channel4.com - Football Italia


Welcome: Talking tactics
What began in 1992 as a simple one-off add-on to the then new Channel 4 Football Italia programmes has emerged with a life very much of its own. As we celebrate issue No 150, founding Editor John D Taylor traces the magazine's history



Italy are currently ruling football. World Cup holders, club champions of Europe and World Club Cup winners. It doesn't come much better. And with a legendary Italian just taking up his job as new boss of England, the influence continues to spread. Fabio Capello was also the main man then, back in 1992, when I tentatively - and very quickly - put together the first issue of this magazine under its original name, Football Italia. His Milan side had just won the Serie A title - the first of his 15 major honours - and were on their way three more under his tough management. Our progress was a little more sedate, but significant in its own little way. While many other sporting periodicals have come and gone in the past decade and a half, we've found a loyal niche audience that has rarely wavered in good times and bad. But why? Obviously we struck the right chord from the very beginning and have changed things only subtly. Like Capello, we found a way of playing and stuck to it. But how does a magazine reporting exclusively on Italian football and written for an English-speaking audience exist at all? The reasons I gave in Issue One back in October 1992 still apply: 'Since our opening programmes on Channel 4, millions have become hooked on watching what is simply the best football in the world. This magazine is intended to add to that enjoyment by filling in some of the background to Serie A and its personalities. Good reading and good viewing…..' Coverage on TV may have changed channels a few times, but our mission never has - to inform and entertain. Today it's Mark Chapman and Laura Esposito who front Channel Five's live entertainment. For much of Football Italia's early life it was James Richardson who was the on-screen presence. And what a presence. Our first magazine appeared a few weeks after James had already introduced Channel 4's viewers to the regular visual delights of Italian football. Working as Editor at Chrysalis Television after a hugely satisfying career in sports journalism with newspapers, BBC Radio and ITV Sport, I'd helped get those early programmes on the air. A boring prospect warned the critics. A 3-3 draw between Sampdoria and Lazio followed immediately by a four-goal thriller then a 7-1 Fiorentina victory soon put paid to that talk. The Sunday afternoon live game - with no terrestrial opposition unlike today - made an enormous impact. The Saturday morning Gazzetta programme also hosted by James was just as popular. Indeed, it became cult viewing. But in came the letters imploring us for even more background on the 'newly discovered' stars from the peninsula. Neil Duncanson, innovative pioneer of the TV coverage in his new role as head of Chrysalis Sport, agreed I should produce a one-off magazine to satisfy the viewers. It was such a big hit that more followed intermittently before we bowed to demand and started printing monthly in 1997. Over 11 years later we're still doing the same every four weeks. As one of my old newspaper Editors remarked: “Keep on doing it, you'll get it right eventually….” It was almost a one-man band as I juggled the roles of Senior Producer on the television programmes with Editorship of the magazine. Only knowledgeable freelance Ray Della Pietra - later to drive me bonkers - kept me sane. Rightly, with this part-time approach, neither publishing giants EMAP nor Future who took us under their wings were convinced of our long-term prospects. My first publisher was former Fulham and QPR lionheart Bobby Keetch. What a character. Much missed, he's no doubt cutting deals elsewhere! Another soccer nut, Tony MacDonald, lured us to Independent Magazines where, thanks to him and advertising supremos Tony Prince and Russell Stander, we flourished. In February 2005 we were on the move again - this time to the newly formed Bath-based Anthem publishing company. Jon Bickley has been our enthusiastic guardian ever since and - despite his strange Plymouth Argyle leanings - he's been a great supporter of the Italian game. As we flourished I was able to give up the 'day job' in TV to return to full-time print journalism. And, like a football manager, I've seen the side alongside me evolve. Early teammates like Nik Howe, Renato Sormani and Peter Bourne have happily moved on to even bigger things along with quirky Art Director Phil Warr. Others, like valued assistant Antonio Labbate, Susy Campanale, Giancarlo Rinaldi, Dominique Antognoni, John Pitonzo and Dave Taylor - all talented and knowledgeable journalists - continue to make their mark. And there's the new breed - Steve Wilson, Richard Godden, James Sugrue, Paul Watson, Serafino Ingardia and designer Rich Crow and many others who've helped keep things fresh in the magazine while forging new frontiers with our sister websites at Channel 4, Channel 5, Eurosport and Bravo. I can't forget either the wonderful contribution made on these pages from veteran broadcaster Kenneth Wolstenholme. His death in March 2002 was a blow to us all. Even in his 80s, Ken was happy to learn new technical innovations even if late night calls on deadline day were sometimes required to make sure e-mailed copy of his column actually reached us. Other crossovers from the TV programmes came when summarisers like Joe Jordan, Ray Wilkins, Liam Brady, Paul Elliott, Graeme Souness, Don Howe, Ron Atkinson and Bryan Hamilton all happily contributed to our pages - and still do. With better ties than ever in Italy thanks to our link-up with Lorenzo Zacchetti and his colleagues at Eurocalcio, we still manage to bring you the big names and the big stories every month. In the early days we heard from men like Marco Van Basten, Frank Rijkaard, Franco Baresi, Paolo Maldini, Andriy Shevchenko, George Weah, Marcos Cafu and Ruud Gullit as the Rossoneri ruled. There were great characters like Gianluca Vialli, Roby Baggio, Ciro Ferrara, Pavel Nedved, Lilian Thuram, Gianluigi Buffon and Alex Del Piero from the Bianconeri. And other great players like Gianfranco Zola, Beppe Signori, Francesco Totti, Alessandro Nesta, Fabio Cannavaro and Zinedine Zidane have all featured regularly. Some, like Carlo Ancelotti and Roberto Mancini, were international players when we began. Now they rule the roost as managers. But they've still got to go some to top the records of Fabio Capello and Marcello Lippi who were the outstanding bosses of our time and often made the Italia headlines. As we fought to make an impact in the marketplace in the early 1990s a vital element was the British factor. The arrival in Italy of David Platt, Paul Ince and Des Walker following on from men like John Charles, Liam Brady, Ray Wilkins, Joe Jordan, Paul Elliott, Trevor Francis and Graeme Souness was essential in forging the link between Serie A football watchers and magazine readers here in the UK. But the biggest catalyst was that man Gazza. Where would we have been without him? He was unique. Love him or loathe him, he was a mercurial talent on and off the field. He wrote for us in the very first magazine. For several years he got more than his share of column inches. Exactly 150 issues on he's still in our minds. Whether he'd have fitted into the Capello pattern is debatable. But football is all about opinions. We've brought you plenty of those in the past 16 years. I'm sure there are many more to come as exciting youngsters like Milan's Pato start their push for glory. As I wrote in our hundredth edition: 'Thanks for all your support. It's been quite an adventure. And one I've been proud to be associated with from day one.' I can only repeat those sentiments. Here's to the next 150 issues.

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