In the early 90’s Sampdoria’s Scudetto winning side were beamed onto UK screens on a Sunday afternoon via SKY TV which I believe was prior to the merger with BSB. Seeing another side playing in red, white, blue and black with a noisy and colourful stadium slightly similar to our own was enough to make me sit up and take immediate notice. When I found out Souness had came from Sampdoria prior to signing for us - such was his God-like status to me - it just sealed the deal and made them my new ‘second team’.
Fortunately, I was able to see them come to Ibrox on a couple of occasions during the Ibrox International tournament. Roberto Mancini received an incredibly warm welcome from our supporters on both occasions such was his reputation in European football at the time and he duly applauded back. He jokingly lifted the trophy after we had beaten them in the final and received another big cheer. Relations between the clubs seemed to have been established through the Souness connection and the signing of Mikhailichenko in 1991.
Channel 4’s football Italia allowed me to continue to watch Samp on a fairly regular basis and watching Gazzetta on a Saturday morning turned into a bit of a routine before the drive along the M8 to Govan to watch the Rangers. I remember us being linked with Attilio Lombardo and Gianluca Vialli and being desperate on both occasions to sign them as I had seen how effective they had been with Sampdoria with both eventually coming to nothing. Given how they both faired in London and what they might have cost it was possibly for the best.
Sampdoria have never really re-captured the glory days of the early 90’s and as the star names began to fade my interest followed. Glory hunting allegations would be hard to dodge at that time! Their stadiums deterioration since its impressive 1990 rebuild is similar to that of the club's fortunes. Eventually they were to be relegated in 1999 before returning to Serie A in 2002. At that time they unearthed a gem in Francesco Flachi, a lesser version of Mancini would be the best description of his style. Flachi was a bit mad and was banned for two months for providing information to gambling circuits and then was found guilty of taking cocaine. A two year ban and contract termination followed which was a complete waste of a fine footballer.
Sampdoria then decided to replace one lunatic with another. Antonio Cassano was signed on loan then permanently from Real Madrid. Cassano has Gascoigne like qualities in his ability with the ball (especially the bursts of pace) He is also prone to being very self destructive. Throwing the toys out the pram or ‘Cassanata’ as Fabio Capello dubbed it is quite a usual occurrence for a player as gifted as he is frustrating. It could be said Cassano sums up the things I enjoy about Italian football in general: with his flashes of skill and explosive temperament.
Footage was hard to come by and I had to often make do with dodgy live internet streams from betting sites or three minute highlights from Italian football websites! Last season was fairly disappointing for the blucerchiata as they finished in the bottom half and lost the Italian cup final to Lazio on penalty kicks in the not-so neutral venue of the Olimpico in Rome. They also had to watch local rivals Genoa finish 5th and failed to win any of the derby matches, with Genoa beating them well in the last derby of the year. The atmosphere and displays by the fans at these games are on a par with that of any clubs Europe.
We often take success and trophy challenges for granted and having watched a success starved side come close to their own piece of history by missing out on the Coppa Italia it puts into perspective just how fortunate we are to follow a club as successful as we have been through the years . I’ll follow them again next year but with rumours of a possible Massimo Donati signing it could be another painful year for Sampdoria’s long suffering fans.