March 19 – Anglo-Italian Antics
FOR all of those that think the Intertoto Cup is an irksome waste of time, you’d better look away now. Today in 1995 Notts County became the last English team to win the now-defunct Anglo-Italian Cup, a tournament that, like an extra in a George A Romero film, just wouldn’t die.
The tournament was first conceived in 1969, when League Cup winners Swindon Town were denied a route into Europe because of their lower-league status. It started life in complicated format that involved two tournaments, one featuring six teams from each nation and the other the League Cup and Coppa Italia winners. The winners of each would met in a two-legged final that saw Swindon take full advantage of their day in the sun, defeating Roma 5-2 on aggregate, giving them bragging rights over their lower-league brethren.
Over the years the format was tampered with more than a FA secretary, abandoned in 1973, as someone with a smidgen of common sense didn’t see the need for a fourth European competition, only for it to be re-established as semi-professional tournament from 1975 to 1987. This gave the likes of Bath City and Poole Town a chance pit their wits against Serie C sides such as Modena, Lecce and Udinese, and lead to Sutton United being able to boast of European silverware when they defeated Chiete in the 1979 final.
Even the part-timers got sick of it though, and the competition was abandoned in 1986 until some bright spark decided to ignore the general indifference of the footballing world and revive the tournament in 1993, thinking it would be a case of third time lucky. Again, the powers that be opted for a confusing format that involved all manner of preliminary groups, mini-leagues and knock-out games. Unsurprisingly, Italian crowds didn’t flock when the likes of Brentford and Tranmere came to town, meaning the revised tournament only lasted four seasons.
This was long enough for England’s oldest club, Notts County, to win their only European honour when they took on Ascoli at Wembley thirteen years ago today in front of less than 12,000 fans. Goalkeeper Steve Cherry was the hero for the Magpies, frustrating Ascoli’s young German striker Oliver Bierhoff time and time again. Bierhoff would have the last laugh though, scoring the winning goal in the same stadium 14 months later as Germany won Euro ’96. As Bierhoff went on to join AC Milan and become one of Europe’s most feared marksmen, Steve Cherry would play out his days between the sticks at the likes of Rushden, Lincoln and Belper Town, following his release from relegation-bound County at the end of the season.
Sadly, it seems that even the camera crews of the day couldn’t be bothered with the tournament, so we’ve got no footage of Notts County’s European adventure to show you. Instead you’ll have to make do with highlights from that classic between Bologna and Blackpool in 1973, presented by a textbook ’70′s anchorman. Eat your heart out Jeff Stelling. More of the same tomorrow folks, so until then, arrivederci.
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Tees Betting Man on March 20th, 2008
I can recall going to several games at Ayresome Park to watch Middlesbrough play in this competition in the 1993-94 season. We viewed it as our only chance to see Boro in Europe – not predicting our march to the 2006 UEFA Cup final was just over a decade away! In the days when the fixture lists are already congested with domestic games it was a ridiculous idea to get this up and running again. It never worked and it never will but still the odd fond memory though!