Diego Maradona RIP

Skid X

RTE2 are showing the official film of the 1986 World Cup 'Hero' on Tuesday at 10.10pm, after Liverpool v Ajax


FIFA have also put the full verision up on their Youtube channel in the last few days

Wuff Wuff

The kit Napoli wore tonight as a tribute to Deigo is lovely tbf

https://twitter.com/PremierSportsTV/status/1333136888220233730?s=20

This might sound ridiculous...but there is something a little depressing about the "Maradona died" thread slowing down after 12 or 14 pages when you just know some VAR decision in a game between 2 big EPL clubs will probably prompt as much reaction here.

I appreciate that's just the way things go, it's not like we can force people to be upset about the player whose feats were part of the backdrop for many of us (on this thread) growing up. I guess he probably got more of a reaction than Cruyff.

eyerer

Deleted User wrote: »

This might sound ridiculous...but there is something a little depressing about the "Maradona died" thread slowing down after 12 or 14 pages when you just know some VAR decision in a game between 2 big EPL clubs will probably prompt as much reaction here.

I appreciate that's just the way things go, it's not like we can force people to be upset about the player whose feats were part of the backdrop for many of us (on this thread) growing up. I guess he probably got more of a reaction than Cruyff.

If it makes you feel any better I read every post in this thread and have been upset by his death. I agree with the poster who said it's not a surprise given his lifestyle, but at the same time.. I'm astonished. RIP to a legend

AidoEirE

Can someone tell me the name of the documentary that was released was it last year? Supposed to be very good and I'd love to give it a watch.

Father Hernandez

AidoEirE wrote: »

Can someone tell me the name of the documentary that was released was it last year? Supposed to be very good and I'd love to give it a watch.

You can watch it for free here, think you need to sign up to an account.

https://www.channel4.com/programmes/diego-maradona/on-demand/65185-001

AidoEirE

Father Hernandez wrote: »

You can watch it for free here, think you need to sign up to an account.

https://www.channel4.com/programmes/diego-maradona/on-demand/65185-001

Cheers Father! Got some whiskey with ice on the go so looking forward to this. Thanks again

jmayo

kksaints wrote: »

Very few because foreign players were banned in Serie A between 1966 and 1980. They also had Omar Sivori and Jose Altafini in the 1960s who were regarded as some of the finest players at the time along with Dino Zoff. Ruud Krol played for Napoli between 1980-1984.

Also your point about Roma and Sampdoria is odd. Sampdoria's success came at the same time as Napoli not before plus Roma had only won two Serie A before Maradona's arrival one of which was the season before his arrival. Napoli were underachieving but they weren't complete minnows like a Benevento or a Wigan.

Have to admit the only players that rank a bell was of course Zoff.

Now lets analyse your assertion about big name foreign players going to Napoli pre Maradona.

Just looked it up and Ruud Krol was 31 when he went there, hardly a young fellow at the peak of his powers especially back in those days.

Omar Sivori was 30 when he went there from Juve.
It was the end of his career and he no longer was playing for his native Argentina or adopted Italy.

Jose Altafini was the youngest foreign import at 27 when he went there in 1965 from Milan.
Those two guys did indeed help them to do well and they had their best ever Seria A finish, second.

So yes you can argue that they did have long history, hadn't done great over the years although had come close to winning league.

So instead of Wigan lets compare them to a club in poorish city that have once been close to winning league years back, but are nearer relegation territory when Messi joins them.

Newcastle Utd it is then in n2013 after they had finished 16th in PL.

Now could anyone see Messi joining them at that stage ??

Granted Newcastle did win league once and had European experience.

I remember Roma in European Cup final against Liverpool so included them.
They had Brazillians in that team so weren't exactly poor.
Yes Sampdoria had started to rise mid to late 80s.
They had been bought by rich owner and Genoa wouldn't be exactly as poor as Naples.
They had ex Juve players like Brady and had Souness.

Arthur Daley wrote: »

Naples would be the third or fourth city in Italy. And Napoli sort have the area to themselves with a big stadium. It would probably be like Valencia in Spain or Marseille in France. Or in England Newcastle before Keegan came in.

You cannot compare Naples to rich Northern cities like Turin or Milan with industrial powerhouses helping fund teams.
Inter was owned by the Morattis and Juve was owned by Agnellis, two of the riches industrialist families in Italy.
Hell even the relatively newly created Parma had the massive Parmalat behind them for years, well until the dodgy accounts caught up with them.
And of course Milan got Silvio in mid 80s, although they were bankrupt at the time.
Milan would be a very rich city though.

Even Rome is far richer city than Naples.

Doesn't Valencia have Levante ?

I would have thought all the top cities in Spain have two big teams, well maybe apart from Malaga or smaller cities like Vigo?
Now granted one of the teams is much bigger than the other in almost all the cases.

