In this column Spot goes all International on us

I’ve always considered myself a scholar of the beautiful game. I was never fit enough or talented enough to play at a proper level but that didn’t stop me watching and reading everything I could about football - the clubs, the players, the tactics.

In 1966 I watched every televised World Cup match. Brazil were off the boil that year and Pele was cruelly hacked out of their matches. Other South American sides were huff and bluster so it seemed a European team was due to win it. I was convinced it would be West Germany.

My dad was horrified. He was unmoved by my explanations of the deep-lying role of Beckenbauer, the vision of Overath, the way Uwe Seeler led the line, the wing play of Emmerich and the poaching capabilities of Helmut Haller. Dad had a healthy dislike of Germans and kept saying England would win.

He was proved right of course and I learned a valuable lesson: technically good teams don’t always win football matches and “my country right or wrong” is an honourable position. Of course, I’m now pleased England won in ’66 and share the national pain at their failure to reach a second final.

In 1967 we had our first foreign holiday. We spent a week in Austria and it was a real eye-opener after the Isle of Wight. I’ll never forget that first time I saw the sun rise over the Alps. One day we went over the Brenner Pass to Vipetino in Italy where I bought a plastic football (that burst before we got home). But I kept it, because it had all the badges of the Serie A clubs on it. This was my introduction to a different football culture.

I found out all I could about Calcio and in the 60s this usually meant Catenaccio. Hermann Herrera at Internazionale is credited with inventing it but he actually developed a much earlier system devised in Switzerland. Servette had enjoyed much success by employing a sweeper behind a back four. Herrera built upon this tactic and for a while his Inter teams became nigh on unbeatable.

By the late 60s most Italian clubs had their versions of Catenaccio so our ill-informed press wrote off Italian football as dull and lacking excitement. In fact, the Italians were years ahead of us. They made good defending into an art form and demonstrated the absolute importance of “keeping a clean sheet.” Over the years I’ve loved the tactical complexity of Italian football and taken pleasure from the cool defending of Geatano Scirea, Claudio Gentile, Franco Baresi and their successors Costacurta, Nesta and the sublime Paolo Maldini.

Of course, this focus on defensive strength bred forwards of extraordinary talent. In 1970 Gigi Riva’s goals fired provincial Cagliari to their only Scudetto. That summer Riva and Italy went all the way to the World Cup final and were only beaten by probably the finest Brazilian side of all time.

Whilst Italy’s fortunes have ebbed and flowed, they remain Europe’s most successful international side. I’ve been privileged to watch a number of their wonderful players over the years and in 2001 had the orgasmic experience of watching Totti’s Roma play Baggio’s Brescia at the Olympic Stadium. Life rarely gets any better.

After Celtic, then Manchester United won successive European Cups, Britain finally woke up to European competitions. I must have spent hundreds of weekday evenings sat in front of the box watching English clubs playing the likes of Dukla Prague, Benfica, Feyenoord and St Etienne.

During the 70s the backlash against Catenaccio began in earnest. Total Football was developed by Rinus Michels at Ajax who beat Inter in the 1972 European Cup final. Total Football was then employed to some effect by the Dutch national teams of that decade. Cruyff, Neeskens, Haan and Resenbrink became household names and other nations swiftly tried to copy the Dutch way.

In both ’74 and ’78, Holland progressed to World Cup finals only to be beaten by host nations who had learned what was needed to match them. Fabulous footballers like Beckenbauer and Vogts, Ardiles and Passerella inspired their teams to resist the orange tide. This allowed the exceptional striking talents of Gerd Muller and Mario Kempes to determine outcomes.

Liverpool and Nottingham Forest dominated European football during the late 70s and early 80s. Whilst I could never bring myself to support the Scousers, my regard for Brian Clough allowed me to take some enjoyment from Forest’s triumphs. It also made Saints’ 1979 League Cup final defeat easier to stomach as our opponents that day swept all before them.

The 1982 World Cup was dominated by another Italian striker, Paolo Rossi. Forty year old Dino Zoff led his country to victory over Germany in the final. Four years later the Germans were in another final, losing to Argentina in a competition blighted (in England at least) by Maradona’s “Hand of God”. The ‘90 and ‘94 competitions had some great moments but overall were relatively dull.

British TV had remained defiantly free of foreign football until the early 90s when Channel 4 began broadcasting live Serie A matches on Sundays. Whilst watching Saints under Branfoot had become a chore, my spirit was lifted each Sunday watching the sublime skills of Vialli, Mancini, Batistuta, Zola, Lombardo, Van Basten, Signori, Bergkamp, Brolin, Savicevic, Carbone, and greatest of them all, Roberto Baggio. What a player he was!

A Saints supporting mate moved to Spain in the 90s. He lives on the Costa Blanca and on visits there I began taking interest in Valencia, just up the coast. Without the resources of Barca or Madrid, they favour a counter-attacking game based on strong defence, overlapping fullbacks and speedy strikers. At the time their key man was Claudio Lopez. I’ve followed The Bats ever since. In recent years the likes of Silva, Villa and others have played at the Mestalla and moved on, yet Valencia continue to punch above their weight. They are officially my “second team”.

In 1996 England hosted the European Championships and 3 of us spent that summer watching 11 of the matches and I’ll doubtless return to this competition in future articles. By the mid 90s I could afford to take my brother on European football weekenders. We visited Amsterdam (Ajax 3 PSV 4) and Spain (Real Madrid 3 Valencia 1). Since then we’ve watched football in Rome and seen Valencia lose (again) at home to Atletico Madrid.

Recent World Cups have been rather disappointing. I understand FIFA wants to showcase the “world game” to the whole world, but expanding the tournament to 32 nations seriously dilutes quality. It makes for far too many dull matches. Goes without saying, England being uttershite does not help much either!

The Champions League however remains a fascinating competition. I don’t really like the elitism but as a football junkie I cannot leave it alone. Even in this more cynical football era, watching the top players still excites me. However much I dislike Rupert Murdoch the man, as long as he allows me to watch the European tie of my choice twice a week, I will continue to buy his product.

In my book, any football is better than no football. My approaching retirement will hopefully allow me to watch even more of it.

Photo: Action Images

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