Episode Transcript
Welcome to the Calcio FC podcast. I'm David Ferrini, host joining me as usual in the studio, Dan Cancian and Emma Gates, Destination Calcio of Senior Riders. This week, we've got a special guest for you, Adam Summerton, the voice of Calcio show in the United Kingdom TNT sports, Serie A extraordinaire commentator. We're going to discuss his favourite Italian cities, his favourite stadiums, and also some classic players from the old football Italia days. First up, we're going to talk some Serie A. We're going to get straight into it with Juventus and Inter. Adam, thanks for joining.
Speaker 1 (00:33)
Pleasure.
Speaker 2 (00:34)
And we know you're a busy man, so we're gonna get straight into it. Serie A race. We know that you've been commentating a lot for TNT. You did Napoli, Udinese did Neza on the weekend, did the Milan Derby. We were there for that as well. What can you see coming up this weekend? We've got Juventus Inter. How is that gonna affect the title race? Juve were maybe out of it.
Speaker 1 (00:54)
Yeah, I mean, it's a huge game, isn't it? I wouldn't include Juve, but in the title race, but I'd certainly include them in the race for the top four. So for them, it's hugely significant in that respect because in Serie A this season, it's just so entertaining because there's so many different plot lines, isn't it? I mean, even the relegation battle is fascinating as well, but we've got this race for the title that clearly that game is significant for. And look, you can't afford to be outside of the Champions League, can they either? So for them, it's vitally important. I'm just so excited and intrigued by the race that's developed.
between Inter and Napoli. And I wouldn't completely rule out Atalanta either, who've just picked up again, having had that sort of stumble, if you like. So yeah, it is really exciting. The Derby d'Italia, whatever's on it really is one of my most favourite fixtures in European football. I always look forward to it. And whenever I get the email asking me to do it, I'm always very, very happy indeed. So yeah, I'm very excited about doing it. And I love doing those games with Don as well. So it's Don and I on
Sunday doing that so it'll be good fun.
Speaker 2 (01:56)
was a fabulous duo, Dan and Emmet also listening in to some of the broadcasts. What do you guys think of the race so far? Fiorentina losing on Monday, Inter back in it, only one point between Inter and Napoli at the moment. Juventus, massive match coming up.
Speaker 1 (02:11)
I
Speaker 4 (02:13)
Juventus, as we all know, haven't had the best of seasons. They've drawn too many games, but I think when it comes to the derby to Italia against Inter, they always raise their level just due to the sheer rivalry between the two teams. It's almost like a one-off game in itself. I mean, we've seen really bad Juventus sides over the years.
Even beat Jose Mourinho's Inter sides because just in a one-off game they can raise their level so obviously we all know This inter side are better than Juventus, but when it comes to a one-off game It wouldn't surprise me if Juventus turned it up and either probably draw
Speaker 2 (02:51)
Well, they'd
be honest, they'd be doing Napoli a favor, wouldn't they, Adam? I mean, there's only one point between Napoli and Inter. Now, what are you thinking of Antonio Conte at the moment and his new Napoli? We saw what they did under Spalletti a couple of years back, and it just almost seems as though they've skipped a beat that that one anomaly last season. They got that out of the road, they're back, and it's a very new look, Napoli side.
Speaker 1 (03:12)
It's very impressive what he's doing and what they're doing collectively because there's still a lot of players from the team that won the Scudetto that are still there and if they win it again this time they'll have won it in a completely different way, completely different style of play which I think is a compliment to the players who exist who were still there from the first Scudetto. I think that the speed with which Conte has turned things around has been impressive. Clearly he's helped out massively by the fact that he hasn't got any European football to contend with and we all know the last time that he had that in Italy with Juve.
he won the league in his first season. obviously that's played a part too, particularly when you're really drilling players on the training ground, looking to get in your patterns of play, your system. I've been really interested in how he changed from a back three. It's a big compliment really to McTominay. I thought the way that he changed his system. And I think that I've been so impressed with Anguissa this season, particularly in recent months, feel that he's become, well, he was important anyway, but I feel he's gone to another level in terms of his importance under Conte.
and developing his game now and scoring goals, a threat in the final third. So I think they've done really well. I felt that he was trying too hard almost to say that he wasn't disappointed with the transfer window. I wondered whether that was quite true because I felt like they maybe needed to really...
back him in terms of a replacement for Khvicha on that left-hand side. I'm not quite so sure that Okafor is going to be right for that, but we'll see. mean, Okafor has said, look, I'm not here to make up the numbers. He's there to make a difference.
