Article 40 — An Inter Fan’s Overview
The initial days as an Inter fan was tough to create an association with the club and the team. Inter was in the shadows of AC Milan and Juventus. In the early 90s, only one Serie A match was shown “live” on Indonesian TV per week. Because of Inter’s performances at that time, it was rare that I would get to watch an Inter match “live”.
In Singapore, I was consigned to rely on Serie A highlights and Teletext updates for the latest scores. I was glad to find out that Inter won the UEFA Cup in 1993–94 but it was only later in my life that I watched highlights of that game. I did wonder at that time why we could only beat our opponents in the final only 1–0 over both legs
The familiarity grew in Massimo Moratti’s era especially after the signing of Paul Ince, a player I knew very well from watching him play for my other favourite club, Manchester United. At that time, I didn’t know of Moratti’s existence and the significance of the Moratti family on Inter until the late 90s and early 00s.
Moratti presided over the club like a fan. He had a philosophy that attack wins you games which is why he loaded the team with superstar attackers and attack-minded players but he forgot that defence wins you titles. The defenders he signed more often than not were hit and hope signings, players signed to fill in the numbers at the back. He hired and fired managers with the drop of a hat too like a fan.
I felt he was too hasty in sacking Luigi Simoni in the 1998–99 season. The axe was hanging over Marcello Lippi and it dropped the moment results went south at the start of 2000–01 season. It was about time that it happened. I can’t think of other managers that were fired prematurely or hastily. The changes in management, sometimes 3 or 4 managerial changes in a season created instability in the club and affected players and the results.
The late Luigi Simoni was the first manager that kept the team tight, we came close to winning the Scudetto in 1997–98 and won the UEFA Cup in 1998. To be brutally honest, the controversy in the away game against Juventus aside, we only had ourselves to blame for not capitalising on Juventus’ slip-ups that season. I would not say a single episode decided the title that season.
The next manager that got close was Hector Cuper. I have not heard a bad word against him from anyone aside from Ronaldo. In that season too, we were in the driving seat for the Scudetto. We were fumbling and stumbling near the end but if we had kept our eyes on the prize on the last day, we would remember 5th May 2002 more fondly than we do now. Unlike 1998, we ran out of steam near the end and couldn’t last the distance in the UEFA Cup.
Roberto Mancini was the most successful manager in Moratti’s era. He had a huge stroke of luck that Calciopoli happened in 2006 and he was awarded a Scudetto in the courtroom for 2005–06 and won 2 more on the pitch with weakened competition. He won 2 Coppa Italia and 2 Supercoppa Italiana. The football we played in 2004–05 especially was really good and in that season, if we had converted half of the matches into victories, we would have won the Scudetto that season.
I felt it would have been sweeter and more beautiful had Inter won the Scudetto in 1997–98 or 2001–02 when Serie A was the best league or one of the best leagues in the world with strong competition from other teams in the league. It’s unfortunate that there were other clubs that didn’t go about their business with sporting integrity and as a result, we were the main benefactors of their discretion. We can only play and win against what we faced and what we faced wasn’t the strongest competition around. That watered down our Scudettis in the post-Calciopoli days until we won the Treble.
Finally, we got Jose Mourinho. The number of trophies he won is lesser compared to Mancini but momentous in the history of Inter and Italian football. We became the first-ever Italian club to win the Treble ironically with a team who’s first eleven had no Italian players. In total, he won 2 Scudetti, 1 Coppa Italia, 1 Supercoppa Italiana, 1 Champions League. Achieving the Champions League that was our Holy Grail at that time against tough continental competition was an amazing feat pulled off by Mourinho. He will forever be a special manager for us for that.
In the subsequent years, Rafa Benitez won the Supercoppa Italiana and FIFA Club World Cup, Leonardo won the Coppa Italia and that was the last of the trophies won as the club entered a dark phase. Erik Thohir took over as President from Moratti and his era would be seen as a dark era as the club had to sell players from their Treble team to balance the books and to replace them, we signed players that were lacking in quality and character to be Inter players.
The current Suning Group era has been positively promising as the club is structurally better organised, we are signing better players, we are getting closer to the top and qualifying for the Champions League consistently. The next step would be to start winning trophies and the Scudetto.
In my time as a fan, there have been so many players that have passed through the club. I will first address the ones that were either sold too soon or we couldn’t get the best out of in their time at Inter. The first one would be Dennis Bergkamp. He came at a time when Serie A was the best league in the world and won us the UEFA Cup in his first season but didn’t have the impact that he had at Arsenal after he left Inter. His was just a case of someone who couldn’t adapt to Italian football.
Next would be Roberto Carlos who left because he didn’t agree with Roy Hodgson’s tactical vision for him. There isn’t much one can say about that except that he came at the wrong time.
Andrea Pirlo came to the club as a number 10, a trequartista at a time when that position had Roberto Baggio, Alvaro Recoba and Youri Djorkaeff vying for the same spot. He spent time out on loan and no Inter manager had the awareness of his performances when he was on loan and had the faith to field him in the right position to get the best out of him. The club cashed in on him and the rest as we know is history. A pity because he was a boyhood Inter fan.
