Laws & Bonetti

Interesting interview from 31 minutes in

https://twitter.com/mattdeanbbc/status/1499105257594490885?s=21

Good bloke , Brian Laws . Some of the football we played under him in that Bonetti season was superb . Very underrated Town manger untill that punch

Enjoyed every second of that

Quoted from It Bites

Good bloke , Brian Laws . Some of the football we played under him in that Bonetti season was superb . Very underrated Town manger untill that punch

Wholeheartedly agree...continued the Buckley style but with a bit more urgency and bite. Some cracking matches in that era.

Always think Laws has had a excrement deal from town fans since that incident, when, in truth, bonetti seemed to be a bit of a girl private. Was it right? Probably not but I don’t think that should mean town fans forget some of those games and not look back fondly on the Laws spell…

Whatever happened to player managers…

Sounds like Ivano deserved a slap

Ivano was before my time but the impression I get from people I speak to is that he is a legend on the basis of that post-match injury, the fact we crowdfunded him and that he was playing for decent Italian teams like Juventus and Sampdoria only a few years earlier.

Quoted from jamesgtfc

Ivano was before my time but the impression I get from people I speak to is that he is a legend on the basis of that post-match injury, the fact we crowdfunded him and that he was playing for decent Italian teams like Juventus and Sampdoria only a few years earlier.

He was a legend because quite simply he was probably the most talented player in a Town shirt for a long time.

Quoted from KingstonMariner

He was a legend because quite simply he was probably the most talented player in a Town shirt for a long time.

He was on another level really and it’s clear to see why he played for those clubs…

I went to sampdoria the other year for the derby. Visited the club shop to purchase a scarf and was met with a huge image of that samp team with Ivano in it…was bonkers to think he came to play for us…

Quoted from livvo

Sounds like Ivano deserved a slap

As amiable as Laws seems during that interview do remember that it is only one side, his side, of the story.

Quoted from jamesgtfc

Ivano was before my time but the impression I get from people I speak to is that he is a legend on the basis of that post-match injury, the fact we crowdfunded him and that he was playing for decent Italian teams like Juventus and Sampdoria only a few years earlier.

Name me another Town player who has played in the final of the European Cup / Champions League. The first European Cup final I can remember watching as it happens - Ivano wears the number 11 shirt.

https://youtu.be/UJKaqiS637M

3 years later he was playing for Town.

Quoted from Poojah

Name me another Town player who has played in the final of the European Cup / Champions League. The first European Cup final I can remember watching as it happens - Ivano wears the number 11 shirt.

https://youtu.be/UJKaqiS637M

3 years later he was playing for Town.

Garry Birtles

Quoted from Poojah

Name me another Town player who has played in the final of the European Cup / Champions League. The first European Cup final I can remember watching as it happens - Ivano wears the number 11 shirt.

https://youtu.be/UJKaqiS637M

3 years later he was playing for Town.

Gary Birtles.

Gascoigne was starring for England at Euro 96. Fast forward 6 years and he's playing for Burnley and then Boston 2 years after that. I absolutely get it; his ownership was a bit similar to that of Tevez and Mascherano when they went to West Ham which adds to the whole story and he had played for some very good clubs and on one of the biggest stages so I get it.

A Tranmere blog says this about him: Tranmere fans loved Ivano Bonetti for what he represented in a spiritual sense; for what he could have been, not for what he actually was.

Quoted from jamesgtfc

Gary Birtles.

Gascoigne was starring for England at Euro 96. Fast forward 6 years and he's playing for Burnley and then Boston 2 years after that. I absolutely get it; his ownership was a bit similar to that of Tevez and Mascherano when they went to West Ham which adds to the whole story and he had played for some very good clubs and on one of the biggest stages so I get it.

A Tranmere blog says this about him: Tranmere fans loved Ivano Bonetti for what he represented in a spiritual sense; for what he could have been, not for what he actually was.

It was more than spiritual for me.

https://youtu.be/3JlSDEOXDlY

Quoted from Poojah

It was more than spiritual for me.

https://youtu.be/3JlSDEOXDlY

He never played more than 70 games before moving on and never scored more than 3 goals in those spells. We were his most prolific spell though which does leave a sense of "what could have been" I guess.