Say Your Number

While Napoli were almost relegated in 1984, they were only 5 wins away from 4th place, the last few years the average from relegation zone to 4th is 10 wins, does seem like there was greater parity, looking at Wikipedia it says the signing of Carnevale and Di Napoli in 86 helped (Carnevale scored 2 less goals than Maradona in 86-87) also for the 2nd title run they had Careca and a young Zola, not saying Napoli definitely would have been successful without him but he had a bit of help.

kksaints

Say Your Number wrote: »

While Napoli were almost relegated in 1984, they were only 5 wins away from 4th place, the last few years the average from relegation zone to 4th is 10 wins, does seem like there was greater parity, looking at Wikipedia it says the signing of Carnevale and Di Napoli in 86 helped (Carnevale scored 2 less goals than Maradona in 86-87) also for the 2nd title run they had Careca and a young Zola, not saying Napoli definitely would have been successful without him but he had a bit of help.

Don't forget it was only 2 points for a win back then. Napoli drew something like 13 matches the first year they won the league.

partyguinness

Don't forget Ciro Ferrara at CB.

kksaints

jmayo wrote: »

Have to admit the only players that rank a bell was of course Zoff.

Now lets analyse your assertion about big name foreign players going to Napoli pre Maradona.

Just looked it up and Ruud Krol was 31 when he went there, hardly a young fellow at the peak of his powers especially back in those days.

Omar Sivori was 30 when he went there from Juve.
It was the end of his career and he no longer was playing for his native Argentina or adopted Italy.

Jose Altafini was the youngest foreign import at 27 when he went there in 1965 from Milan.
Those two guys did indeed help them to do well and they had their best ever Seria A finish, second.

So yes you can argue that they did have long history, hadn't done great over the years although had come close to winning league.

So instead of Wigan lets compare them to a club in poorish city that have once been close to winning league years back, but are nearer relegation territory when Messi joins them.

Newcastle Utd it is then in n2013 after they had finished 16th in PL.

Now could anyone see Messi joining them at that stage ??

Granted Newcastle did win league once and had European experience.

I remember Roma in European Cup final against Liverpool so included them.
They had Brazillians in that team so weren't exactly poor.
Yes Sampdoria had started to rise mid to late 80s.
They had been bought by rich owner and Genoa wouldn't be exactly as poor as Naples.
They had ex Juve players like Brady and had Souness.




You cannot compare Naples to rich Northern cities like Turin or Milan with industrial powerhouses helping fund teams.
Inter was owned by the Morattis and Juve was owned by Agnellis, two of the riches industrialist families in Italy.
Hell even the relatively newly created Parma had the massive Parmalat behind them for years, well until the dodgy accounts caught up with them.
And of course Milan got Silvio in mid 80s, although they were bankrupt at the time.
Milan would be a very rich city though.

Even Rome is far richer city than Naples.

Doesn't Valencia have Levante ?

I would have thought all the top cities in Spain have two big teams, well maybe apart from Malaga or smaller cities like Vigo?
Now granted one of the teams is much bigger than the other in almost all the cases.

Napoli also had a wealthy business man president in the 1950s called Achille Lauro who spent big but couldn't get them the title. John Foot's book Calcio gives a very interesting overview of the era and I would highly recommend reading it.

I also think you forgetting how weird some transfers were in the late 70s early 80s. In the late 70s Vicenza outbid Juventus for Paolo Rossi and Allan Simonson joined Charlton in the early 80s when they were in the second division. Napoli also were generally finishing in the top 5 or 6. It was only the two years before Maradona joined that they struggled. Also that's a slightly unusual time for Serie A, Milan were in even
worse shape than Napoli and were relegated in 1982 while Juventus main rivals at the time were Roma and Fiorentina. Hellas Verona even won the league the year Maradona joined. The conspiracy theory was that there was a change to how refs were assigned to matches and it was made a lot more random. The system was changed away from that after a few years.

kksaints

kksaints wrote: »

In the late 70s Vicenza outbid Juventus for Paolo Rossi and Allan Simonson joined Charlton in the early 80s when they were in the second division.

A few strange ones involved Maradona's teammates.

Villa and Ardiles to Spurs after they were promoted.

And, of course, Alex Sabella to Sheffield United.

partyguinness

While Napoli was of course not competing for hounours it was not the minnow being painted today. They had a massive stadium and for sure they were a mid table Serie A team. Financially teams were a little more even- no TV money, no rights no globel audience. Yes clubs had benefactors like the Milans and Juventus but even they shared their stadia which would have been owned by the city.

I would compare them to maybe a Southampton or Newcastle.

Worth noting that Naples was the biggest city in Italy up to the middle of the 19th century and then Rome took precedence.

Arthur Daley

Yes Naples is considered the 3rd city of Italy, as it has the 3rd largest population. For sure the billionaires owned the big clubs of Milan and Turin, but on the other side there are wealthy in the south also, just the money isn't flowing as freely as it is up North. E.g. The stadium in Bari built for the 1990 World Cup and hosted the 1991 European Cup final, while Bari also splashed out £5m on David Platt at the time. Bari a club that have done nothing, and are mostly in Serie B these days.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naples#Economy

Naples is Italy's fourth-largest economy after Milan, Rome and Turin, and is the world's 103rd-largest urban economy by purchasing power, with an estimated 2011 GDP of US$83.6 billion, equivalent to $28,749 per capita

Arthur Daley

Arthur Daley wrote: »

Yes Naples is considered the 3rd city of Italy, as it has the 3rd largest population.