Speaker 2 (04:44)
What are you thinking of Giacomo Raspadori?
Speaker 1 (04:47)
Well, again, with Raspadori, that's interesting as well, because Conte has said that he almost... I can't remember the exact quote, but he was basically saying that he knows that Raspadori should be playing more, that he deserves more minutes. However, it's very difficult to get him into the team. And he said that one of the things he's been doing with him to try and find a way into the team has been coaching him in terms of playing in central midfield in training, which I found very interesting. We haven't seen any evidence really of that on the pitch as of yet. But you never know.
Raspadori is somebody who's popped up with important moments and big goals during his Napoli career despite the fact that he's not really had that much game time. So you never quite know who'll end up playing pivotal roles in big moments in this title race. mean, you only have to look at Arnautovic against Fiorentina the other day to see that these title races can be so unpredictable. And that's one of the things that makes them so great, such great fun to watch.
Speaker 2 (05:39)
They are the immense entertainment and Fiorentina put a span of the works by beating Inter last week and they lost on Monday. still, Dan, I'll throw to you, Fiorentina under Palladino, the credentials there for the new Fiorentina coach. They had a similar trajectory to Napoli where they had a very good season, had a dip last year and now they're back under their new coach. Moise Keane, players like that making a massive impact.
Speaker 3 (06:04)
Yes, I mean, I don't think anyone expected him to be as good as he's been this season. I guess the proof will be in the pudding. Where is he going to go next? Because there have been rumors about him moving on from Fiorentina.
I think that we mentioned last week that players like him will benefit from actually staying in Fiorentina in a settled environment and go from there and grow from strength to strength. I think that is the perfect environment for him, Fiorentina, because Palladino is a modern manager, plays to his strengths, they've got a really good team around him. Not good enough to win the league of course, but definitely good enough to be making a case for top four. Atalanta have done it and there's no reason why Fiorentina can't do it themselves.
Speaker 2 (06:45)
Adam, do you think if you're on Fiorentina Atalanta now that Dan's mentioned the Bergamaschi asky there, they've got a similar kind of theme behind them. Gasperini, Palladino, obviously two different elements they're coaching, but if you're on Fiorentina, are they aspiring to be like an Atalanta?
Speaker 1 (07:02)
Furentina fascinate me because I looked at their summer business and a lot of the talk over the summer was that they're looking to cut costs particularly when they sold Milenkovic as he was their highest earner and they went out and what they did was they recruited so many players who were maybe players who had a point to prove they were on the fringes of their previous clubs and I felt that it was a Furentina side when I saw them at the start of the season it really surprised me because there was such a hunger about them which comes probably from what
just said about players who were on the edges of things at their previous clubs and came there hungry with a point to prove. And it was a blend that really seemed to be working. Then they had that real dip, didn't they? And now they seem to be back on the way up. But I really like Fiorentina. And if I look at the, you know, they've gone again, haven't they, in January? Because they clearly see, they've looked at it in January and I think they've talked at it at board level and probably with Palladino as well and gone, look, we have got a real chance of Champions League football here. And if they could do that, that's transformation.
as to back up what you seem to be saying there, Atalanta have proved if you can get into the Champions League and then you can find a way to build a squad that's capable of going again and...
continually qualifying for Europe, the financial rewards are so significant that yes, you can, you you can do things like totally renovate your stadium like Atalanta have ended up doing. You can be in a position where suddenly you're part of the race for the Scudetto when you've always just been a provincial club really in Atalanta's case, one with a great youth system, but never one that you'd ever think would be challenging for the title. So I think that Fiorentina have looked at it in January and thought we've got a chance here. And if they could get in the Champions League, who knows what, you know, that,
what that could mean for them going forward.
