One Night Stand — Square Ball 16/1/26
Make it make sense
Written by: Chris McMenamy
Howard Wilkinson took one look at Leeds United in December
1992 and decided that a change was as good as a rest. The reigning champions of
England were 18th in the newly founded Premier League, having picked up only
three points from eleven away matches all season. Sgt Wilko felt the perfect
solution to their travelling yips was to go away to Italy, in the middle of a
gameweek in early January.
Wilkinson felt that Florence, city of the Renaissance, might
just be the place for his players to rediscover what made them the best team in
the country the previous season. They weren’t there to study the paintings in
the Uffizi Gallery, nor stare awkwardly at the statue of David, but to take
part in the allegedly prestigious Trofeo Kenwood, which doesn’t need
translating. The allure of facing both Fiorentina and Inter Milan encouraged
Leeds to drag their full squad to Tuscany for two 45-minute matches on a
Wednesday night. Being paid £200,000 to appear in a tournament backed by kettle
and toaster sellers from Hampshire had nothing to do with it.
Trofeo Kenwood was marketed as Torneo di Capodanno — New
Year’s Tournament. A previous edition in 1981 involved sixteen Serie A sides
and was introduced to give fans some football while the Italian national team
took part in the Mundialito, organised to celebrate fifty years of the World
Cup.
Fans and players protested against the Torneo di Capodanno.
Juventus and Torino both asked to play away from home to avoid having to open
their stadium. Fiorentina fans travelled to Pistoiese for a riot and didn’t
even make it to the match and, for comedic effect, the final was postponed and
played in June.
Being paid £200,000 to appear in a tournament backed by
kettle and toaster sellers from Hampshire had nothing to do with it
The 1993 quasi-reboot involved only three teams in town for
a one night stand, with Leeds providing an international twist. Coming up
against Inter and Fiorentina, the Peacocks had two bona fide European
footballing sides to contend with. Inter had won Serie A and the UEFA Cup in
recent years with an array of superstars both foreign and domestic at their
disposal. They faced Leeds in the first game with Ruben Sosa and Darko Pancev
in attack, alongside disillusioned future Ballon d’Or winner Matthias Sammer in
one of his final appearances before returning to Germany with Borussia
Dortmund.
An almost empty Stadio Artemio Franchi chose to entertain
itself by booing every touch of ex-player Nicola Berti in the Inter midfield
and shouting olé every time a Leeds team with no natural wide players completed
a pass. Evidently getting into the continental spirit, Wilko was sporting a
beret and set Leeds up in an Italian-inspired 3-4-3 with the unique central
midfield combination of Steve Hodge and aging centre-forward Imre Varadi, who
was tasked with marking Sammer.
Eurosport had acquired the UK TV rights and the minimal
subscribers they had were treated to the iconic Archie Macpherson’s polished
presentation. The Italian broadcaster Mediaset — the propaganda machine of
soon-to-become Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi — was somewhat more chaotic.
They had the foresight to realise that this would be a low-key affair and,
instead, saw it as an opportunity to wedge as much in-game advertising as
possible into the broadcast.
New Leeds striker Frank Strandli was flagged offside in the
opening minutes and they cut to a shampoo advert while play stopped. Shortly
after, Mervyn Day retrieved the ball for a goal kick while a cutscene showed
Fiorentina players huddled around a TV in their full kit, with a totally
natural looking Kenwood sponsor wall behind their heads, of course.
Berti opened the scoring for Inter after fifteen minutes
with a classy finish after Sosa took a cross on his chest and laid it off for
him. Shortly after, Day hoofed the ball up to a lonely Strandli, whose panicked
attempt to trap the ball around four Inter defenders almost saw Macpherson
break character. “Look at that… eh, totally outnumbered,” he said as Inter
nicked the ball and lobbed it over the disjointed Leeds offside trap, where a
lively Sosa fed Pancev to make it 2-0. Both celebrated like they’d just
successfully moved a fridge, barely showing emotion and likely wondering why
they couldn’t just have had a night off.
Both sides seemed content to avoid any major drama in the
remaining 25 minutes, reducing the highlight-worthy moments to a crowd shot of
Leeds director Bill Fotherby and Fiorentina president Mario Cecchi Gori sitting
together in matching camel overcoats and trilby hats, as well as another shot
of Leeds physio Alan Sutton looking perplexed as an Italian doctor silently
observed him taping Steve Hodge’s calf.
Coverage was augmented using moody shots of the stadium’s
complex architecture, with players traversing a winding staircase down to the
pitch and various sightings of Wilko giving off at officials in the tunnel.
Mediaset’s commentator made multiple references to John Charles throughout, in
the same way a taxi driver might shout “George Best!” at me on a holiday abroad
when I tell them where I’m from.
Leeds had an hour to digest their 2-0 defeat before taking
to the pitch once again. Wilko introduced his big guns to take on Fiorentina,
an enigmatic side with quality like Stefan Effenberg, Francesco Baiano and
Gabriel Batistuta to call on. Into midfield came Gordon Strachan and both Garys
— McAllister and Speed. Tony Dorigo and Mel Sterland played as wing-backs and
Lee Chapman was sent on up front to relieve a flailing Strandli.
The changes made little impact as Baiano scored twice to put
Leeds 2-0 down once again. Fiorentina were a club in the early stages of
collapse, but still managed to put the English champions to the sword.
President Cecchi Gori’s son, Vittorio, fired head coach Luigi Radice two days
before the tournament, citing the team’s drop to 6th in Serie A as
unacceptable. His replacement, Aldo Agroppi, was best known for coining the
phrase: “Better two injured than one dead.” That is, to say, playing for a draw
is better than risking a defeat.
Evidently getting into the continental spirit, Wilko was
sporting a beret
Strachan capped off a forgettable night for the club,
getting himself sent off for protesting a non-decision from referee Marcello
Nicchi after Effenberg appeared to elbow the Leeds captain. Although Strachan
could be classed as confrontational, to be polite, Nicchi had a reputation for
bizarre decisions. Three years later, Bologna’s Kennet Andersson was shown a
straight red card by Nicchi for ‘dissent’ having asked his manager to
substitute him after picking up a knock. Nicchi was retired shortly after but
failed upwards, serving as head of AIA, the Italian refereeing association, for
twelve years until 2021.
His red card for Strachan was about the only thing that
caught the attention of the English press, who pondered whether a ban might
apply to the upcoming Premier League match against Southampton. At the risk of
speaking on Leeds’ behalf, I can only imagine they pointed out that it wasn’t
even a full match being played. They weren’t exactly handing out commemorative
caps or appearance bonuses for 45 minutes in the freezing Florentine winter.
Back on Eurosport, Macpherson continued his commentary as
Fiorentina squeaked past Inter to win what should have been a sterling silver
toaster. Batistuta’s winning penalty prompted mild celebrations from the
unenthused thousands sitting in the ultras section of Curva Fiesole. “Four
goals conceded on the night and a man sent off,” Macpherson said. “But having
said that, Leeds leave here £200,000 richer. And it is all about money these
days.”
He wasn’t wrong. Leeds weren’t going to recapture their form
against an in-form Inter or Gabriel Batistuta. The cash pocketed likely paid
for Strandli, the much sought after £250,000 striker who left five months
later. The Scandinavian Matthias Sammer, nobody was calling him.
Leeds conspired to finish 17th in the Premier League, saved
from relegation by their home form after winning only once on the road all
season. Fiorentina won only twice in the second half of their season and were
relegated, despite sitting 2nd in mid-December. Both clubs went bankrupt in the
early 2000s, so perhaps the two men in camel coats shared more than sartorial
similarities on that cold night in Florence.
