by ITALIAN football will forever hold a special place in the hearts of Scottish football supporters of a certain generation.
The Gazzetta Football Italia and Football Italia programs broadcast on Channel 4 on Saturday mornings and Sunday afternoons respectively back in the 1990s at a time when Sky Sports coverage of the England game was still in its infancy for fans in this country.
The quality of Serie A at the time was far superior to the newly formed Premier League – although that would quickly change as a result of the millions invested by the satellite broadcaster.
Italy had the most expensive players in the world, the biggest name managers, the craziest crowds and the best games and it was available for free on “cooncil telly”.
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Football Italia’s iconic theme music can evoke a Pavlovian response in its fans to this day. They smile non-stop as they look forward to seeing Roberto Baggio, Gabriel Batistuta and Paul Gascoigne do their thing in the San Siro, Stadio delle Alpi and Stadio Olimpico.
Ask anyone over the age of 40 what the greatest club side of all time is and chances are they will pick AC Milan, Franco Baresi, Marco van Basten, Roberto Donadoni, Ruud Gullit, Paolo Maldini, Jean -Pierre Papin. et al, of that halcyon era.
Scotland’s leading footballers of the day could only dream of emulating their illustrious colleagues Denis Law, Joe Jordan and Graeme Souness as they watched presenter James Richardson sip an espresso in a sun-paved cafe as they watched on the big stories in La Gazzetta dello Sport. .
So while Serie A has been overtaken financially by the Premier League, Bundesliga and La Liga these days, it has been brilliant to see some young professionals from these countries move to to Italy in recent years to do their trade.
Former Celtic and Hibernian midfielder Liam Henderson started the exodus back in 2017 when he joined Bari. He then played in the top flight for both Hellas Verona and Empoli and is currently with second tier Palermo.
Henderson was followed by Aaron Hickey, who turned out for Bologna between 2020 and 2022, Jack Hendry, who represented the Cremonese in the first half of the 2022/23 campaign, Lewis Ferguson, who is in his second season at Bologna, and Josh Doig. , who joined Sassuolo from Hella Verona at the beginning of the year.
Of the aforementioned five, Ferguson undoubtedly had the greatest impact. He has been captain at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara this term and has helped the Reds and Blues to fourth in the Serie A table and a place in the Champions League group stages.
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The former Hamilton and Aberdeen midfielder has scored goals against Juventus, Lazio and Atalanta in recent months and is currently being linked with summer moves to AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus, Lazio and Napoli as a result his great form.
But will the 10-times capped 24-year-old be in the starting line-up when Scotland take on the Netherlands in an international friendly at the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam on Friday evening? Don’t bank on it. Will he be involved from the start in the Euro 2024 final against Germany at the Allianz Arena in Munich in June? Not likely.
It would have been unthinkable in the past for a player to perform at such a high level while being left on the bench by the national team manager. But that was then and this is now. Things have progressed a lot.
Steve Clarke will find it difficult to pick Ferguson ahead of Billy Gilmour, John McGinn and Scott McTominay next week given their past heroics in a dark blue jersey. The same will be true for Callum McGregor when he returns from injury. And maybe even Ryan Jack.
The Tartan Army’s most hardened foot soldier would not be able to argue that the Bologna skipper, deployed in a slightly advanced role for Thiago Motta, deserves the nod ahead of his beloved McGinn.
Steve Clarke joked and shook his head when asked at Hampden on Tuesday afternoon if he could have expected a time when he was not starting a Serie A player when he was appointed by the SFA five years ago.
READ MORE: Steve Clarke on the prospects of having Craig Gordon at Euro 2024
The fact that Ferguson is not an automatic feature for his country shows how far Scotland has progressed during Clarke’s tenure. It also shows that Andy Robertson and his teammates can go into Euro 2024 with strong hopes of reaching the finals. The strength of a side can often be gauged by looking at the reps.
His time will come. Clarke learned valuable lessons from Euro 2020 and knows he will need to freshen things up for the second and third Group A games against Switzerland and Hungary. Who could he turn to in midfield?
In the meantime, Lewis Ferguson should continue to live La Dolce Vita in La Grassa and see where it takes him. There are much worse places to be. All now! Championship! Di Calcio! Italian! Gooooooolazzo!
