Miko Romane...galleria di arte!

[Carlo Romano]

Individually, it could be argued that these three guys, Thomas Berthold, Thomas Haessler, (or Häßler to use German abbreviation) and Rudi Völler... though undoubtedly all good players, weren't really Roman icons. They are however part of my fonder Roma memories and a relevant part of our history. However, the only trophy we won during their time with us was la Coppa Italia, season '90-'91, in which Völler and Berthold played their part.


The first, and the most popular of the three to come to us was of course Rudi Völler. 1987 - 1992, 45 goals in 142 appearances.



45 goals in 142 games may not sound all that great but it's a sight better than some of our so-called strikers have managed! Quite aside from what he did for us on the football pitch, he made many friends in Roma and Italia, having a pleasant personality. He then spent two seasons with Marseilles before returning to Germany, signing for Leverkusen.

Though there are probably only four of us here who remember his playing days for Roma, a number of us here will remember, following his resignation from the German national job, he briefly made a comeback with us as allenatore in 2004 as a last-minute appointment after the shock resignation of Cesare Prandelli. He left us only one month later after a series of poor results and high-profile disagreements with players, notably Antonio Cassano.




Thomas Haessler, the second most successful member of the trio was signed after one season at Juventus. 1991–1994, 11 goals in 88 appearances.



If his time with la Juve didn't live up to some expectations, he fitted in just fine with us. For my money, one of the better wingers to ever play in Italy. Part of the thinking in signing him was that if Milan had their Dutch trio and Inter their German one, we could have our particular version, but as Berthold decided to go to Bayern, that didn't happen. The above pic flatters him...he looks more than his 5'5½" but in his case, good things did indeed come in small packages to quote the old saying. When he left us in 1994, he returned home to Germany, signing for Karlsruhe.



Thomas Berthold, 1989-1991, 3 goals in 62 appearances.



He joined Verona two years too late in 1987 when they were starting to slip after their fine Scudetto win and stayed there until 1989 when he joined us. His claim to fame was in being the West German(as then was) national team captain and a fine defender by any standard. When Bayern asked him to join them in 1991 he wasn't going to refuse.


Our version of a German super trio didn't work out but as Meatloaf once sang, "Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad!"

[Carlo Romano]

It's high time this thread was updated...


(1979-1987. 171 appearances, 12 goals)



So...how could we have this thread and not feature Carlo Ancelotti here? He spent eight years with us, a true wolf!

Carletto in his playing days reminded me somewhat of Marco Tardelli, a hard case who also had a good amount of skill to go with his physical presence. Carlo was less flambuoyant a character than Marco though, preferring to go about his work in a business like fashion and was therefore not always given the credit he was due. Nonetheless his time with us as a lupo included the highs of the Scudetto win and the despair of the European Cup final loss though he didn't play in that game.

Carlo said in an October 2009 interview with sportmediaset.it. that one day he would like to return to Italy and become the manager of Roma, the only Italian club he would go to at this point in his career. He also said he would like to be Commissario Technico of the Azzurri but not for some time to come. Perhaps at different points in the future he will see both his dreams come true though I wouldn't like to guess in which order!


Carletto played in our "Centenario" over two years ago along with Roberto Pruzzo and other past/present stars...






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(Sor Carletto)




It's not all about players of course. I think we ought to also pay tribute to notable coaches and presidents. Carlo Mazzone, often nicknamed Sor Carletto because of his Roman origins and the strong accent typical of the Roman-Italian dialect, is Italy's elder statesman among coaches and though he only spent three years in charge, 1993-96 without winning anything, this Romano more than deserves his place here for bringing much needed stability to our club in times of trouble...

The period of the late 1980s into the early 1990s while not being without some success was certainly troubled for us. Presidente Dino Viola had died and his wife held control until she could find someone suitable to buy her out. The least said about her régime and her decision to sell to Ciarrapico with his dubious activites the better!

