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What Happened to Serie A: The Rise, Fall and Signs of Revival
In the 1980s and 1990s, Serie A was known as ‘Il campionato più bello del mondo’ – the most beautiful championship in the world – and had the highest match attendances in Europe. The stadiums were not only full of people, but full of colour, flags, songs and rituals. Italy hosted World Cup 1990 and the stadia and stars on show in Serie A became iconic. Across a ten year period from 1989 to 1999 a remarkable 10 different Serie A clubs occupied nearly half the places in the finals of the Champions League and Europa Cup. They were dominant.
But then in the 2000s they began to fall behind and despite the Azzurri winning the World Cup in 2006 and Inter Milan winning the Champions League in 2010, Italian football was on a downwards trajectory that saw the national team fail to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, their first absence from the tournament since 1958. What happened and why? In this extraordinary book, Steven G. Mandis investigates. Given unprecedented behind-the-scenes access to Italian clubs and key decision makers and players, Mandis is the first outside researcher to rigorously analyse both the on-the-pitch and business aspects of a club and league. What he learns is completely unexpected and challenges popular explanations and conventional wisdom.
But then in the 2000s they began to fall behind and despite the Azzurri winning the World Cup in 2006 and Inter Milan winning the Champions League in 2010, Italian football was on a downwards trajectory that saw the national team fail to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, their first absence from the tournament since 1958. What happened and why? In this extraordinary book, Steven G. Mandis investigates. Given unprecedented behind-the-scenes access to Italian clubs and key decision makers and players, Mandis is the first outside researcher to rigorously analyse both the on-the-pitch and business aspects of a club and league. What he learns is completely unexpected and challenges popular explanations and conventional wisdom.
352 pages, Paperback
Published December 4, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 7, 2019
This book has its pros and cons. For one thing, it's an English-language book about Italian soccer, and that certainly works in its favor, as I feel there aren't enough of those. However, I don't feel it's as good as Forza Italia or The Miracle of Castel di Sangro. Admittedly, it's a very different kind of book, that probably never aspired to compete with those two.
Americans writing about European soccer is always a risky proposition, and I feel there are three possible outcomes. The first, is that their relative ignorance, and ability to freely admit it, gives the book a different perspective, and it comes off as refreshing and interesting. That's what I felt about The Miracle of Castel di Sangro.
The second possibility, and that's how I would categorize this book, is that it just seems that the lack of background knowledge really hurts the book. Just to give an example, I feel the authors, who I'm sure have the Cy Young , or NFL MVP award somewhere in the back of their minds, seem to treat the Ballon d'Or award as if it really represents kind of a consensus and you could really learn from it who was the best player in the world in a given year. I would venture to say that, due the fact that world soccer is played in many different leagues, over different continents, you can't really give an award that would be, in a sense, equivalent to, say, the Cy Young. I suppose a counter-claim could be made that, in today's state of affairs, only the top 4 European leagues, and UEFA Champions' League should even be considered. I would have to agree, but, this is only valid for the past 15 years or so, whereas the authors discuss Ballon d'Or winners from the 80s, when that was probably not the case. I must say that the book has such an American feel to it, that the use of the word "football", as opposed to "soccer", seems very unnatural.
The third outcome, and probably rarest, is the American who really knows his European soccer history, and can write about it as well as a European.
But, this Americanization has it's positive sides as well - the data-driven approach is refreshing, and, like good baseball organizations nowadays, it is not an either-or proposition, data is used as well as "traditional" methods, and I think the inclusion of discussion about Italian culture in general, and how it affects Serie A is quite well-thought out.
The bottom line is the author's point is well-taken, and I agree with a lot of what they have written, about how Italian soccer seems to have fallen behind, and how it needs to catch up. I can say, as a quarter-century Sampdoria fan, that my experience certainly agrees with what the book says about lack of online interaction with the non-Italian speaking fan. In fact, for a decade or so, I had been asking myself What Happened to Serie A?
