James Horncastle
Having lived in Rome for much of his life, James decided to pick up his pen and write about Italian and European Football in 2007. He has written for the Guardian, Observer Sports Monthly, Four Four Two and Champions magazine as well as Calcio Italia.
The curious case of Mario Balotelli
Mario Balotelli wasn’t even playing. At least in Turin anyway. But that didn’t stop a section of Juventus fans singing: “If you jump, Balotelli dies” during last Sunday’s mind-numbing 1-0 win over Udinese. One columnist tried to explain the incident away by citing a famous novel by Alberto Moravia, one of Italy’s greatest novelists, in…
Inter ready to rock Barcelona
Like Barcelona, who claim to be more than a club, Jose Mourinho has always cast himself as more than just a football manager. Speaking at a press conference on Friday, the Special One even had the temerity to suggest he is much better at knowing what footballers are thinking than any shrink in the business….
The old and the new keep Juve in contention
It all started on September 19th in the year 2000. David Trezeguet, a high profile 40 billion lira signing from the then French champions AS Monaco, scored his first goal for Juventus – an 83rd minute winner against Panathinaikos in the Champions League. Nine years later, the 32-year-old Frenchman, who spent his formative years in…
Napoli party like it’s 1988
The last time Napoli won at the Olimpico in Turin against Juventus was on a cold November day in 1988. Diego Maradona and Ciro Ferrara were wearing Azzurro, as Napoli romped their way to a famous 5-3 victory that is still spoken about today in the unofficial capital of southern Italy. Fabio Cannavaro, another of…
Capello rouses Italian clubs to take power back from Ultras
England manager Fabio Capello breezed into the school of excellence at Coverciano on Monday with the air of authority that comes from having won everything there is in the club game. He was there to give an inspirational speech to the school’s students who want to follow in his footsteps. Instead, Capello launched an unexpected…
Samp make Spaghetti out of the Bolognese
Franco Colomba had been waiting by the phone for what seemed like ages. Then the call came, and he said: “Yes”. He was back in the game. The Menarini family wanted him to become Bologna’s fourth manager in under a year. Colomba turned to his wife and said: “From this day forward you can call…
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