Speaker 2 (08:44)
Yeah, there are only five points behind Atalanta. You can see there we've got our limited edition Atalanta Campione de Europa shirt above the boys head. of course, Fiorentina represented here the old days with Batistuta Stuta and Edmundo and that era there. That's kind of where Atalanta are now, you'd think. And Fiorentina kind of traded places with them in a couple of decades of time that have gone. And that race between the leading goal scorers, I Retegui with a poker on the weekend against Verona. And now we've got Moise Keane.
Speaker 1 (08:51)
tonight.
Speaker 2 (09:14)
a fascinating battle is it good news for Luciano Spalletti?
Speaker 1 (09:18)
Very isn't it? Yeah, he's got to be very happy with that and then you've got somebody like Luca as well who's talking about ambitions to Be a regular for the national side and talking about going to one of the top clubs in Italy So yeah I mean it's been the debating point for so long about the Italian national side is they haven't got a centre forward and now they've got two Who were firing all at once and sometimes life and football can happen like that, can't it? mean it's almost like London buses with Italian centre forwards at the minute but
Yeah, it is exciting for him because I think that with the national side there's clear signs that that's starting to head in the right direction. I think it was quite right that Spalletti was given the benefit of the doubt after the summer, hadn't had enough time to truly imprint his style and...
how he wants to play on the team perhaps, but I do think there are encouraging signs going forward now. And look, if you've got players who are scoring that many goals that you can call upon and maybe have to choose between one of them, I mean, that is fantastic for a national coach, isn't it?
Speaker 2 (10:17)
Yeah, I mean, good times
for Italian supporters. mean, I remember watching the European Championship and, you know, head in my hands kind of stuff, very different to 2021. Adam, you put a tweet out last week, as poor as I've seen Inter for some time, I'd go as far as to say a worrying performance Fiorentina your team, fantastic. We saw that two different Inters in the space of five days. Now, with Simone and Inzaghi at the helm, no one could ever really say that the boats rocked at Inter. Where do you see the title race going now that they're kind of back
on track with that win, what do think?
Speaker 1 (10:51)
Probably, we'll probably have to wait until after Sunday, won't we? See how we feel then because it's just...
It's so tight and it's so competitive that so much can change with just one weekend, can't it? And that's the problem with the momentum shifts I think we're going to see in this title race. I think we're only just at the beginning of it really, which for a neutral like me is just fantastic to see how it will all unfold. Yeah, I did feel that that was a worrying performance against Fiorentina. They were very flat. They looked lacking in energy.
I mean, it's I'm not saying anything that probably hasn't been said before about this inter side that I feel has been put together superbly. And we all know about the free transfers that have been made. been very clever and very savvy in the way that they built this squad. I've said many times that I think in Inzaghi is one of the probably one of the most underrated coaches in Europe. doesn't really get talked about that much outside of Italy. Really. You would never really hear him, for instance, link with a Premier League job. I mean, I can't really remember too many occasions that's happened. But I think he's an elite coach who's
done so much at Inter but to go back to the squad it isn't the youngest squad in fact it's by some distance on average age the oldest in Serie A. Whether that's playing a part I don't know in terms of we've seen them
I wouldn't say inconsistent because they've still been getting a lot of good results, but that is something that I'm slightly wary of, although I haven't said it. think Napoli are the second oldest, I think. think I'm right in saying that. So that's just something that worries me a little bit. And I'm sure that they've got reinvention in mind in terms of where they'll go next in the transfer market in the summer. But I think if you're talking about what's the most complete squad in the league, if you look at the strength in depth, it's really no comparison in terms of the two squads between Napoli
and Inter, know, if Napoli were to get several injuries, you would really worry for them, whereas Inter have got two, three plays in most positions, and maybe that will be the difference. And Napoli don't score anywhere near as many goals as Inter as well, which I think could prove to be a factor in the end as well.
Speaker 4 (12:56)
Obviously
there's five points between Napoli, Inter and Atalanta. Do you think Atalanta are out of the race? No.
