Fantasista: The Number 10 Podcast

In this episode, we discuss Fiorentina’s love affair with the Number 10 shirt, as told through the Viola careers of three of the club’s greatest icons: Giancarlo Antognoni, Roberto Baggio and Rui Costa.

My guest’s the perfect person to help guide us through the Fiorentina phase of their careers: Giancarlo Rinaldi - a true pioneer of Italian football media coverage in the UK and life-long Viola fan.

Shownotes:

A massive thank you to Giancarlo for being a fantastic guest on the pod. We've been in contact for a number of years, with him always kindly helping with any questions I've asked or research I've needed to do, so it was nice to finally spend some extended time chatting together.

You can follow Giancarlo on Twitter @ginkers and find his excellent, ludicrously cheap books '20 Great Italian Games' here and '20 Great Italian Games II' here.

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love Roberto Baggio! You can find a collection of my articles on him on my website fantasista10.co.uk.

Da Da Da (Mundial) by Master

La Fiorentina by Ritter/Barbella

Viola by Café Chantant

Alé Alé Fiorentina by Adriano Cecconi

Forza Viola by Marileno Querci con l'orchestra Bettini

Non é un miraggio! Roberto Baggio by Il Generale & Ludus Pinski

Futbol en Accion 82 by Los Relampagos

Also, a BIG thanks to the people at @Viola_Nation who pointed me in the right direction for Santana's Ella Baila la Portuguesa which fans repurposed to Rui Baila la Portuguesa for Rui Costa.

Talking 10s with me in this episode is former international footballer Pat Nevin, who delightfully weaved his way through a variety of topics -  just like the defenders he used to leave standing throughout the 80s and 90s.

We discussed his youth football experience, developing his playing style, a shock to the system - from a tactical point of view - at professional level, and his thoughts on the British perception of the number 10 shirt, plus the difficulties Britain has had producing world-class talent for the role...or have they?

Pat also gives fascinating insight into exactly what goes through a professional players’ mind when creating a moment of magic on the pitch, as well as revealing his favourite playmakers and much, much more.

The interview with Pat was recorded in the Summer of 2020.

I’d also like to apologise for the audio quality of the conversation in this episode. I was really disappointed with how the recording turned out and I was really torn on whether I should even release the episode at all. However, in the end I felt that Pat’s insight and excellent points of view are too good not to share, so I’ve tweaked and salvaged the audio as best I could and hopefully you’ll still be able to enjoy Pat’s knowledge and experiences. Thanks for understanding.

Link to the Maradona skill clip v Germany (28 seconds in).

Link to the discussed article of when a Number 10 both creates and scores the same goal.

Link to Pat's book.

Celtic! Celtic! By Celtic FC - Thistle Records.

Futbol en Accion 82 by Los Relampagos

Plaidness by Francis Preve - YouTube Audio Library

Inevitable Hope by RKVC - YouTube Audio Library

Welcome to Fantasista: The Number 10 Podcast. In the first episode Jimmy Areabi investigates Spain's different relationship with the No.10 shirt, by speaking with journalist/broadcaster Graham Hunter and (former Barcelona, Liverpool FC and current Manchester City) coach Rodolfo Borrell.

The inspiration for the episode (and the interviews which were recorded in 2013) was taken from Jimmy's Fantasista10.co.uk article: Does Spain Have An Affinity With The Number 10 Shirt? Despite now having a plethora of playmakers the country hasn't had superstars associated to the Number 10 like their Latin counterparts have - why?

A huge thanks to Graham Hunter (@BumperGraham) and Rodolfo Borrell for their valuable time and help, and to Spanish Football Historian Angel Iturriaga (@anituarco) for providing me with some valuable research and support.