Katy Perry..Bouncing

Thought i would throw in a gif of Katy Perry having a little bounce... Wish she went to Town matches...

Forza Juve!

Following the World Cup 94, i was now hooked on football and was determined to find out as much as possible about it as i could, especially Italian. This was way before the Internet started appearing in our homes so the only way to find out more about it was through magazines or one of the four channels we had back then, so skimming through the 'Radio Times' for TV listings i found a magazine show - 10am every Saturday morning - 'Gazzetta Football Italia'.

Watching highlights of some of the greatest players in the world at that time, Gabriel Batistuta, Abel Balbo,  Paolo Maldini, Franco Baresi, Zvonimir Boban just to name a few, but there was one player i came to see, of course Roberto Baggio.

This is when i first came across the black and white stripes of Juventus, i had no idea how good they were or who any of the players were at that time, but Baggio played for them so they were MY team from now on.

One of the first live Juventus matches i ever saw (Football Italia showed live matches on a Sunday afternoon) was a classic. Juve were at home and losing 2-0 thanks to two first half goals until a surge in the last 20 minutes saw them come out 3-2 winners, 'The Bald Bomber' Gianluca Vialli scored a Bullet header then latched onto a botched clearance to poke home an equalizer, then in the 89th minute i saw what i still believe is the best goal i have seen live and a possible new footballing hero emerge. Alessandro Del Piero.

Juventus went on to win their 23rd league title that season which was dedicated to Andrea Fortunato, an extremely promising left back who unfortunately died of Pneumonia after battling Leukemia for a year.

Roberto Baggio left Juventus that summer and moved to Milan, but it didn't matter now, i had found the team i liked and still support them to this day. They went on to win the Champions League the season after with a penalty shootout against Ajax and i had my first taste of my team winning things. It sure wouldn't be the last....

Footballing Introductions

When i was young, i never had any friends who supported any kind of football team, it was just my good friend Andy, Brother Rich and myself sat around playing computer games on the Commodore 64, SNES or watching Wrestling all day at weekends and all evening until bed after school. My parents weren't into football either (although my mum did have a brief fling with Leeds Utd in the 70's). So in the early 90's my football knowledge consisted of only recognizing the Sheffield Wednesday and Man Utd shirts due to pupils at school wearing them on none uniform day.

My influences were limited.

One day, i believe in mid 1994, Andy used his holiday spending money to buy a game for the SNES called 'International Superstar Soccer' and this is where i first met this man to the left. Galfano.

One of the best players on the game, he played for Italy and had a distinct feature, he seemed to have a ponytail. A different hairstyle on this game was pretty rare because barring Galfano and a player for Colombia called Murillo (AKA Carlos Valderamma as i found out) pretty much all the players had generic hairstyles. I was ALWAYS Italy because of this guy, paving the way for the future.

Andy told me that he had read in a gaming magazine that the players on ISS were based on actual footballers and that summer i saw an advertisement for World Cup 94 and decided to sit and watch both my first football match and my first big tournament in anticipation to see the player who i had been controlling the months before. I wasn't Disappointed.

I had found the real life Galfano at the 94 World Cup. I had spotted that ponytail dangling over the back of that beautiful dark blue shirt. My first real memory of him was his 2 goals against Bulgaria in the Semi finals, his first came from a throw in on the left wing, picking the ball up and jinking it round the first player, running up towards the right wing across the box, knocking it past a second player and drilling a right footed shot past the keeper. His second, latching onto a looped through ball, let the ball bounce and placed it smack into the right hand corner and in off the post.

As i'm sure most of you know, the final against Brazil ended in a pretty drab 0-0 draw and went to penalties where the great Franco Baresi had already missed one penalty and it all relied on Baggio to keep them in the shootout.

Unfortunately it was a ballooned effort over the bar and that view of Baggio kneeling on the grass as Brazilians celebrated around him still sticks with me today, but at the time it did not stop me from wanting to further my knowledge of football and especially the Italian game.



Roberto Baggio turned 46 years of age this past Monday, a gentleman on and off the pitch, one of the greatest Italian number 10's ever and if it wasn't for International Superstar Soccer and the man himself, it could have all turned out very differently for me. Happy Birthday Roberto, may your jinky skills and ponytail live on forever.

New Start

Why Doom and Gloom you may ask? Well there is at least one thing that Football fans and Wrestling fans have in common, they both love to criticise and moan. A lot. I am no different so this blog is for me to vent my anger at the current Wrestling product (Vinnie Mac i'm looking at you mainly) Chesterfield F.C and their stuttering in league 2 (at time of typing, though i can't see there being a promotion party for at least another season the way things are heading) and Juventus, who i can't really think of much to moan about just yet, but i'm sure something will come to mind sooner or later.

Oh and I may throw in some picture of nice ladies in their underwear. If you are lucky.