Speaker 1 (13:04)
No,
I don't think you can rule them out at five points. Obviously, the outsiders, I would describe them as that, but a lot can change and we'll see how far into going the Champions League as well. That's going to pull on their resources. So we'll see about that. The fact that Napoli are able to rest up without European football is still significant. And obviously how what Atalanta do in the Champions League will have an effect too. But I think there's a lot of quality in the Atalanta side and I don't think they will win it.
If you were to put me on the spot, don't think they will win it, but I don't think at five points that you can rule them out. But particularly when you've got the league's top scorer as well and so many other quality, quality players as well, like Lookman and De Ketelaere I mean, we could be here all day eulogising about this Atalanta team. And it illustrates how good this league is, doesn't it? That a team with all that ability is...
is third at the moment because they give anybody in Europe a game as they've proved many times this season. So I think for the league it's something to be excited and proud about even that you've got a team that's come from where they've come from to challenge in the manner they have domestically and abroad is absolutely exceptional work by Gasperini.
Speaker 2 (14:18)
Yeah, and I mean, lot of Serie A clubs are really prospering under some foreign ownership. Dan, I'll throw it you. Did you have a question?
Speaker 3 (14:24)
did actually, I wanted to ask Adam, Antonio Conte so far has been reluctant, shall we say, to embrace the tag of Scudetta favourites. Do you think it's just playing mind games or do you think that he's genuinely think that he's done more than he should have done this season with Napoli? Because as you said, they've been extraordinary this season and it's a word that Conte has gone back on it over and over again over the past few weeks.
Speaker 1 (14:48)
Yeah, difficult to say. I suppose I think you'd probably have to take him at face value in that, as I've just said myself, and I think most people would say that Inter's the most complete squad in the league, certainly the most depth if you look across the different positions and how much they've got, the quality and the experience, the fact that they've been there and done it before. know some of these Napoli players have as well, but if you add everything up, I mean, I've made Inter favourites at the start of the season and I would stick to that now, but I think that to be
anywhere near pushing them even is a success in his first season for Conte. I just hope that he stays and...
for more than just one season. hope that this isn't just a flash in the pan. I hope that he really builds something there and that he's back in the transfer market in the summer because he's a fantastic coach. I know if you look at what happened at Spurs that maybe affected his reputation in England, but he's still an absolutely elite level coaches. the other thing I'd say about what I've really enjoyed about Conte this season is that you see so much criticism these days of top coaches about a lack of pragmatism, about a lack of flexibility, about simply
always sticking to their principles no matter what even if the evidence in front of your eye suggests that it's not necessarily the right thing to do or it doesn't fit the group of players that you have. What Conte has showed is and he's not a young coach anymore what he showed is an ability to be pragmatic to be flexible to fit more with the profiles of the players that he's been given.
And I've really, that for me has been one of most impressive things about Napoli and Conte this season. I've enjoyed that aspect of seeing him be flexible.
Speaker 2 (16:32)
Adam let's move on to Mr Adam Summerton as the topic your journey into commentating Serie A have you developed a passion for all things Italian or is it just strictly Italian football?
Speaker 1 (16:49)
Do you know, as the time has gone on, I really have grown a passion for Italy. If I were to learn a language and if I ever find the time to do it, that's the language I would learn. I went to Florence and Pisa on my holiday with my other half in the summer. We had a great time. I took my children on holiday to Italy a couple of years before that as well. We went to Milan and Verona and Lake Como. Yeah, and I love the place, love the Calcio, obviously love the football. So it's something that's grown with me over the
years as I've become more and more invested in it really. So yeah I've been to Italy a lot in the last particularly the last two or three years yeah I've been a lot both in terms of with work which is just fantastic to go to these stadiums that I've seen on TV since I was you know a kid in the 90s so yeah it's work and pleasure I guess.
Speaker 2 (17:38)
And so if I held this up, could you translate for us a few things you mentioned in the previous part of this and two that you picked up a La Gazzetta dello Sport the door sport once and you just loved having the field. it bring you a little bit of inner James Richardson that time?
Speaker 1 (17:51)
Absolutely, yeah.
