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.