Powered by the financial muscle of Sergio Cragnotti after his arrival in 1992, Lazio consistently broke the world record record transfer fee in the mid 90’s in search of success.
Hernan Crespo, Juan Sebastian Veron, Christian Vieri all arrived in world breaking circumstances, as well as the notorious capture of Paul Gascoigne, who was more famous for his off the ball antics than his performances on the pitch.
However, despite the investments, Lazio were the perennial “nearly men” throughout the mid – nineties, securing second place in 1995, third in 1996 and fourth in 1997.
Lazio employed former Fiorentina coach Sven Goran Erikkson in 1997, who led the club to their most succesful period in modern times. The capital club won the Coppa Italia and the Italian Super Cup in 1998, and came even closer to the title in 1999, losing out on the Scudetto by just a point to Milan. Despite the domestic heartbreak, Lazio won the Uefa Cup Winners cup that year.
By this time, Lazio were a wonderfully talented side, the glittering plethora of star names including Sinisa Mihajlovic, Pavel Nedved and Marcelo Salas, and captained by future Milan star Alessandro Nesta.
They finally secured Lo Scudetto in 2000 in a historic double winning season, playing an exotic and entertaining brand of football, and entering Erikkson’s name into Laziale folklore.
However, the entering of Lazio as a commodity on the stock market proved a mistake. Too much was spent on players that did not perform, the likes of Gaizika Mendieta, purchased for €28m, was an abject failure, and when the funding slowed down, Lazio sunk like a stone.
By 2002 Cragnotti’s suffered corruption allegations, and Lazio were in financial ruins, and sold off the majority of their star players, Crespo going to Inter, Veron to Manchester United and fan favourite ‘Sandro Nesta to Milan.
Lazio’s Scudetto, along with Fabio Capello’s success with Roma the following year, provided a rare period of dominance for the historic city, so often the onlookers whilst the Northern sides took away the prizes. Under the financial might, Lazio proved that Rome can be the capital more than just diplomatically.
Lazio have not repeated their successes since, and got the closest to a Scudetto in 2007 with a third place finish, but nostalgic Laziale look to those crazy days filled with optimism and title challenges with a reminiscnent smile.
However, last seasons high placed finish under Edy Reja suggest that a return to form could be on the cards, and under the more financially prudent rule of Claudio Lotito, the likelihood of a meltdown ala Cragnotti are a lot smaller.
The purchases of Miroslav Klose and Djibrill Ciise will surely aid Lazio’s plight to reagain some of their former glories, but until then, their finest period remain at the turn of the millenium.
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