I think any self-respecting fan of Golazzo in the 90s, whenever they go to Italy, they've got to go and get a gazetta. And whenever I do with work, I actually do it for a bit for a laugh to have that photo with the paper in a cafe. But I also actually do it because it's useful for work. I love the way that the Italian press...
write their headlines in particular and the Gazetta, how they lay the pages out as well. It's just a little different to the UK. And what I do is I'll get my phone and you know where you get the photo and it translates it for you. So I'll just sit in a hotel room and translate some of the headlines from the papers. I always get the comment, I always get people asking me if I speak Italian when I'm sat there with doing that photo with the Gazetta at the cafe. Sadly not, yeah, I don't read or speak Italian just yet, but yeah. And you know what, I also just keep those papers
as a souvenir, because going and doing these games is, it's important to me, it means a lot to me, it's something I'd always wanted to do, so yeah, I've got a box at home with lots of programs in it, and every time I come home I stick the copy of Gazetta in that box, and maybe I'll pull it out in five years and remember a particular game I did.
Speaker 2 (19:02)
that's what we do on Calcio FC. I every time we go to a stadium, we bring back something. We even went to watch Serie B. Reggiana had a water bottle with their labeling on it. And we were just looking at it like, this is the best thing I've ever seen. It's all part of the Calcio culture. And that's what we really love. We love breathing it in and it's one of those things where you grow up and you grow up in the United Kingdom as well, Emmet And so did Dan for a period of his life, Italian born just in case he didn't pick the accent about that. We might have a segment on that one time, but that's
that whole football Italia feel growing up in Australia. never had it but you guys did and Adam I've also heard you mentioned before that you found growing up watching football. Italy you could see the differences the intricacies in the in the way that the banners were around stadiums the way that the fans reacted with the players the way that was presented as a product. Can you speak to that?
Speaker 1 (19:55)
Yeah, absolutely. That was a really important part of it. I mean, there was a time in the 90s where Sky had taken over the coverage of the Premier League, where there was for a lot of people, there was a bit of an impasse where because it would always been on terrestrial TV before, there were families who just couldn't afford to start paying for a satellite TV subscription. So mine was one of those. if you couldn't watch the Premier League on a Sunday afternoon when you got home with your muddy knees from your kids game, you you were
you needed to find something else and there was a whole generation of us I think who in part got into Italian football from that because it coincided with it being on channel four on a Sunday afternoon so eventually my mum and dad did end up getting a subscription to Sky and you would watch the Premier League as well but that's for me how it started really it was and it was like opening a window to another footballing world it was as you say the different colours the crests the way the crowd behaved the tifos all these different things that maybe would if you wouldn't
necessarily see or they were presented differently at English grounds and it was just it was a little bit mesmerizing particularly for a young child and I suppose I carried that forward and then if I'm honest I probably lost touch a little bit with Italian football in my sort of my later teens and early 20s and then when I eventually started following the league again and most importantly covering the league for TV I think I just really rediscovered it entirely again and really bought into it again and really immersed myself in it as you need to do when you're covering the league
You really need to immerse yourself in it, learn the history of it, the present of it. And from there, it's almost been like that love was completely reignited again and has been like that now for, well, what is it? It's more than a decade, isn't it? So in 12 years, I've been covering it for TNT.
Speaker 2 (21:43)
12 years you've been
doing Serie A. I mean, that's a lifetime in itself. I mean, how many years have you been following as a fan probably since childhood, Emmet and Dan, but 12 years as a commentator can tell you that's a long stretch for any league. I know you've been doing it for about 20 or so years, commentary in general. You started in sort of a lower league, local scenario there. Favourite players, going back to the Football Italia days, We've got Sampdoria here, very different. They're in Serie B now. I should mention we're actually the official broadcasters at Serie B talking to a Serie A
official broadcaster here but Atalanta weren't the team that they are now back then they did have Caniggia, Sampdoria with Gianluca Vialli, had Mancini, Vierchowood players like that are there any that stick in your mind?
