Mark Bateman
When Jose Mourinho arrived at the San Siro to take over from Roberto Mancini as boss of Inter Milan last summer “The Special One” became the only non-Italian manager in Serie A.
In a division of 18 teams the only other club to be coached by a foreign boss this season was Bologna, who were under the management of former Serbia international centre back Sinisa Mihajlovic from November until his very recent sacking.
Italy is known the world over for producing quality players, winning countless honours on the European and World stage and for playing an important part in the history of the beautiful game.
But over the past 10 years the domestic game has seen a sharp decline, both on and off the pitch, with no one problem explaining it.
Part of the reason for the decline of football in Italy is the drop in attendances, Serie A is now fourth in the attendance league table, behind the English Premier League, Spain’s La Liga and the second tier of English football, the Championship.
A drop in attendances can be linked to several issues, value for money, poor performances and even crowd trouble, which made an unwelcome return to the Italian game which has seen several shocking incidents over the past few years.
These included the death of a Lazio fan and the Italian Football Association then suspended the sport indefinitely in February 2007, following the death of a police officer, who lost his life during riots at the Sicilian derby between Palermo and Catania where fans fought running battles with police.
More recently the crowd trouble at the Champions League game between Roma and Arsenal, in which poor security measures were at fault could have put this year’s final, due to be held in the Italian capital, in doubt.
And, just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse, the game was brought into disrepute by several of the big clubs who were found guilty of match fixing, subsequently Juventus and Lazio were relegated to Serie B.
There was one shining light in the gloom when the country won the 2006 World Cup in Germany, but over the years Italian fans have had their faith in their clubs, the league and at times, let’s face it, humanity in general knocked.
All this has culminated in sponsors and media outlets looking to cover the game in Italy being hesitant in doing so, only now is the game starting to get back on its feet and ultimately it will be on the pitch where the resurrection of Italian football takes place.
At present the nation’s elite teams are struggling in the Champions League and UEFA Cup, often falling well short of their English and Spanish counterparts and domestically big name players are leaving for other countries as are Italian youngsters.
One of the ways Italy’s top flight can be reborn is through the appointment of more foreign bosses.
In England, the top level game has benefited greatly from foreign coaches. Their influence can be seen in the work of Arsene Wenger at Arsenal, whose team are beginning to look like getting back to the days when they went a whole season unbeaten, earning them the title of “The Invincibles.”
And at Liverpool, Rafael Benitez, is masterminding a renaissance, with his team pushing Manchester United all the way for the title.
The virtues of a foreign boss are many, they bring a new perspective to the national game of a country which manifests in the style of football played, and this is noticeable at Inter where Mourinho is using training styles and match tactics picked up in Spain, England and Portugal.
They also see the importance of bringing in foreign players, make no mistake Inter will win the title this season, and Mourinho will then look to add the likes of Didier Drogba and Ricardo Carvalho to an already strong team, this is important in bringing fans to games and winning trophies, both at home and in Europe.
The green shoots of recovery are there for the Italian game, but if Serie A is to become one of Europe’s dominant leagues again it needs to start embracing those things that have made its counterparts across the continent successful.
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