Born in Argentina with Italian origins, Mauro Camoranesi also enjoyed a glittering future after launching his career with Hellas in the 2000-01 season. He went on to win 55 Italy caps, lifting the World Cup alongside his old Verona teammate Gilardino in 2006. At the provincial clubs such as Verona, all supporters think that every facet of Italian politics and officialdom is against them. This goes way beyond the pitch: believing that they are considered to be the poor relations in life, they rally against power and money. It is ironic, therefore, that these resentful people can associate so freely with the players themselves, revering them as gods, oblivious to the fact that their heroes are earning money and gaining power that they can only dream of. The achievement only looks more impressive when you consider that Ciro Immobile scored only 12 goals, his lowest tally since joining the club in 2016 and only his second time finishing with fewer than 20. Maurizio Sarri leaned on others: Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Felipe Anderson and Mattia Zaccagni. The first of those may not return, having so far declined to extend a contract that expires in 2024.

A Season With Verona - Tim Parks - Google Books A Season With Verona - Tim Parks - Google Books

The truth is probably less exotic: these clubs have better players, and are therefore entitled to win more, though it is true that they also have "bigger" presidents who have more political clout. But in my four years in Italy I can honestly say that I was never exposed to any football-related scandal, either against me at Bari or Sampdoria, or for me at the more powerful Juventus. Massimiliano Allegri completed a nice piece of symmetry this season. Photograph: Marcelo del Pozo/Reuters Craftiest appointment European Champions Clubs' Cup". UEFA. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012 . Retrieved 22 September 2011. The intercity fixtures against Chievo Verona are known as the " Derby della Scala". The name refers to the Scaligeri or della Scala aristocratic family, who were rulers of Verona during the Middle Ages and early Renaissance. From 1898 to 1926, Italian football was organised into regional groups. In this period, Hellas was one of the founding teams of the early league and often among its top final contenders. In 1911, the city helped Hellas replace the early, gritty football fields with a proper venue. This allowed the team to take part in its first regional tournament, which until 1926, was the qualifying stage for the national title.

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After a three-year stay, their last stint in Serie A ended in grief in 2002. That season emerging international talents such as Adrian Mutu, Mauro Camoranesi, Alberto Gilardino, Martin Laursen, Massimo Oddo, Marco Cassetti and coach Alberto Malesani failed to capitalise on an excellent start and eventually dropped into fourth-to-last place for the first time all season on the final match day, enforcing relegation into Serie B.

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While football has clearly changed in the intervening twenty years, many of the issues, themes and emotions that Parks explores remain reassuringly familiar to fans today. Even the players and staff have an air of familiarity to them, as, despite Verona’s shortcomings that season, many went on to achieve big things elsewhere. During these first few years, Hellas was one of three or four area teams playing at a municipal level while fighting against city rivals Bentegodi to become the city's premier football outfit. By the 1907–08 season, Hellas was playing against regional teams, and an intense rivalry with Vicenza that has lasted to this day was born. Maurizio Setti, the current president at Verona, has left the fans frustrated with his limited investment in the club. Some things never change. The mister Personally, though, I struggle to look past the two best performers on a Napoli team that finished 16 points clear oftheir closest competition. Kvaratskhelia won the official award, and I could certainly get behind that, Serie A’s assist leader chipping in 12 strikes of his own and dazzling us repeatedly with his vision and dribbling. Yet the Georgian’s form did dip towards the end of the season, with no goal contributions from April onwards.

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The Torino manager, Ivan Juric, explaining how to stop Kvaratskhelia: “You just need to make the sign of the cross and hope it’s not his day.” Unlikeliest TikTok star

A Season With Verona by Tim Parks | Waterstones

As for Parks himself, it’s fair to say that he has moved on. He still writes about life in Italy (his latest book Italian Lifeis a self-styled fable exploring life in a paradoxical country), but he no longer lives in Verona and follows the club from a distance, making only a very occasional appearance on the famous Curva. When Prandelli left in the summer of 2000, he was replaced by Attilio Perotti, a reserved journeyman coach in his fifties who had managed Verona to promotion in the 1995-96 season. Despite that previous success with the club, Perotti had never coached in Serie A before and struggled to inspire his players. I had one taste of this extreme form of hero-worship. Suspended for a game, ironically against Verona, while I was playing for Bari, I was invited to watch the game with the supporters in their curva (end). My dilemma was that the president of the club had also asked me to sit next to him to watch the game. I made the tactical decision to spend just 15 minutes with the supporters, before taking my seat next to the president. For this simple act, I am now given a hero's welcome whenever I revisit Bari. It made me a Bari Ultra. A fascinating emotional journey... His descriptions of Italian football are descriptions of Italy itself, its regional differences, its squabbles, its distinctive temper" ( Daily Telegraph) A Season with Verona, the cult classic by Tim Parks, charted the highs and lows of a year spent following Hellas Verona, an unfashionable provincial club who were struggling for survival in Serie A. Of course, the book is far more than football. It delves into the very essence of being a fan, while seamlessly exploring Italian history, politics, culture and society. This year marks the 20th anniversary of that epic season, so what better time reflect on an incredible story and a great book.A clash of egos between Prandelli and Pastorello resulted in the coach being moved on that summer (what a different book Parks might have written had Prandelli’s contract been extended). Prandelli went on to achieve great success elsewhere, most notably with Fiorentina and the Italian national team, reaching the final of Euro 2012. Now 63, he is still remembered fondly for what he achieved in his two years in Verona, and in particular, for that unprecedented fifteen game unbeaten run. These were more than mere modest achievements for a mid-size city with a limited appeal to fans across the nation. But soon enough financial difficulties caught up with team managers. In 1991 the team folded and was reborn as Verona, regularly moving to and fro between Serie A and Serie B for several seasons. In 1995 the name was officially returned to Hellas Verona. It was a fantastic time of my life and a fantastic experience that year when I travelled with the Brigate Gialloblùto all the games and barely did anything but live football and plan away games and make new friends and shout myself hoarse every week. I wouldn’t like to spoil it now with something that couldn’t catch that crazy energy.”