Speaker 1 (22:28)
we'd be here all day. I mean, you're talking about the real golden era. I You could argue. I mean I people say the Premier League is the strongest in the world now, but I don't think there will ever be another league that has such a golden era as Serie A did in the 90s and early 2000s. I mean, it was just the place to be, wasn't it? It really was. And it just produced so many players. I mean, even as you say in that, you've got images going through my mind. I'm thinking of Weah of running the length of the pitch against
Verona one of the famous sort of football Italia goals. And I'm thinking of Batistuta wheeling away with his celebrations. And yeah, there's so many different players you could talk about, even not necessarily like the attacking forward plays, even the defenders that Serie A was famous for as well. People like Baresi and Maldini and all these type of, mean, it's just, there's just so, so many. obviously when I was a kid as well, you would see these players on things like football Italia, and then you would sign them on football.
manager or whatever and you know it's brilliant fantastic.
Speaker 2 (23:31)
Favourite Italian side? I know that you've got one to watch. it was Napoli. I'm not sure if that's the case again, but is there a favourite Italian side you'd love to watch? I know that you need to be neutral about a favourite club in particular.
Speaker 1 (23:43)
There have been different teams over the years that I've really enjoyed. Two of my favourites to watch stylistically were both Napoli actually, Sarri's Napoli in his final season and the Spalletti Napoli that won the Scudetto. terms of joy to watch, those two would be right up there. I would say Gasperini's side as well of last season. I covered the Europa League final, I adored watching those. But I admire different teams for different reasons. I always say, look, there's so many different ways
to win a football match and you might do it defensively, you might do it, you know, in the way that Conte's now. I don't enjoy watching this Napoli side under Conte as much as I enjoyed watching the Spalletti side, but that doesn't mean that they're any lesser of a team. It's just a different way of doing it.
I don't have, I get asked all the time about whether I have an Italian side because a lot of people from back in the day my age would support Milan but I genuinely never followed any team I just followed the league really and that sort of stood me in good stead because you know obviously people are always trying to find bias in whatever you do and I can genuinely just sit there and say I honestly couldn't care less who wins this game or wins this league title I just love watching it and I
love seeing it unfold and I feel like I can offer an opinion on any of the teams from a position of neutrality and as I say that stood me in good stead really.
Speaker 4 (25:09)
Obviously stadiums in Italy are not like they are in the UK. Do you have a particular favourite stadium that you've been to or one that you want to go to in the future?
Speaker 1 (25:20)
I've not had the chance yet to do a game at Marassi and I would love to go there. I know that it's perhaps not in the greatest nick and it could do with some work. But if you look at it on a match day, particularly when it's close to being full, maybe for a derby or something like that, it just looks absolutely amazing. I love how it breaks away a little bit from what you would expect of an Italian ground. would say it does look like what I would say is an English ground in its
So it's quite unusual in that respect. So I would I would really like to go there. My favourite is San Siro I mean, that's my favourite stadium anywhere of anywhere I've ever been and again, I would say that it is it is desperate for renovation I make no argument with people who say to me how can you say it's the best stadium because I'd say well It's not the best stadium for the facilities It's not the best stadium for you know, the fact that it is genuinely crumbling a bit, but it's absolutely iconic and and you just
stand there in awe of the place. You just feel like you're in the presence of greatness when you stand in that stadium. The view even from where we commentate is fantastic. The noise it generates is just out of this world and that San Siro would be my favourite. The Olimpico I really enjoyed going to as well. And then you've got a stadium like Atalanta that's been completely redeveloped, which is a totally different zone, isn't it to San Siro, which is all about history and tradition, whereas Atalanta, it's more about what they've done in the recent past and how that
that's helped regenerate their stadium. yeah, San Siro, to answer your question in short, San Siro, my favourite, Marassi, the one that I need to tick off my list.
Speaker 2 (26:59)
Marassi is a superb stadium, does have that feel, that British sort of look about it as well. And it's so iconic back in the day with the Mancini era as well.
Speaker 3 (27:08)
Marassi is superb if you avoid the staircase.
