Ivano

Bonetti in the pier  
Did anybody see Enzo Gambaro in the pier? Might explain why he never played for us. Or was he unlucky that he played right back

Quoted from 316[b

]The fans raised £50k, did they not, to release him from third party ownership?

And Ivano paid the other £50k. Have I got that right?
[/b]
How many modern-day footballers would be willing to do that, and how many players would we be willing to do that for?

The guy played in a Champions League final at Wembley. He looked like he loved playing for us, when all was well.

His skill was clearly undoubted. Yes, wasn't with us for long but, for me, legends are people who are going to be talked about for a long, long time - and Ivano falls in that bracket.

His players registration was held by a consortium ( third party ? ) but he was part of that consortium. He was in fact partly paying himself.

I never actually saw him in the same adulation as a lot of fans did. Although obviously a very good footballer I felt that there was a " bit of a conman " about him. It still rankles me that the " incident " with Laws was partly precipitated by Ivano being more bothered about the club paying for him to fly back to Italy than the fact that we had thrown away a lead to end up being beaten. He was a high maintainance player with all his living costs at Kenwick Park being covered by the club. We also had to pay for a full time interpreter as he spoke very little English and he insisted on the club paying for his visits back to Italy.

Are you telling me that the club didn’t know what it was getting?

Yes, high maintenance maybe. But why should that have been a surprise? The guy had Champions League experience. He was highly paid all his career. He should have never ended up in a place like Grimsby but he did.

We didn’t have to take him. Laws didn’t have to play him if he thought he was going to be difficult or divisive.

But clearly the club and Laws felt the benefits outweighed the negatives and it’s a bit rich to now criticise his demeanour when we knew exactly what we were trying to buy.

Quoted from RichMariner

Are you telling me that the club didn’t know what it was getting?

Yes, high maintenance maybe. But why should that have been a surprise? The guy had Champions League experience. He was highly paid all his career. He should have never ended up in a place like Grimsby but he did.

We didn’t have to take him. Laws didn’t have to play him if he thought he was going to be difficult or divisive.

But clearly the club and Laws felt the benefits outweighed the negatives and it’s a bit rich to now criticise his demeanour when we knew exactly what we were trying to buy.

There is a world of difference between accepting the high maintenance of a player and then seeing that abused and used to the extreme.
You say that he should never have ended up at a place like Grimsby but maybe he saw us as a soft touch and the management didn't realise beforehand how manipulative and divisive he was. It's all water under the bridge now but I , for one , don't get gooey eyed when I think about him. We have had many good players in my time of watching town but I will always remember Ivano as the player who precipitated an ugly dressing room scene that got the club noticed for all the wrong reasons.

Quoted from rancido

There is a world of difference between accepting the high maintenance of a player and then seeing that abused and used to the extreme.
You say that he should never have ended up at a place like Grimsby but maybe he saw us as a soft touch and the management didn't realise beforehand how manipulative and divisive he was. It's all water under the bridge now but I , for one , don't get gooey eyed when I think about him. We have had many good players in my time of watching town but I will always remember Ivano as the player who precipitated an ugly dressing room scene that got the club noticed for all the wrong reasons.

You choose to remember that rather than the WBA or Luton games?

Quoted from rancido

His players registration was held by a consortium ( third party ? ) but he was part of that consortium. He was in fact partly paying himself.

I never actually saw him in the same adulation as a lot of fans did. Although obviously a very good footballer I felt that there was a " bit of a conman " about him. It still rankles me that the " incident " with Laws was partly precipitated by Ivano being more bothered about the club paying for him to fly back to Italy than the fact that we had thrown away a lead to end up being beaten. He was a high maintainance player with all his living costs at Kenwick Park being covered by the club. We also had to pay for a full time interpreter as he spoke very little English and he insisted on the club paying for his visits back to Italy.

Not all his living costs.  I worked in the health club at Kenwick and he used to pay for the sun beds  

Quoted from 1mickylyons

You choose to remember that rather than the WBA or Luton games?

Yes because I can recall many memorable games before Ivano came but only the one incident that made the national press for the wrong reasons. Wasn't it also a Luton game that lead to " chickengate "?
The guy was a gifted footballer but also a conman and sadly it seems he has conned some of our supporters into thinking he was some kind of " superman ". I would rather remember  Paul Futcher and Matt Tees who served our club rather than Ivano and his 20 game cameo.

He chickened out and would have been happy to deny a great clubman 20 grand, the greedy illegitimate.

great player. Only behind Trevor Whymark and Lord Paul of Futcherland, as the best footballers Ive seen at GY.