Unfortunately my only memory of him at Blundell Park is when he brought his Dundee side in pre-season.

Quoted from Poojah

It was more than spiritual for me.

https://youtu.be/3JlSDEOXDlY

As cathartic as that goal was (we battered em but somehow their goal remained inviolate apart from that once), more iconic for me was the game at Charlton were he performed wonders and laid the ball on a plate for that bloke who went on to manage Bradford. He could probably have taken it himself but chose the better option.

It’s no doubt Ivano’s legend has grown since he left, that was always likely to happen but when you really look at it, he was flipping brilliant and regardless of how he ended up here and how it ended, I’m just thankful I got to see it.

Quoted from jamesgtfc

Ivano was before my time but the impression I get from people I speak to is that he is a legend on the basis of that post-match injury, the fact we crowdfunded him and that he was playing for decent Italian teams like Juventus and Sampdoria only a few years earlier.

He was far too good for us. I assume attitude was the reason he ended up here, but he was on another level to everybody else I've ever seen in a Town shirt.

Macca tells a great story of how he and some of the others were being taken over to Italy for a massive game (could be the Milan derby, not entirely sure though) by ivano after the Luton game…they never went…

He talks about how they all had their bags packed, we’re buzzing and the usual stuff, the way Macca tells it is brilliant and there’s a genuine disappointment in his voice and eyes when he tells it.

Quoted from jamesgtfc

Ivano was before my time but the impression I get from people I speak to is that he is a legend on the basis of that post-match injury, the fact we crowdfunded him and that he was playing for decent Italian teams like Juventus and Sampdoria only a few years earlier.

I wouldn't go that far, he was a really good player. But people forget that he played a similar number of games for us as Andy Todd or Martin Paterson. Half a season or less.

He was like a really successful loanee, but different as so exotic, unique, in that we paid for him, like an early crowd funder, and that made him seem more permanent. He certainly brought media attention in many ways.

Of course the incident with Laws really shortened his time.  We've really heard very little about it even now.

Maybe compare him with John Oster who soon after did so well so quickly we were able to sell him for 1.5 million.  I'm a big Oster fan, and he was a similar type of player, and he came back for a 2nd spell, and his sale enabled AB to rebuild a successful side.

Ivano, some good memories, but Ford, Gilbert, Oster, Childs ahead of him for me for multiple reasons.

Cannot believe how good the Town pitch looked in those days.
As for Ivano, he was brilliant and I enjoyed every minute he played. He could put low powerful crosses in, onto Livo’s head for him to score, even though Livo didn’t see it coming. Great memories.

as you might guess Ivano, for me, was the most talented footballer i've seen in atown shirt, and this is now my 50th season.
The WBA goal/game still makes the hairs stand up - was the greatest occasion/atmosphere/feeling i've ever experienced at BP
It only took us 15mins at Charlton to realise we had got something special
He could turn full backs both ways , like he did with Welsh international Mark Bowen at Norwich.
At Birmingham they doubled up on him, but still couldn't stop him
the football we played under Laws, especially when he graced the team, was by far the best I've ever seen

He, and the team, were just a joy to watch. great days

Quoted from pizzzza

As amiable as Laws seems during that interview do remember that it is only one side, his side, of the story.

Macca mentions it in his book.  I think the chicken wings story was to make it look more like an accident.   Read between Brian's lines in this interview couple with the fact that he said that he give is his all during the game, he obviously was miffed with a grown man sulking and clocked him.

Quoted from forza ivano

the football we played under Laws, especially when he graced the team, was by far the best I've ever seen

He, and the team, were just a joy to watch. great days

This.

Buckley before and after takes all the plaudits for many of us (those maybe not fortunate enough to see the teams of previous decades) but the Laws side often gets overlooked, I guess with justification as it never achieved promotion and ultimately the end of Laws' tenure was a disaster.

Completely echo those earlier posts about Laws evolving the football from what we had under Buckley.  It's not a popular opinion but it had become a bit stale under AB and we had become a little predictable.  92/93 was peak Buckley with a 9th finish that really should have been a play-off place. 12 points off the top 6 in the end but a very disappointing end to the season.  March we picked up  just 4 points from 21.  April was better with 4 consecutive wins to make it 12 from 18 before consecutive defeats in May to end the season (albeit against Champions Newcastle and 3rd placed Portsmouth).  

