UPFROnTUPFROnT
SQUARE PEG,
ROUND BALL
Ned Boulting
(Bloomsbury, £16.99)
●●●●●First convinced of the mystical
allure of football as a 20-year-
old at a St Pauli match in 1989
(the floodlights went out), Ned
Boulting began working for Sky
Sports just as English football
was becoming ‘cool’ in the ’90s.
As Boulting’s stock rose, he
gained access to the great, the
good and the downright feisty.
He was banned from talking to
Jose Mourinho after the Chelsea
manager accused him of being
‘anti-German’ towards Michael
Ballack, following a drab display
against Wycombe. Touchingly,
Liverpool wonder kid Steven
Gerrard admits his mum will ‘be
made up’ when Boulting hands
him a player of the month prize
in the late ’90s. The author is
also transfixed when ITV pundit
Roy Keane, over a fun hotel
breakfast with the production
team, forensically describes the
dramatic end to his Man United
career (there was “swearing,
shouting, an overhead projector
and even more swearing”).
This is a well-crafted memoir,
charting how football rapidly
morphed into an economic and
cultural monster thanks to the
seismic impact of Sky’s billions.
Jon SpurlingREQUIRED
READInG
If you think Norwich City’s Premier League record hasn’t
been the best in recent times, they’ve got some way to go
before surpassing Pescara’s top-flight woes.
True, the Canaries have been relegated in each of their last
four campaigns at the highest level, but they had the luxury
of three successive seasons in the Premier League at the
start of the 2010s, and larged it up at the top of the table in
the early ’90s. No such success for Pescara: during their long
history, they’ve spent seven seasons in Serie A... and six of
them have ended in the drop.
The club’s full name is Delfino Pescara 1936 – Dolphin
Pescara 1936, because of their location on Italy’s east coast- and their first two forays into the top tier ended with them
being the worst team in the league on both occasions. They
only didn’t finish last in 1980 because Milan and Lazio were
relegated with massive points deductions, following the
match-fixing scandal that also engulfed Paolo Rossi ahead
of the 1982 World Cup.
After Pescara’s third promotion in 1987, they made history
after staying up by a point... then inevitably went down the
following year, before finishing last again on their return for
1992-93 despite 12 goals from Max Allegri (right).
Maverick Czech coach Zdenek Zeman arrived in 2011 and
guided a young team including Marco Verratti, Ciro Immobile
and Lorenzo Insigne to promotion. Finally, there was hope
that things would be different. But no such luck: Zeman left
for Roma, Verratti departed for PSG, loanees Immobile and
Insigne headed back to their parent clubs and Pescara came - yes, you’ve guessed it – dead last.
By the time the Dolphins were rooted to the bottom of
Serie A once more after another promotion in 2016, frankly
fans had seen enough – they angrily lobbed fireworks at the
RAnDOM CLUB PROFILE
restaurant where the squad were having their Christmas
dinner, and attacked players’ cars before police arrived.
When results hadn’t improved by February, they were
at it again – setting fire to two vehicles owned by the club
president. You wouldn’t get this at Carrow Road; a few
tuts in Delia Smith’s direction maybe, torching cars no.
Pescara went down yet again that season and this time
didn’t return. So, they got involved in petty Serie B grudges
instead: when they faced Bari, fans hung a rooster outside
the home of Fabio Grosso, who grew up in Pescara but had
become manager of their coastal rivals.
They’ve since slipped into the third tier, but maybe it’s for
the best – given their unhappy record in Serie A, they’re
probably better off staying as far away from it as possible.PESCARA
Dolphins aren’t cuddly in Italy: on course for relegation, they turn to violence
DEAL Cagliari sacked manager Walter Mazzarri, but
also extended his contract to 2024 – as required by
a clause if they fired him outside the bottom threeFourFourTwo July 2022 17