Anglo Italian cup away games.

[Fiftyone]

Imagine that cup was around now with all the low budget airlines...would be amazing

I wonder how many we would take to Fiorentina today?.:smile:

 

[Just Who Is the 5 O'Clock Hero]

showing my great age now, I was at fiorentina. It was an amazing trip and will never be forgotten for probably the biggest mismatch ever on a professional field. the Saturday before the Fiorentina game, our two centre halves had both been injured. Mike Lapper was one, not sure of the other. this left only one recognised centre half..........So what did we do, put one of our fowards at the back? Play a full back in the middle? no, we played our assistant manager, David Howells I think his name was. He was 48 and had last played for Barnet in their non league days. Fat Boy Fry sent him out with instructions to mark Batistuta out of the game! Batistuta gathered the ball inside his own half with Howells comfortably shielding him, a dip of the shoulder and turn of fleet foot and Batistuta was away! He galloped towards our goal and unleashed an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net for his second from all of twenty yards. As the ball hit the net I looked for Howells.....running at full pace, he was still inside their half!!

We were treated very well by Fiorentina who had only about 200 fans there as it was a Wednesday afternoon kick off! We even went on a cultural visit to Pisa!

Happy days!

remember it well great memories

 

[Austin the Shrimper]

I went to some of the home games.. remember there being a massive brawl on the pitch between the two teams. Also remember the Notts County Penalty shoot out...was that the final...english final or something like that??

 

[Up the Shrimpers]

showing my great age now, I was at fiorentina. It was an amazing trip and will never be forgotten for probably the biggest mismatch ever on a professional field. the Saturday before the Fiorentina game, our two centre halves had both been injured. Mike Lapper was one, not sure of the other. this left only one recognised centre half..........So what did we do, put one of our fowards at the back? Play a full back in the middle? no, we played our assistant manager, David Howells I think his name was. He was 48 and had last played for Barnet in their non league days. Fat Boy Fry sent him out with instructions to mark Batistuta out of the game! Batistuta gathered the ball inside his own half with Howells comfortably shielding him, a dip of the shoulder and turn of fleet foot and Batistuta was away! He galloped towards our goal and unleashed an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net for his second from all of twenty yards. As the ball hit the net I looked for Howells.....running at full pace, he was still inside their half!!

We were treated very well by Fiorentina who had only about 200 fans there as it was a Wednesday afternoon kick off! We even went on a cultural visit to Pisa!

Happy days!

It was an evening kick off as per these photos - http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=all&q=southend+fiorentina&m=text

 

[dan_mays]

with lapper at the back was his partner back then mark mcnally

 

[Up the Shrimpers]

with lapper at the back was his partner back then mark mcnally

Fiorentina away was in 1993 before Lapper & McNally signed for us. Not sure when they first played for us will have to go & check SUFC Database.

 

[Crowstone Crevette]

I rememeber the anglo-italian cup well, didnt some guy drive from southend to fiorentina for a match in a three wheeler rilant robin? I'am sure it appeared on the news programme Look South-East; or what ever it was called?!!?

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Fiorentina away was in 1993 before Lapper & McNally signed for us. Not sure when they first played for us will have to go & check SUFC Database.

McNally would have been a drinking pal of Ronnie Whelan's so that would have been circa 1995/96.

Our centre-halves under Barry Fry would have probably usually been Andy Edwards and Graham Bressington or Micky Bodley.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Looked it up and that's hilarious: the game before Fiorentina was Grimsby away. We lost 4-0.

Gabriel Batistuta, Steffan Effenburg and co could only put 3 past us.

The game afterwards we put six past Oxford.

You couldn't make it up, but that was, I suppose, life under Judas.

 

[Crowstone Crevette]

wasnt it bodley (our regular pen taker at the time) who missed the ultimate spot kick against notts county in the english anglo-italian cup final?

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Nah, that was Bressington.

Some of us still haven't forgiven him:'(

 

[usa_shrimper]

showing my great age now, I was at fiorentina. It was an amazing trip and will never be forgotten for probably the biggest mismatch ever on a professional field. the Saturday before the Fiorentina game, our two centre halves had both been injured. Mike Lapper was one, not sure of the other. this left only one recognised centre half..........So what did we do, put one of our fowards at the back? Play a full back in the middle? no, we played our assistant manager, David Howells I think his name was. He was 48 and had last played for Barnet in their non league days. Fat Boy Fry sent him out with instructions to mark Batistuta out of the game! Batistuta gathered the ball inside his own half with Howells comfortably shielding him, a dip of the shoulder and turn of fleet foot and Batistuta was away! He galloped towards our goal and unleashed an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net for his second from all of twenty yards. As the ball hit the net I looked for Howells.....running at full pace, he was still inside their half!!

We were treated very well by Fiorentina who had only about 200 fans there as it was a Wednesday afternoon kick off! We even went on a cultural visit to Pisa!