Speaker 2 (27:11)
Yeah, don't go to the the Scalina Montaldo after you exit the stadium, you go up this map, I think it's 19 flights of stairs. It your fitness. Yeah, about 290 stairs and you've got to get up the staircase to get to the bus stop to get back to the central part of Genoa. Fabulous experience, though it is decked out in that Genoa blue and red, though it's not a Sampdoria staircase unless you're going down. speaking of stadiums, San Siro you can't complain with that. That is the place to go if you're ever going to have a first
Italian football experience. Maybe we shouldn't recommend the Stadio Euganeo in Pardova for Adam to go and see. Dan went there early in the season and it's one of those stadiums where the home fans are actually protesting. They won't go to home games because they're protesting the ownership of the club. They only go to away games but they are coming first in Serie of C They look like they're going to come up to Serie of B. Dan, do have a question?
Speaker 3 (28:03)
I do. Adam, like you, I grew up on a diet of Football Italia and you know there was this sort of romance about James Richardson being in a piazza with Gazzetta reading and it was very different from like what I would see out of my window where like rain and mud. So if you were to pick, you know, a city in Italy that you would love to visit, which one would it be? I know that you said you love Florence and you love Lake Como but is there one that stands out in particular to you?
Speaker 1 (28:32)
That's tough. feel like I've probably only really scratched the surface of what I'd like to do in terms of my visiting of Italy. So that's pretty tough.
Yeah, I went to Rome, but I got hardly any time to look around. had about an hour, so I felt so frustrated. Because I'd got driven from the airport and then driven, and all the time I'd say, I'd love to go there, I'd love to go there, I'd love to see that. And I just had no time at all. So all I saw was the Colosseum. So I definitely need to do a proper tour of Rome, probably go on holiday. I loved Bergamo, only a fairly small place, but...
Speaker 2 (29:06)
You should go up the
top there, up to the old town as well.
Speaker 1 (29:09)
Yeah, yeah, when we had the lovely view. Yeah. Yeah, I went up there and there was a Piazza that I was in as well that I think was quite well known, but I can't remember the name of the top of my head. But yeah, Bergamo was lovely. I said I've been to Milan a few times now.
Speaker 2 (29:27)
For those of you who haven't seen it, we should mention that we've done a Bergamo pod and we've done we do the everything you need to know series and we've done Bergamo, we've done Milan recently. So we've got plenty of other towns there. We've Florence coming up as well. So Florence is beautiful. We'll have to get you out on a destination Calcio weekend. We do football weekenders as Adam. So don't worry about the commentating of the game. Just come with us. It'll be fine. We'll show you a couple of
Speaker 1 (29:39)
...
for
the food and the coffee,
Speaker 2 (29:51)
Coffee in the morning
and a cornetto or you can do the James Richardson. Yeah. Yeah, don't live up vicariously. Come on,
Speaker 4 (29:54)
Yeah get the Gazzetta that
Speaker 1 (29:57)
I'll say
as well, just before I finish on that, the most beautiful place I've been to was Lake Como. Me and my girls went there and we, my goodness, breathtaking.
Speaker 2 (30:08)
the stadio of Giuseppe
Sinigaglia.
Speaker 1 (30:10)
I didn't actually know because we were only that we went on the train from Milan so I based us in Milan and we by the train station and we went on different day trips because that's the great thing about northern Italy you can go to so many different places on the train so easily and it's like an hour to all of them so we went to Verona and we which was a lovely place to visit as well and but Lake Como the just the sights
Speaker 2 (30:31)
You can't go wrong with any with any of the towns we've been to. mean, barely being to a town that we didn't like. Yeah. And not being biased here. But Verona, Como, you breathe it in, lap it up, Northern part of Italy as well.
Speaker 3 (30:42)
Sorry to interject,
it's funny that Adam says that like in Rome he was driven from the airport and he's like I want to go there I want to go there I want to go there because legend has that that's why Sven-Goran Eriksson signed for Roma because he went on a scouting in mission in Rome and it was driven from the airport to his hotel and he saw so many things that he was falling in love with and then he ended up signing for Roma so you know Adam you're not the first apparently
Speaker 2 (31:06)
First
it was a Swede, then it was an Englishman.
Speaker 1 (31:09)
If it's good
enough for Sven,
Speaker 2 (31:12)
a great
Sven, written an article on that as well. check it out on destinationcalcio.com. Let's move on to a little bit of Champions League football. We know that you covered Juventus and PSV, nice little thunderous volley into the top of the net from Weston McKennie. What are Juventus's chances realistically in your eyes moving forward?