Clarence Seedorf’s performances were inconsistent for us, we saw the best of him in glimpses. Again no manager could really get the best out of him until he left us and really showed his true worth to our detriment at our neighbours. Fabio Cannavaro would go on to win the World Cup and Ballon D’Or after he left us but couldn’t consistently produce the form he showed for Parma before us and Juventus after us. He was the first defender I remember Moratti spent big money on.
Philippe Coutinho was used regularly by Rafa Benitez as he looked to freshen up the Treble squad. There were glimpses of his brilliance for us but he would be remembered for meek and weak displays for us. He exploded to life when he left us to join Liverpool. A pity that we couldn’t get the best out of him.
Mateo Kovacic was a player I really started liking when he was with us. I am always attracted to creative attacking players and he was playing like a typical number 10 that we have sorely missed since Wesley Sneijder’s sale. It was unfortunate and sad that Inter decided to cash in on him.
Ever Banega I thought played really well in a horrendous season for us, pulling the strings from centre midfield but was sold too soon, a season after. Joao Cancelo was a fantastic right-back, sending in great crosses and set-pieces and Rafinha, signed in the same season as Cancelo on loan are the final 2 players. He provided the creativity that we were lacking at a troubled time of the season. It was a surprise and a step back that both players were not signed up permanently.
In terms of the few players that broke into the first team from the youth ranks, Giovanni Pasquale couldn’t build on his breakthrough and grow as a player. Obafemi Martins had the best and biggest impact as a first-team player but was sold too soon. Davide Santon I felt was a better player than Pasquale. He showed a lot of maturity and calmness in his performances. He was fast and always a threat going forward but he couldn’t build on that for future seasons as he was troubled by injuries. Mario Balotelli has a lot of talent but his personality and lack of professionalism let him down.
From players that disappointed, I will pick my favourite player in each position. In goal, it is a toss-up between Gianluca Pagliuca and Francesco Toldo. I would pick Pagliuca by virtue of being the first Inter goalkeeper that became my favourite. The rest that deserve a mention and are my favourites are Francesco Toldo, Angelo Peruzzi, Julio Cesar and Samir Handanovic.
In defence, the choice is obvious, Javier Zanetti. The rest are as followed: Giuseppe Bergomi, Gianluca Festa, Massimo Paganin, Alessandro Pistone, Jocelyn Angloma, Dario Simic, Christian Panucci, Laurent Blanc, Ivan Cordoba, Grigoris Georgatos, Marco Materazzi, Fabio Cannavaro, Giovanni Pasquale, Nicolas Burdisso, Ze Maria, Giuseppe Favalli, Walter Samuel, Maxwell, Maicon, Christian Chivu, Davide Santon, Lucio, Yuto Nagatomo, Andrea Ranocchia, Danilo D’Ambrosio, Jeison Murillo, Miranda, Joao Cancelo, Milan Skriniar, Stefan de Vrij and Kwado Asamoah.
In midfield, my choices are tougher with the talent we had but I would go for Wesley Sneijder. The rest are as followed: Wim Jonk, Igor Shalimov, Nicola Berti, Davide Fontolan, Paul Ince, Benito Carbone, Youri Djorkaeff, Aaron Winter, Diego Simeone, Francesco Moriero, Ze Elias, Clarence Seedorf, Luigi Di Biagio, Stephane Dalmat, Cristiano Zanetti, Sergio Conceicao, Emre Belozoglu, Okan Buruk, Domenico Morfeo, Matias Almeyda, Dejan Stankovic, Kily Gonzalez, Giorgios Karagounis, Edgar Davids, Juan Sebastian Veron, Esteban Cambiasso, Andy van der Meyde, Luis Figo, David Pizarro, Santiago Solari, Oliver Dacourt, Sulley Muntari, Thiago Motta, Fredy Guarin, Mateo Kovacic, Gary Medel, Marcelo Brozovic, Ivan Perisic, Ever Banega, Roberto Gagliardini, Antonio Candreva, Rafinha and Matias Vecino.
In attack, it was a tough choice between Ronaldo and Christian Vieri but it’s tough to go against the brilliantly talented Ronaldo so he gets my vote. The rest are as followed: Ruben Sosa, Marco Branca, Maurizio Ganz, Ivan Zamorano, Alvaro Recoba, Roberto Baggio, Nicola Ventola, Christian Vieri, Mohamed Kallon, Hernan Crespo, Obafemi Martins, Julio Cruz, Adriano, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Mario Balotelli, Samuel Eto’o, Diego Milito, Goran Pandev, Gianpaolo Pazzini, Rodrigo Palacio, Lautaro Martinez.
Finally now, out of these names mentioned, I would name my all-time favourite Inter XI. The team would play in a 4–2–3–1 formation, the one we won the Treble with.
GK: Gianluca Pagliuca
RB: Maicon
CB: Giuseppe Bergomi
CB: Lucio
LB: Javier Zanetti
CM: Esteban Cambiasso
CM: Thiago Motta
RW: Francesco Moriero
AM: Wesley Sneijder
LW: Youri Djorkaeff
CF: Ronaldo
Subs: Francesco Toldo, Ivan Cordoba, Juan Veron, Christian Vieri, Roberto Baggio (biased, can’t help it)
Manager: Jose Mourinho
This would now conclude my throwback series and overview as an Inter fan. It will also conclude my series of throwbacks which started looking back at my time as an Italy fan and then a Manchester United fan. Future articles will be on the present and the occasional throwback. I hope you enjoy reading them. /