But I think it fair to say that back in the 70s and early 80s, it wasn't exactly the 3rd city of Italy in terms of prestige and issues like unemployment, crime, poverty and even life expectancy it was very different to 2nd or 3rd biggest cities in other countries. In ways it wasn't even like the same country at all. So for the best player in the world to stride into that was at least a surprise...

Arthur Daley

Deleted User wrote: »

But I think it fair to say that back in the 70s and early 80s, it wasn't exactly the 3rd city of Italy in terms of prestige and issues like unemployment, crime, poverty and even life expectancy it was very different to 2nd or 3rd biggest cities in other countries. In ways it wasn't even like the same country at all. So for the best player in the world to stride into that was at least a surprise...

Perhaps, although you'd find pockets of this in the north and around Rome also.

But then this was Maradona, that Napoli wouldn't have been that different from where he came from, or the culture of Argentinos Juniors and Boca. Maradona seemed to always see himself as an outsider, an outsider at the top table, but an outsider nonetheless. Another reason for the common man to love him so much.

el_gaucho

Something that’s worth mentioning for me is how Maradona’s former teammates speak very highly of him (good interviews with Ardiles and Pochettino). I don't mean speak highly of him as a player, but about how well he treated his teammates.

Someone posted a photo of Diego with Chippie Brady. Brady, who played against him many times, did a nice piece in the Examiner last week. He said you never saw Maradona shaking his head or throwing his hands up when he got a bad pass. There’s a good book called Il Napoli di Maradona by Gigi Garanzini and Marco Bellinazzo (only available in Italian as far as I know). There are a lot of interviews with former teammates. He would often have dinner parties for the team at his house and he even bought a car for one guy. I can't remember who it was, but he'd been driving an old banger. Maradona brought him to the car dealers and said "Take your pick, it's on me".

xtal191

https://twitter.com/brfootball/status/1333927310857297920

partyguinness

el_gaucho wrote: »

Something that’s worth mentioning for me is how Maradona’s former teammates speak very highly of him (good interviews with Ardiles and Pochettino). I don't mean speak highly of him as a player, but about how well he treated his teammates.

Someone posted a photo of Diego with Chippie Brady. Brady, who played against him many times, did a nice piece in the Examiner last week. He said you never saw Maradona shaking his head or throwing his hands up when he got a bad pass. There’s a good book called Il Napoli di Maradona by Gigi Garanzini and Marco Bellinazzo (only available in Italian as far as I know). There are a lot of interviews with former teammates. He would often have dinner parties for the team at his house and he even bought a car for one guy. I can't remember who it was, but he'd been driving an old banger. Maradona brought him to the car dealers and said "Take your pick, it's on me".

Indeed. That is certainly the impression I got when I followed him as a player. Even watch him in the England game in 86 he worked and tracked back.

He got the **** kicked out of him every week but he got up every time and drove on. He was a leader and he led by example. He was never a prima donna on the pitch and teammates would give 100% when playing with him as did Maradona.

I am reluctant to say but that I don't think Ronaldo and Messi will ever be spoken about in the same manner. Biggest differnce with Messi- Maradona was a natural leader on the pitch. Messi is not. I know it's a personality thing. Maradona passed a remark about Messi going to the toilet 20 times before a game.

I joked before the WC in 1998 that Argentina should bring back Maradona and just plant him in centre circle. It would automatically be worth 2 players and the rest of the team would raise their game 100%.

el_gaucho

Nice remake of the Italia ‘90 song. https://youtu.be/tIOBnv27CaE

partyguinness

partyguinness wrote: »

He got the **** kicked out of him every week but he got up every time and drove on. He was a leader and he led by example. He was never a prima donna on the pitch and teammates would give 100% when playing with him as did Maradona.

It must have been quite frightening, knowing that each and every week he would be kicked and elbowed again and again. In a way that other midfielders like Platini or Socrates never faced, because of the difference in style.

You hear of enforcers in ice hockey who end up addicted to alcohol or painkillers because they know they're going to face physical punishment. No one enjoys that, drawing the bullies in the other team to protect your own teammates may make you a hero, but it must be downright scary.

partyguinness

Deleted User wrote: »

It must have been quite frightening, knowing that each and every week he would be kicked and elbowed again and again. In a way that other midfielders like Platini or Socrates never faced, because of the difference in style.

The treatment meated out to creative players in 80s was one the reasons why Platini moved into UEFA and FIFA. He emabarked on a personal crusade back in the early 90s to clamp down on thuggish foul play and to give players more protection. To that end you can say he succeeded when you compare the game to day with back then.

gormdubhgorm

Excellent Documentary on the little genius here. Like a soap opera.

DJIMI TRARORE

Was the Argentinian cup always named after him, just noticed it on flash score over the weekend, Copa Diego Maradona

inforfun

DJIMI TRARORE wrote: »

Was the Argentinian cup always named after him, just noticed it on flash score over the weekend, Copa Diego Maradona

https://www.footyheadlines.com/2020/11/all-new-copa-diego-maradona-logo.html

It is more the pre-season tournament they renamed