Articles by Stefano Ursolini
There has always been a respect from Italians for f English football. The word mister is often used to describe the Italian manager , the Juventus jersey of black and white stripes came from England ‘s oldest football club Notts. County and clubs Milan and Genoa have British not Italian [...]
The Euros: from an Italian perspective
It’s not just in The Rust that Italy are regarded as team of the tournament. The team, without a big name, have discovered the right mix under Robert Mancini and are unbeaten in 31 games. Last night’s performance against Austria (2-1 after extra time) was more – as you say – [...]
Ciao from Florence
We had a more severe lockdown than you maybe because we Italians are not too good at respecting the law! Messaging my friends and colleagues on the National Rust, I understand that at every level English lockdown is a matter of interpretation, usually in favour of the person deciding. As with [...]
Fiorentina file: Fiorentina 0 Genoa 0
The high hopes of new owner US media billionaire Rocco Commisso are dissipating. We are still mid-table and the only real evidence of his financial backing is we still have Federico Chiesa. Over the last few years there has been a revolving door of talented players from Florence like Alonso [...]
Fiorentina file: Milan 1 Fiorentina 3
I see it as my role to report on my beloved Viola but I appreciate many readers prefer a more general update on Serie A. So I will begin by saying this is the worst Milan side I have ever seen. In the Berlusconi era, Milan fielded Gullit, Rijkaard, Van Basten, Baresi, Maldini, Donadoni, Shevchenko [...]
Fiorentina 0 Juventus 0
Like OGC Nice we have a new billionaire owner one Rocco Commisso who made his fortune (7 billion Euros estimate) in American media and TV. He is not of Florence but wanted to acquire a Serie A team. When you have a rich owner you cannot just complete in the market but also offer sufficient solid [...]
Fiorentina File
Conscious that not every one in the UK who reads the Rust is as interested in Fiorentina as myself I do try to find a British angle. Over the last few years the Viola have acquired successfully from Premiership clubs – Alonso, Salah, Borja Valero, Kataniklic, Claudio Sanchez, Pizarro. Last [...]
Fiorentina File: Fiorentina 0 Juventus 3
For us Viola fans this was the big one. We have always thought that a penalty denied to us at Cagliari and one awarded to Juventus at Catanzaro presented them with the 1981 Scudetto: we hated the sale of Roberto Baggio to them and more recently the young talent Federico Bernardeschi. Sadly for the [...]
Fiorentina File: Sampdoria 1 Fiorentina 1
It’s tough for the Fiorentinas of this world. We have tradition, in the late fifties we finshed first or runners up 5 seasons running and were the first Italian club to reach a European final against the mighty Real Madrid and the first to win one, the old European Cup Winners Cup v Glasgow [...]
Fiorentina file: Udinese 0 Fiorentina 2
Alan Tanner’s Fulham is not the only Rust team to enjoy a winning run. Fiorentina have gone 7 games without defeat and won the last 5. The remarkable thing is that this has been achieved since March 13th when our captain and heartbeat Davide Astori ‘s own heart ceased to function on [...]