Hard to please Italians: remember unlucky Uccio

HEADING into the final agonies of World Cup qualification, it seems an appropriate moment to talk about Ferruccio Valcareggi, the former manager of Italy, who died last week at the age of 86.

A national team manager, even the most likeable such as Brian Kerr, tends to be a target for harsh words. Italian fans, however, have occasionally expressed their displeasure with the manager by pelting him with rotten tomatoes on his return from a World Cup.

Valcareggi had the rare possibly unique distinction of having had the tomato treatment not once but twice.

The first occasion was in 1966, when the poor man wasn't even the manager, but just one of the scouting team.

The Tifosi were not prepared to discriminate, however, as this was the year Italy were knocked out by North Korea, an event only rivalled by England's defeat by the USA in 1950 in the history of Great World Cup Humiliations.

The second time was in 1974 when a highly-fancied Italian team returned from Germany with their tails between their legs, after going out in the first round again, this time beaten by Poland.

In between these two disasters, however, Valcareggi led Italy to victory in the European Championships in 1968. And in 1970 he was involved in two of the most memorable World Cup matches of all time: Italy's unbelievable 4-3 win over West Germany in the semi-final, followed by their 4-1 defeat by Brazil.

That 1970 Brazil side is usually described as the greatest ever, yet Italy only succumbed to the genius of Pelé & Co late in the game, exhausted by the combination of heat and altitude as well as the after-effects of that semi-final.

Another factor was that the one player who might have turned the game, the hero of the semi-final Gianni Rivera, was left on the bench until the final six minutes.

For years afterwards, Valcareggi was subjected to unjust criticism for his refusal to play Rivera. But Uccio, as he was known to both family and friends, was too loyal, and too much of a gentleman, to rock the boat.

It was left to journalists last week to reveal the truth. In their wisdom, the Italian FA had imposed a 'technical director', Dr Walter Mandelli, a Turin businessman, and it was Mandelli who insisted Rivera remain on the sidelines until it was too late for him to make an impact.

"I achieved some good things in my career," Valcareggi recalled, "but people know me and remember me for just one thing those damned six minutes."

It's nice to be able to report that last weekend fans and players stood in silence in his memory. For one minute rather than six.

Goodness knows what Valcareggi would have made of last Wednesday's big clash between Juventus and Bayern Munich. As one paper put it: "When the attendance for Bayern-Juve is 66,000 and the attendance for Juve-Bayern is 16,000, it means there really is something wrong with football in Italy."

Numbers are down by more than 15% on last year, and the average attendance for top-flight games is now lower than in France, let alone Germany, England or Spain.

Ticket prices are one factor; another is the wall-to-wall coverage of football on television. The combined impact is that Italian clubs are now extraordinarily dependant on TV revenue.

Fans have been organising surprisingly effective protests over high prices, including boycotts of some games, with some moral support from the players.

David Trezeguet, the hero of Juve's 2-1 win over Bayern, commented after the game that: "It's not pleasant playing in an empty stadium. The tickets cost too much and we hope the club will do something to ensure we have full stadiums like they have abroad. We're playing in the Champions League for our people, but we never have them at our side."

Italian football is also under a cloud because of continuing investigations into match-fixing which naturally leads to cynicism, even among the most loyal supporters. Outside Italy, however, there is no such disillusion.

In France, Olympique Lyonnaise can now proudly claim to be the only unbeaten team in Europe. The man taking much of the credit is Gerard Houllier, who and Liverpool supporters may wish to look away now is also now being credited for his former club's success in the Champions League.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Houllier's transfer activity at Lyon certainly seems more focused than it was at Liverpool. He may have lost Michael Essien, but the money has been used wisely, with Tiago and Pedretti being brought in to strengthen the midfield, while John Carew and the Brazilian Fred have brought power to the attack.

The most surprising success story in Europe so far, however, must be Osasuna in Spain, and their remarkable manager Javier Aguirre.

Often described as a Basque club (Pamplona is in fact the capital of the old kingdom of Navarra) Osasuna are a classic case of lesser-known footballers putting their highly-paid rivals to shame.

The club's entire wage bill is roughly equivalent to the salaries of two or three of the 'galacticos' at Real Madrid or Barcelona.

Aguirre, a successful player in both Mexico and Spain, has a uniquely 'democratic' approach to team selection: there are no first-choice players at all, and frequently there are six or seven changes from game to game. The rule even applies to goalkeepers. "There is no number 12," says Aguirre.

"All my players are number 12."