He didn’t seek an autograph. He wasn’t interested in a selfie. The old man instead caught Sinisa Mihajlovic’s attention with a season ticket. It was from the `40s, the days of the Grande Torino. Fans like these, the ones that have been coming back week-in, week-out for decades, the authentic, weathered and loyal appassionato are a rare and dying breed. They’re the walking, living history of the club, its essence, its heart and soul and Mihajlovic, with his acute appreciation for tradition, made sure he stopped and made time for a conversation with this dyed in the wool granata pensioner.
The veteran spoke to Mihajlovic about Valentino Mazzola, the captain of the Grande Torino and father of Sandro, the Inter legend. He told him about the rare occasions the going got tough for the side many claim to be the greatest of all-time in Italy and how a bugler in the stands at the Filadelfia would toot out a rallying cry. Upon hearing it Mazzola would then roll up his sleeves and set things right. “We could do with someone like him now,” Mihajlovic said. “…He was the symbol of the dramatic and unique history of this club.”
Mihajlovic, it should be said, is an avid historian. You might remember him coming to press conferences at Sampdoria with a line from the JFK, Che Guevara, Walt Disney and Winston Churchill biographies he’d been reading. Researching - make that deepening his knowledge about - Torino was a natural starting point for him. The history of the club was a major attraction.
“All clubs have their own stories to tell, their myths and legends, but Torino is the club that more than any other is in touch with its roots. It draws strength from the past and you can’t coach this team without being aware of it, living it and feeling it on your skin. There’s nobody better to pass it onto you than an old fan who gets emotional just remembering it all.”
This is the club Joe Hart joins, a club that every year, on May 4, takes its players up to the Basilica on the hill overlooking Turin to pay its respects to the players and staff who died in the Superga air-crash, wiping out the Grande Torino. “Heroes are always immortal in the eyes of those who believe in them,” wrote the great Indro Montanelli in Il Corriere della Sera. “Children won’t believe Torino are dead. They’ll just think they are [playing] away from home.” Eternally.
The past is never the past here. Torino carry it with them every day. It is a club that is building a new training ground on the site of the most hallowed stadium in Italian football, the Filadelfia, a ground whose walls, in the words of Eraldo Pecci, a member of Torino’s last Scudetto winning side in 1976, sweat with history and whose corridors used to be stalked by the ghosts of the Grande Torino.
“This is an epic club that has known triumph and tragedy,” Mihajlovic continued. “It’s got soul, pride, blood and tears.” Living up to the achievements of the past is not easy, nor is it expected. “I’m not going to say we will match the legendary teams like the Grande Torino or the title winners in `76, but the least we can do is not betray the character, the values and moral qualities of this club. Football today is often all about money, business and image and that’s it. We’ve got to get back to who we are and respect history.”
Generally speaking, Torino have done that over the last five years. It’s one of the reasons Mihajlovic’s predecessor Giampiero Ventura is now the Italy coach. They have been relatively consistently on the rise. Ventura got Torino back into the top flight. He ensured they survived and then got them back into Europe for the first time since 1994. In the meantime Ciro Immobile became the first Torino player to be crowned Capocannoniere in 37 years and his partnership with Alessio Cerci drew comparisons with the most famous of all in Torino’s history, that between Francesco Graziani and Paolo Pulici.
A lot has been made of how the team has got worse in the last two years, finishing ninth and then 12th, but that’s to overlook the moments they gave the fans. Torino became the first Italian team ever to go and beat Athletic Club at San Mames. Bruno Peres’ magnificent coast-to-coast solo effort was not only one of the goals of the season the year before last; it was Torino’s first against Juventus in 12 years. Later that season, they also won their first Derby della Mole since 1995, an indescribable cathartic achievement.
Their upward momentum stopped a year ago. In some respects it was a surprise. Just like this summer, Torino had bought well. Andrea Belotti, Daniele Baselli and Davide Zappacosta were all Italy Under-21 internationals. Marco Benassi, another one, made his loan move from Inter permanent. In other respect, however, it was not. For all the potential in the team the trouble sometimes with investing in youth is consistency doesn’t come as a guarantee.
After five years in the job, Ventura’s message was no longer getting through either. The defence creaked, partly because the kids in front of it were not affording it much protection. Torino kept a clean sheet only six times last season. Only relegated Verona (3) fared worse. Goalkeeper Daniele Padelli’s howlers didn’t help. Although Torino recovered more points (17) from losing positions than any other team, it was often the case that they gave themselves too much to do.
The impression, however, was that this team was better than 12th place suggested. Mihajlovic was appointed to do more or less the same job he did at Samp and get a team boasting a number of potential senior Italy internationals into Europe. The squad is capable of doing it. Torino again recruited well. Adem Ljajic - who could now be out through injury until November… - and Iago Falque promise pace and trickery on the flanks. Mirko Valdifiori is the Pirlo of the Provinces and as fate would have it won his first Italy cap against Hart’s England a little less than 18 months ago.
The greatest changes have been made in defence. Captain Kamil Glik, a big threat from set-pieces, is gone. So too is Nikola Maksimovic. He missed training before a Coppa Italia tie then fled to Serbia and went AWOL. Mihajlovic felt deeply disappointed and betrayed. “He’s dead to me,” he said. Peres, the right-back, also moved to Roma.
From day one this season, a speedy return to Milan for Mihajlovic, it became clear Hart will have work to do. 2-0 down at half-time, 3-1 behind with half an hour to go, Emiliano Moretti and Luca Rossettini had a shocker as a centre-back partnership. Torino, however, would have got a point if Gianluigi Donnarumma hadn’t saved Belotti’s 95th minute penalty. Torino registered 20 shots that day, a feat they bettered only once last season.
Against Bologna last weekend, they hit 15 shots on target and won 5-1. Only Roma have recorded more. Torino are the league’s top scorers. Belotti got a hat-trick and Peres’ replacement, Lorenzo de Silvestri, reunited with Mihajlovic, laid on his third assist in two games. Last year, he recorded two in 17 appearances. Ruthlessly, Mihajlovic dropped his centre-backs and was rewarded with solid displays from Leandro Castan and Cesare Bovo. Padelli’s 100th appearance in Serie A with Torino could be his last. The heart bleeds.
For Joe Hart, on the other hand, Torino’s heart beats. The scenes welcoming him to the club haven’t been seen since the arrivals of Martin Vazquez and Enzo Scifo in the early 90s. Make no mistake he’ll be busy. Torino’s failure to replace Maksimovic means the protection in front of him isn’t what it could be. For instance, it remains to be seen if Castan can recover the form he showed at Roma before undergoing career threatening brain surgery. “A new challenge,” Hart wrote on his Facebook page. “I look forward to learning a new culture and new style of football.” He could do worse than talk to one of the old fans who gather outside the training ground. One imagines them pointing to their chest and nodding in approval. He’s perfect for them. This club is all about heart.
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