Having revealed my fandom, I must say that in one way the authors were actually quite European-like: their almost total and utter ignorance of all but the top 5-6 teams. Juve, Inter, Milan, Napoli, Roma, Lazio, Rossoneri, Nerazzurri, Giallorossi, I almost want to throw up. How can a book about the 2000s and the financial collapse not have a dedicated chapter about Parma? Is there not a better example of their point? It's like trying explain the weird wave-particle duality of light and not include the two-slit experiment to support your argument.
Americans writing about European soccer is always a risky proposition, and I feel there are three possible outcomes. The first, is that their relative ignorance, and ability to freely admit it, gives the book a different perspective, and it comes off as refreshing and interesting. That's what I felt about The Miracle of Castel di Sangro.
The second possibility, and that's how I would categorize this book, is that it just seems that the lack of background knowledge really hurts the book. Just to give an example, I feel the authors, who I'm sure have the Cy Young , or NFL MVP award somewhere in the back of their minds, seem to treat the Ballon d'Or award as if it really represents kind of a consensus and you could really learn from it who was the best player in the world in a given year. I would venture to say that, due the fact that world soccer is played in many different leagues, over different continents, you can't really give an award that would be, in a sense, equivalent to, say, the Cy Young. I suppose a counter-claim could be made that, in today's state of affairs, only the top 4 European leagues, and UEFA Champions' League should even be considered. I would have to agree, but, this is only valid for the past 15 years or so, whereas the authors discuss Ballon d'Or winners from the 80s, when that was probably not the case. I must say that the book has such an American feel to it, that the use of the word "football", as opposed to "soccer", seems very unnatural.
The third outcome, and probably rarest, is the American who really knows his European soccer history, and can write about it as well as a European.
But, this Americanization has it's positive sides as well - the data-driven approach is refreshing, and, like good baseball organizations nowadays, it is not an either-or proposition, data is used as well as "traditional" methods, and I think the inclusion of discussion about Italian culture in general, and how it affects Serie A is quite well-thought out.
The bottom line is the author's point is well-taken, and I agree with a lot of what they have written, about how Italian soccer seems to have fallen behind, and how it needs to catch up. I can say, as a quarter-century Sampdoria fan, that my experience certainly agrees with what the book says about lack of online interaction with the non-Italian speaking fan. In fact, for a decade or so, I had been asking myself What Happened to Serie A?
Having revealed my fandom, I must say that in one way the authors were actually quite European-like: their almost total and utter ignorance of all but the top 5-6 teams. Juve, Inter, Milan, Napoli, Roma, Lazio, Rossoneri, Nerazzurri, Giallorossi, I almost want to throw up. How can a book about the 2000s and the financial collapse not have a dedicated chapter about Parma? Is there not a better example of their point? It's like trying explain the weird wave-particle duality of light and not include the two-slit experiment to support your argument.
July 12, 2021
I could be argued into giving this one another star. It's detailed and well-researched, but it can be a bit of a grind to read -- it's far more than I ever needed to know about particular aspects of Serie A teams. The case studies make for some repetitive reading (to be fair, the authors do point out that you'll be fine to skip those section, and you would, but it's a fair chunk of the book) and can feel like reports.
That said, the general analysis is smart and interesting, and I enjoyed the first half or so of the book which takes a bigger look at both Italian football and European football in general.
And, yes, it was mostly a coincidence of timing that I read this book during Euro 2020, which made for an interesting look at what's happened since the book was written (sad as that may be for someone rooting for England).
That said, the general analysis is smart and interesting, and I enjoyed the first half or so of the book which takes a bigger look at both Italian football and European football in general.
And, yes, it was mostly a coincidence of timing that I read this book during Euro 2020, which made for an interesting look at what's happened since the book was written (sad as that may be for someone rooting for England).
September 17, 2024
Weren't bad. I expected a longer form version of what was in Appendix A, B and C rather than a stats and figures type of insight
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews