on year other countries are pulling away or getting close.
Italy isn't even comparable to England and Spain anymore, they are so far behind Germany as well. Mental to even think this but I dont think Turkish football is that far behind Italian football
 
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Read an article the other day on this very topic.

Can't remember where the article was but, basically it pointed to the Italian way of football being out-dated & therefore too easy to counteract for well organised teams.
 
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