Happy days!

As someone has already said it was an evening game, Southend fans were split up, those who traveled through the club sat in the main stand and those of us who traveled independently sat in the away section on the other side of the ground.

The Wednesday afternoon game was a 1-1 draw with Reggiana, a great trip where 8 of us shared 1 hotel room the night before, the highlight of the trip was after the game taking the short trip to San Marino to watch the most obscure euro 96 qualifier. San Marino v Faroes Islands, we were made to sit with the 50 or so Faroe fans i'm guessing the crowd was around 2,000 as we supported the faroes in there first away win beating San Marino 3-1 with some guy scoring all 3.

Good times

 

[Portuguese Shrimper]

The guy who drove to the match in a Reliant Robin was John Deason. He worked at Thorpe Hall Golf Club
and one of the members wrote to Reliant pointing out what great TV and paper coverage they had got from it( hoping they might make a small contribution towards the petrol) only to receive a letter congratulating him and praising the performance of their car but not sending a bean - miserable b---ards!!

 

[GregStarz]

Nah, that was Bressington.

Some of us still haven't forgiven him:'(

Spot on, it was freezing and we took loads up there. I still remember it clearly and even got my picture in the Echo the next day, still have it somewhere actually.

 

[Gremlin]

i remember being 5 or 6 i think and we played at home and andy sussex scored a pen for some reason ak salonika comes to mind.

They may come to mind but I doubt they ever played in the Anglo-Italian Cup.

 

[The Turpinator]

I went to Fiorentina & Cosenza. Both games were on Tuesdays. Didn't go with the Club because the prices were a rip-off. Both times we flew to Rome on Kenya Airways because it was the cheapest option.

There was a good group of us for the Fiorentina game and we got the train there from Rome. We lost 3-0 (Batistuta 2 & Orlando) but had a great day, drinking & exchanging shirts, scarves, etc. with the Fiorentina fans. Then after the game two of us flew from Rome to Amsterdam to see England play in Holland the following day - remember that Koeman free kick? I think everyone but the England players could see what he was lining up to do! England lost 2-0.

We got a hire car to Cosenza because there were fewer of us on that trip. It was one hell of a distance from Rome to Cosenza & it took about 6 hours to drive it. Thing is, we didn't have that long after the game to make our flight back to Heathrow from Rome but the person driving, Tom (who frequents these boards), did a great job & got us back to the airport in time. We won that game 2-1 with a last minute Brett Angell goal. He actually scored both of our goals.

Two great trips that will live long in the memory.

 

[devonexile]

showing my great age now, I was at fiorentina. It was an amazing trip and will never be forgotten for probably the biggest mismatch ever on a professional field. the Saturday before the Fiorentina game, our two centre halves had both been injured. Mike Lapper was one, not sure of the other. this left only one recognised centre half..........So what did we do, put one of our fowards at the back? Play a full back in the middle? no, we played our assistant manager, David Howells I think his name was. He was 48 and had last played for Barnet in their non league days. Fat Boy Fry sent him out with instructions to mark Batistuta out of the game! Batistuta gathered the ball inside his own half with Howells comfortably shielding him, a dip of the shoulder and turn of fleet foot and Batistuta was away! He galloped towards our goal and unleashed an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net for his second from all of twenty yards. As the ball hit the net I looked for Howells.....running at full pace, he was still inside their half!!

We were treated very well by Fiorentina who had only about 200 fans there as it was a Wednesday afternoon kick off! We even went on a cultural visit to Pisa!

Happy days!

Like me, you must have gone on the overnight trip from Stanstead, flying with the players and staying in the same hotel as the team. As I recall, some of the side went out and got legless the night before the game, returning about 3 in the morning and Ricky Otto threw up in a plant pot by the hotel reception. Fatty didn't seem that bothered but I wasn't surprised when we ran out of puff second half. I also seem to remember Brett Angel had the ball in their net first half but it was ruled out for offside, though that might just be my memory playing tricks.

Great trip though and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

 

[devonexile]

I went to Fiorentina & Cosenza. Both games were on Tuesdays. Didn't go with the Club because the prices were a rip-off. Both times we flew to Rome on Kenya Airways because it was the cheapest option.

And you lived to tell the tale, well done!

 

[Napster]

Like me, you must have gone on the overnight trip from Stanstead, flying with the players and staying in the same hotel as the team. As I recall, some of the side went out and got legless the night before the game, returning about 3 in the morning and Ricky Otto threw up in a plant pot by the hotel reception. Fatty didn't seem that bothered but I wasn't surprised when we ran out of puff second half. I also seem to remember Brett Angel had the ball in their net first half but it was ruled out for offside, though that might just be my memory playing tricks.

Great trip though and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

If that was the game where we had a goal ruled out then I have a VHS of the game.

 

[usa_shrimper]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrtipps/1442236231/

Memories