Ivano Bonetti interview: “Vialli, Platini, Juve, Samp…”

Extraordinary teams, teammates and characters from times gone by. During the journey Ivano Bonetti met many faces, friends and opponents who were protagonists of a football journey that lasted more than twenty years. The former midfielder gets into a DeLorean, like the one in Back to the Future, and sets off with the story. The beginnings at Platini’s Juventus, Mantovani and Boskov’s Samp, the friendship with Vialli.

Bonetti, arm out the window and music of his times. The journey can begin. After three excellent years with Brescia, his first big opportunity in Serie A comes with Juve. Memories?

“I have so many that I could write a book. I was twenty years old, it was an honor to join a team of champions. From the club to the champions in the squad, every training session was a lesson in style and class.”

The first to believe in her was Boniperti.

“And do you think that the first time I saw him I made a sensational gaffe. I mistook the general manager Giuliano for him… I had never seen him and I was confused. So I signed for Juventus convinced that I had met Boniperti, but it wasn’t Gianpiero. They made fun of me for a year.”

It is said that he annoyed her a lot…

“Yes! He told me ‘you have to get married!’. And then again, he continually asked me to cut my hair. We argued a lot, but we really loved each other. Even though he never forgave me for the choice to leave…”.

“I was young and I wanted to play. I was in a hurry. It was a mistake that with hindsight I wouldn’t make again. But they tried to take me back when I was at Sampdoria. Trap would have wanted me, but Boniperti was a bit sceptical.”

Did she choose not to go?

“I played for Sampdoria and in Genoa I felt at home. I didn’t need to move. Trap asked me to join him: ‘I have to rebuild, I need you’, he told me. A couple of years earlier he had also tried to take me to Inter”.

In that Juventus team the number ten was Platini. A flash on Michel?

“What can I say… Michel was fantastic. He spent a lot of time with us young people, every now and then he even took two puffs of a cigarette before cunningly throwing it away and not being seen by the Trap. Then, he came to give the boys the extras that he received from the sponsors. He gave them to me, Pioli and Bonini. I know that he appreciated me and that he liked my way of kicking left-handed. ‘Now that I’m leaving, it’s your turn,’ he told me jokingly.’ And I asked him to Don’t stop.”

It is said that Vialli had a hand in the hypothesis of his possible return to Turin.

“Of course, Luca was crazy about me. He would have done anything to get back to playing together. He’s my brother, he lives in my heart. He’s always with me, even if you don’t see him. Over the years at Sampdoria we were inseparable.”

Sampdoria already. Here too there are no small characters. Let’s start with president Mantovani. Do you remember the first meeting?

“He and Agnelli were the greatest gentlemen I had ever met in my twenty-year career. Another world. When Mantovani took me on he already knew everything about me. And it was like that with everyone. We negotiated with him without an agent and he always offered you more than you asked for. He wrote the amount on a piece of paper and handed it to you, that was it. For the rest of the chat we talked about life, not football or money. How can you not give everything on the pitch if you have a president like that?”

On the bench of that Sampdoria there was Boskov.

“Another incredible character. Every week he gave us a series of anecdotes. He called us ‘shit’ and made fun of us. Mancio imitated him the same. He also had a good relationship with Mantovani, but every now and then they argued. I would tell you an anecdote about this, if I can.”

“It was summer and we were playing at Wembley. Mancini and Vialli went into a hotel room that smelled of paint and Roberto went crazy. He went down to the hall and went to talk to the coach. Boskov argued with us and told him ‘you shit, go to your room, we’ll think about it tomorrow’. Mancini went away and went to call Mantovani, who asked to pass Boskov to him. ‘You won, a taxi is coming… damn the president’. Mantovani had us booked a five-star hotel in central London and the coach had sketched…”.

She quoted Vialli, inseparable roommate…

“Yes, but defining it like that is an understatement. We were friends, comrades, brothers. Do you think that once we were both disqualified and we joined the away team by renting a private jet for us and for the fans. Do you understand what a man Luca was? But I could give you a thousand examples, really.”

Yet, it is said that you were different in character. He is precise and obsessive, she is a little less so. It is true?

“Yes, but precisely for this reason we complemented each other. He made fun of me for my disorder. Do you think that once, before a Cup match, I took a sip of whiskey from a whistle, he caught me and started scolding me. Then, I went onto the pitch and scored a beautiful goal. So, before returning for the second half, he stopped me and said ‘Ivo, don’t you have some for me too?’. We burst out laughing. Then he stopped me really drank and he scored a goal too.”

After many teams in Italy, he ended his career between England and Scotland.

“As a footballer I ended up at Grimsby Town, a beautiful story. I arrived by chance, convinced I was going to audition. They put me as an attacking midfielder with the ten, free to invent. It was a fishing village, wonderful people. In order to keep me, they raised money for the town with a “Bonetti fund”. Then I was player-manager at Dundee, with my brother as assistant. After many matches as an opponent with Dario throughout my career, it was the perfect closing of the circle.”