At the start of the 1990s our club was involved in an all-Italian UEFA Cup final where we lost 2–1 to Inter. That same season we won our seventh Coppa Italia, and ended runners-up to Sampdoria in the Supercoppa Italiana. However we went through four different coaches in the five years 1988-93 before Carletto arrived to take charge. Spinosi was incompetent, Radice too conservative, Ottavio Bianchi (not to be confused with the bungling Carlos Bianchi in 1996) was certainly better but still not what we needed and Boskov could not do for us what he'd done for Sampdoria.

We sure as hell needed Carletto in 1993. His arrival coincided with that of one of our best club owners, il vecchio (the Old Man) Franco Sensi. He must be featured here at a later date.

Carletto for those who don't remember him, was on the football field by no means the sedate and distinguished man he was off it! A fat, elderly man certainly, but he didn't act like one! He was constantly having to be restrained by either colleagues or stewards for his insistent and by no means quiet manner of making his comments and instructions to his players. The opposing players, coach, even match officials were not exempt from his tirades at times and this pic below shows us it wasn't unknown for him to chase off after a player he considered deserving of a mouthful of abuse! I've seen him sent off more than once...




Don't be misled by false impressions. He demanded the best from his lads and could never have achieved what he has or commanded the respect he did by being a hotheaded fool. Here are the facts:

Mazzone is the most experienced allenatore in Italian football, having coached more than 1000 professional matches. On March 18, 2006, he became the Italian manager who coached the highest number of Serie A matches ever, breaking the previous record held by Nereo Rocco.

Roberto Baggio often defined him as being one of the very best coaches he had met and worked with in his playing career. Baggio in a radio interview (February 18, 2006) stated that Mazzone asked him to make a football comeback in Livorno where he(Mazzone) was the new coach. However, Baggio went on to say that much as he had wanted to accept the offer out of gratitude for what Mazzone had done for him, he was forced to refuse because of his physical troubles.

Ringrazie Carletto...un altro romano vero!

[Carlo Romano]

...and a little more on Il Principe,



The film clip comes courtesy of "Avon," an acquaintance of mine who refers to Giannini as "grace on the pitch!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTFlZ7pHCJg


Back in the day, il principe was the ultimate...

I saw a lot of his football skills (unfortunately all on tv) both for our lupi and for la nazionale. Totti often stated that as a young player he drew his inspiration from our Prince and he maintained a friendship with Giannini, even after his retirement, phoning him for advice.

Totti has since become our greatest player but Giannini was indeed "The Prince!"



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Also a reprise on

As I already said in a previous post, I don't go a bundle on Pannini or other 'toons of footballers because the likeness seldom does them justice...especially not acceptable when we are dealing with a man who deserves much credit like Damiano Tommasi! But this is good...

[San Paolo]

i feel bad posting after San Carlo but anyway a nice action shot (of mexes i think it is)

[RomaShield27]

To keep this beautiful thread going which our dear friend Carlo dearly loved:



The squad of 1941/1942:


Agostino Di Bartolomei:








Giocomo Losi:

[RomaShield27]

Check out these tickets, I think they were 'membership cards' for the CUCS ultra group. I love the old-school design, simplistic yet very effective:







Great library collection of lots of old Roma magazines and papers in these links:

http://www.asromamuseo.com/libri.html

http://www.asromamuseo.com/riviste.html

Loads of different flags and scarfs here:

http://www.asromamuseo.com/bandiere.html

All of these are from http://www.asromamuseo.com, a pretty spectacular website with a huge archive. You could spend hours on it.

[RomaShield27]

Here are official team photos off our scudetto winning seasons, 2001 and 1982, as well as the 1980's team. I done these myself using the original images I found on asromamuseo.com and doing a bit of work. I may do more in time.

Click on them to make bigger. I also have these in high-resolution, if anyone wants them to get printed let me know here. The images from the 80's are actually better quality than the 2000 one.

And loads of front covers of all major Italian newspapers throughout our last scudetto winning season 00/01 here:

http://www.asromamuseo.com/giornaliscudetto0001.html

[juventino_italiano]