But overall we ran flat at the end.  16 points from the final 15 games (45 points).  Over the course of the season that would have given us just shy of 50 points.  That season the bottom side, Bristol Rovers, finished with 41 points with Cambridge and Brentford both going down with 49.

The next season, Buckley's final full season, for long periods we threatened to make a play-off challenge and then fell away when it mattered.  The final 7 games brought 4 points but more alarmingly just 2 goals.   We'd got a reputation as a nice side to watch but one without any real bite.  

The fans were getting restless and it began to show on the gates.  The start of the next season they really dwindled after a good opening number against Bolton and ironically when we looked a bit more free flowing and scoring more goals.  But it felt like the damage was done and I can recall Buckley often bemoaning the lack of fans at games in a style that wasn't ever going to bring people back.

Although it did take a bit of adjusting, Laws really kicked us on.  We looked more ruthless, more aggressive in our play and we mixed it up when we needed to.  10th in his first season, largely without his main striker (Clive Mendonca) who I don't think played all that season but you could sense something special was brewing.  

Next season we bumbled about a bit but then Autumn onwards it just went crazy.  For a 4-6 week period I honestly thought we were going to get promoted, again this was all without Mendonca.   It wasn't just the results but the way we were attacking teams.  I think it's easy to get caught up in the nostalgia of Ivano as a player, he was good but I wouldn't say he was that good.  He was lazy, a bit stroppy and didn't want to work for the team.  But it fitted what we had.  Laws had got a side (party inherited/partly brought in and also partly evolved) that could accommodate a luxury player), Ivano fitted that role perfectly.  

It's a common myth that the Luton incident burst the bubble, as the form had dipped off a bit before then but had we looked at this as a long term thing rather than an overnight one, I think Laws would have kicked the club on as genuine challengers.  That might have been with or without Ivano.

Alas, we'll never know.

Fair points DHM. You have to take the rough with the smooth and you have to say that in the final analysis Laws’ man-management let himself  (and the club) down. Spectacularly.

I remember him as the best crosser of a ball I have seen play regularly love. Came in incredibly fast, flat and accurate.How you strike a ball like that I don’t know.

Quoted from HerveJosse

I remember him as the best crosser of a ball I have seen play regularly love. Came in incredibly fast, flat and accurate.How you strike a ball like that I don’t know.

That's one of the things that stands out with top players, especially the wingers, that whip and accuracy,  other than Ivano , when we played Blackburn in the cup  Emerton (I think ) on their wing was pinging in similar deliveries with only half a yard of space.

Quoted from HerveJosse

I remember him as the best crosser of a ball I have seen play regularly love. Came in incredibly fast, flat and accurate.How you strike a ball like that I don’t know.

That's one of the things that stands out with top players, especially the wingers, that whip and accuracy,  other than Ivano , when we played Blackburn in the cup  Emerton (I think ) on their wing was pinging in similar deliveries with only half a yard of space.

Overall I think i would file Ivano under cult hero rather than legend.  For only a brief period  he captivated the town, not just the fans but the townand to some degree the wider area and even nationally/ internationally.
It seemed as if every pub in town was doing a fundraising night, every corner shop had a name card on the go.
It was brief , it was amazing , it was a roller coaster, highs lows and left you feeling sick at the end.

He was a really good player to be playing for us with a strong pedigree and a cult figure, hero to some.

It was great while it lasted but the length of time it lasted means he could never be labelled a Town legend.

Shane it ended like it did as we where half decent at the time.

Quoted from HertsGTFC

He was a really good player to be playing for us with a strong pedigree and a cult figure, hero to some.

It was great while it lasted but the length of time it lasted means he could never be labelled a Town legend.

Shane it ended like it did as we where half decent at the time.

Exactly this - wasn't here long enough to be remembered as a legend but one of a number of very talented footballers who played for us in the 80s and 90s. I'd actually forgotten that he only played 19 times for us - quite an impact!