Ghosts of Ingesson

By: Stephen | May 10th, 2011

I remember May 16th, 1999 quite vividly. I was a sixteen-year-old football nerd living with my folks in rural Ireland. Up until that day, I was, I am ashamed to admit, a Manchester United fan, even though my football nerdiness allowed me to have a favourite team in every major European league. Samp, of course, were my Italian team. They had been since 1994, since that three-way battle for the Scudetto with Milan and Juve, and those insane European encounters with Arsenal. There was something about those crazy shirts, about Gullit and Lombardo, the funny name and underdog status that I just couldn’t resist.

Out of context, the results of May 16th, 1999 are innocuous.

Manchester United 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur.
Bologna 2-2 Sampdoria.

In context, however, they meant a 12th league win for United and relegation to Serie B for Samp. Instead of celebrating United’s win, I found myself crying confusedly but passionately at Samp’s demise. My heart’s been blucerchiato ever since.

This year’s been a lot like 1999 for Sampdoria. Then, relegation came after the sale of top players and a management situation that was, even by the low standards of Italian football, a total mess. Luciano Spalletti (yes, that one, the one who is actually a very good trainer these days) was replaced by David Platt (yes, that one, who never actually became a good trainer) and Giorgio Veneri (who never worked in football again), who were replaced by Spalletti again. There were incredible moments mixed in with the anguish, like the 4-0 demolition of Inter at the Marassi, with a hat-trick from the legendary aeroplanino Vincenzo Montella and beautiful, beautiful goal from that little bastard Ortega, always there to put the icing on the cake but never to mix the batter.

That 2-2 against Bologna was a killer. The equaliser came deep into an injury time, a penalty from (and the name still spends spasms down my spine) Klas Ingesson. It was never a penalty. NEVER.

When Samp returned to Serie A four years later, I was present for the trip to the Dell’Ara in Bologna. The home fans unveiled an enormous rossoblu jersey with “INGESSON 8“ plastered across the back that took over almost the entire Curva, and the Samp fans went wild with rage. But within the rage, there was satisfaction. We’re back, we were all thinking, back to renew the old rivalries and make sure an unexpected relegation like the one of 1999 never happens again.

But it is happening again. The gap to Lecce in safety of fifteenth after Sunday’s heartbreaker against Genoa (their winner coming in the seventh minute of the six minutes of injury time) is two points. Our last two games are at home to Palermo and away to Roma; their last two are at Bari and at home to Lazio. Our Barese brothers will fight to the death to relegate the Leccese and give us a chance, and hopefully Lazio will still be fighting for a Champion’s League spot, but the fact remains that we need to win at least one of our remaining fixtures. I’m a realist. I don’t think that will happen.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out why we have gone from the Champion’s League to relegation in a year. It’s ludicrously simple. Samp had two world-class players and the president of the club got rid of them both. And didn’t replace either. That’s all. Secondary reasons include sub-standard trainers, horrible luck, and fans who confuse support for the team with anger against the board, but even the best trainer in the world can’t make a team without attackers score goals. Luck only gets you so far. Fans are only metaphorically the twelfth man. Good players win games. We, Palombo and Guberti (on occasion) aside, don’t have any of those.

Sunday, 15:00. Samp v Palermo. There won’t be a new Ingesson. Forza Samp.

Category: Serie A, UC Sampdoria

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Ghosts of Ingesson

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