Speaker 1 (31:35)
Well, think first and foremost, Juve's priority for me should be their bread and butter, which is Serie A, and becoming a game side that truly challenges for the title, which I don't think they're going to be doing this season. It's undeniably a team in a transitional period. And I know people sometimes use that phrase as an excuse, but I do believe it's genuinely true with Juve. It's a team that's looking to build for the future with a young coach, a coach with very different ideas and a different way of playing to his predecessor. They've put a lot of faith in youth.
So there are reasons why Juve aren't yet challenging for the title, but I think that it's a case of don't try and run before you can walk. And I think anything that they get in the Champions League is a bonus for me right now. I think they have to be trying to make sure that they're challenging. And of course, there is a circle here because in order to compete in Serie A, they need the money from the Champions League. So I understand that it's important that they're fighting on both fronts.
I think in terms of the Champions League this season, I felt that it was a fairly tight contest against PSV. I felt it when the tie was drawn that it would be quite close and so it proved last night. They've edged it in the first leg. I think PSV score a lot of goals at home, so there's a long way to go in this tie. And again, I think it will be tight to see who goes through. I don't see them winning it. I just don't think they're anywhere near ready to win it yet. But if they can get progress in it, that will all help in the...
you know, complete picture in terms of getting Juve back to where they need to be and should be.
Speaker 2 (33:05)
Look, we want to thank you for joining us on destinationcalcio the Calcio FC pod. Adam Summerton, the man of Italian Calcio, the voice on TNT sports in the United Kingdom. Guys.
Speaker 4 (33:20)
Yeah, Adam, thanks for coming on, pleasure. think for me you've become the voice of Italian football in the UK in the modern era, yeah, it's a pleasure to have you on and hopefully we'll get you on again soon. Yeah, Don as well, and Tony.
Speaker 1 (33:29)
That's kind of you, thank
Speaker 2 (33:33)
regards to Don as well.
Speaker 1 (33:36)
Yeah,
they're great. I mean, all the guys do with Nigel as well. We've got a little team and that do it now and we really enjoy it. And I think we all know the league and love the league. I think hopefully that that sort of comes across. mean, me and Don, we'll be texting each other during a week about, if we've got a particularly big game coming up like the one on Sunday, you know, it's it's just it's.
It's a bit of fun on a Sunday. I saw somebody writing an article about it the other day and they said that they'd started watching it on a Sunday night and they said it was... The way they sort of reviewed it was they said, this was like being let in on a secret, which I was... which I sort of took as a real compliment, you know, that it was a compliment to the league as much as our coverage. The fact that, hang on a minute, this is actually really good. should... This league's brilliant. We should be watching this all the time. So hopefully more people discover that secret.
Speaker 3 (34:26)
I was actually sending this to a mate last week and I think he pointed out that watching it, you guys doing it, it's as close as it gets to Football Italia these days. There's like the genuine enthusiasm and you know the love for the league, the love for not just what you're seeing over 90 minutes on the pitch but you all the stories as you said behind it and it's just brilliant and you know it's been an absolute blast having you on.
Speaker 1 (34:50)
thank you. I really appreciate that. Thanks for having me on and good luck with the pod.
Speaker 2 (34:54)
Thank you, and we're gonna nickname your little cult following and your little cult there, the four-man cult, Team Calcio. There you go, that's from us, the Destination Calcio. Thanks to Adam Summerton for joining.
Speaker 1 (35:04)
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (35:06)
to thank Emmet Gates for joining and Dan Cancian at Destination Calcio Senior Writers. You can contact us on social media platforms as well, especially X. That's where we recommend you to go. If you want to visit the Destination Calcio profile itself, it's at DSTN Calcio. I'm @davidferrini_
Speaker 4 (35:24)
I'm @EmmetGates.
Speaker 3 (35:25)
And I'm at dan_cancian
Speaker 2 (35:28)
Dan and we'll leave it there guys. for joining. We'll see you next time.
