Italia 90: When Football Changed Forever

Frozen Horse said:
The undercover copper gives interesting insight certainly.

While I've long argued that Italia 90 was a grim tournament that we remember fondly due to England reaching the semis, I recall it from my childhood as being quite a glamorous.

Looking back now, I'm shocked at how shabby everything looks. Have there been a worse set of WC stadia than Italia 90, or have modern grounds just changed expectations?
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Not significantly different to the Euros in 88 and 92 which I also attended, these were modern stadiums of their time.
 
relfyoftheboro said:
Watched this last night and really enjoyed it. Much more football focussed but some great insights from those interviewed, Gazza in particular.
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The interviews with the Cameroon players were good. And the Yugoslavia stuff was quite moving. The player who missed the penalty almost blaming himself for the war.
 
Zoophonic said:
Have to say overall was disappointed in the series. It repeated far too much, concentrated too much on the hooliganism and the final message that Italia 90 changed the view of English fans forever is frankly wrong.
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I do think Italia ‘90 made football “fashionable” again though in this country.
 
atypical_boro said:
TBF whilst the press obviously went mercilessly overboard with both Robson and Taylor, both (at the time) were hugely underperforming. Robson turned it around after he'd agreed to leave and left a lasting legacy, Taylor didn't.

Off on a tangent, but its easy to forget quite how daft some of the decisions Taylor made were. Admittedly he lost Gazza, Parker and Adams to injury, but here is a list of players Taylor left out of his Euro 92 squad:

Gary Pallister - PFA Player of the Year, chose Keith Curle instead
Chris Waddle - at the time a regular starter for one of the best sides in Europe, chose Tony Daley instead
Ian Wright - top goalscorer in England at the time
Steve McManaman - young player of the year runner-up (behind Ryan Giggs)
Lee Sharpe - one of hottest young prospects in England, chose Andy Sinton instead
Mark Hateley - seasoned continental striker who'd scored goals for a number of Europe's top clubs
Steve Bruce - had scored 19 goals for Man Utd the season before, as a defender
Paul Ince - chose Neil Webb and Carlton Palmer instead
David Seaman - chose Chris Woods instead
Teddy Sheringham - sold that summer for a huge £2.1m
Peter Beardsley - one of Liverpool/England's star forwards in late 80s/early 90s, great season at Everton in 91-92
Matt Le Tissier (before he was fat)

Taylor almost deserved the turnip treatment to be fair! Only time we've failed to qualify for the WC in the last 40+ years. Nice guy though.
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That’s absolutely crazy!!
 
Cardiffdaffs said:
I’d agree with that but that wasn’t exactly the conclusion the series ended with. I would agree that to say perception of England fans changed from the Battle of Rimini just before the Belgium game and the semi final was a bit of a stretch.
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When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.
 
Zoophonic said:
Have to say overall was disappointed in the series. It repeated far too much, concentrated too much on the hooliganism and the final message that Italia 90 changed the view of English fans forever is frankly wrong.
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Yes I don’t get the title either as Italia 90 changed nothing look at euro 92 for that.

It was euro 96 that “changed football” if your going to argue anything.
 
Jedi boro said:
Yes I don’t get the title either as Italia 90 changed nothing look at euro 92 for that.

It was euro 96 that “changed football” if your going to argue anything.
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Except....

It was immediately after Italia 90 that the European ban for English clubs was lifted. As a result of good behaviour during the latter stages of the tournament.

and...

It was ITV's coverage of Italia 90 that showed SKY the potential for football to be a 'trendy' TV event. It helped persuade them to outbid ITV for the rights to live football.
 
I don't think they went for this angle in the programme, but where I think it can be argued Italia 90 changed football was in terms of its commercial viability.

The change from an angry to a celebratory mood during the tournament was probably a factor in the drive towards a premier league, and the explosion in popularity of football, and English football in particular during the 90s.
 
Rofesleg said:
Except....

It was immediately after Italia 90 that the European ban for English clubs was lifted. As a result of good behaviour during the latter stages of the tournament.

and...

It was ITV's coverage of Italia 90 that showed SKY the potential for football to be a 'trendy' TV event. It helped persuade them to outbid ITV for the rights to live football.
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But they didn’t though they took Scottish football first that was the proof of concept that was the testing ground.
 
Frozen Horse said:
I don't think they went for this angle in the programme, but where I think it can be argued Italia 90 changed football was in terms of its commercial viability.

The change from an angry to a celebratory modd during the tournament was probably a factor in the drive towards a premier league, and the explosion in popularity of football, and English football in particular during the 90s.
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Did you know that sir Stanley rouse had it written into fifas constitution that there would he no sponsorship in the world cup ( look at footage of 66 to see the difference 4 years on).

Jao Havelange ousted sir Stanley and immediately brought sponsors on board selling the rights to well basically everything as you can see from the footage of Mexico 70 inglorious technicolour.
 
Italia 90 was the last with proper eastern European teams in with eastern European haircuts. Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia with Tomas scuravi, quality Romanian and Bulgarian teams. USA 94 still had a few holdovers. You just don't get players like ivanov any more. All their players come from man city instead of CSKA Sofia and dynamo bucharest and have sensible haircuts. The countries are all Slovenia and Slovakia and you aren't sure which is which. The only notable one is Croatia.
 
Sheriff_John_Bunnell_ret said:
Italia 90 was the last with proper eastern European teams in with eastern European haircuts. Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia with Tomas scuravi, quality Romanian and Bulgarian teams. You just don't get players like ivanov any more. All their players come from man city instead of CSKA Sofia and dynamo bucharest and have sensible haircuts.
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Bulgaria still has its cultural heart. Over half the players used this year in the Bulgarian National team play in Bulgaria and not one plays in British football. Mind you they aren’t very good at the moment.
 
Jedi boro said:
But they didn’t though they took Scottish football first that was the proof of concept that was the testing ground.
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When was that? I thought it was a few years after the Premier League started that Sky started with Scottish football.
 
Rofesleg said:
When was that? I thought it was a few years after the Premier League started that Sky started with Scottish football.
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No they started with the Scottish prem and Scotland though great we’re on the rise only for sky to drop em and go all in on this

1668609139627.jpeg
Bonus points if you can spot Newcastle or sunlun
 
Jedi boro said:
No they started with the Scottish prem and Scotland though great we’re on the rise only for sky to drop em and go all in on this

View attachment 47840
Bonus points if you can spot Newcastle or sunlun
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Are you certain? As I understand it, Sky Sports didn't start broadcasting anything until 1991. Until then Sky just used Eurosports - but Italia 90 showed them the potential.
 
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