The recent betting scandal has tarnished the names of some hitherto fully-respected professionals. Giuseppe Signori is one such personality, having been banned from holding any position within Italian football for five years in August 2011. His involvement in Scommessopoli came as a shock given his status as one of Italy’s most beloved former players, cemented over more than 20 years of devotion, skill and goals galore.
Signori started out in the youth ranks at Inter, but was released after being deemed too small. It was to be a decision the Nerazzurri were to regret as the diminutive 17-year-old started his remarkable ascent elsewhere, following in the footsteps of Franco Baresi, who had been rejected by Inter for the same reason only to become an icon at rivals Milan.
Moving across Lombardy, Signori signed for Leffe, a side in the non-professional Serie D; he made an instant impact with five goals in eight matches. However, when Leffe were promoted to Serie C2, the fourth tier of the Italian league pyramid, the manager opted to deploy him on the left wing. Signori’s powerful left foot, laser-sharp passing and blistering pace marked him out as effective in such a position, and although ‘Beppe’ preferred to play up front, he complied. In his new position he scored only three goals in the 1985/86 season, but his many assists attracted other sides, and at the end of the season he was snapped up by Piacenza.
The competition for places proved challenging at the Serie C1 side, and Signori was used sparingly. A loan spell at Trento in the subsequent season worked a treat, with Beppe getting much more match practice while remaining at a Serie C1 side.
Signori’s rise up the calcio ladder continued when he returned to Piacenza, who by now had been promoted to Serie B. His 32 appearances and 5 goals in 1988/89 were not enough to save the Biancorossi from relegation but alerted him to Zdenek Zeman, the Foggia manager who moved for his signature. This transfer would change Signori’s career path significantly.
Speaking to sport.it, Signori described the first time he and Zeman met. “When I arrived he greeted me by saying ‘welcome bomber’”, he recalled. “At that moment I thought he was confused. I got 5 goals in (Serie) B and 8 in C, I could be anything but a bomber. He had seen something else, evidently.”
What Zeman beheld was Signori’s potential as a striker. Yes, he had pace, excellent passing and was a tricky dribbler, but he also possessed a predatory instinct in the box and was an efficient penalty taker. The unusual way in which he took spot-kicks, without a run-up and with only a couple of steps towards the ball, raised many an eyebrow, but the ball would almost always go into the back of the net. These capabilities together would make him a hugely potent forward, able to score in several different ways, from several different positions.
Foggia’s 4-3-3 formation and gifted personnel got them promoted to Serie A in 1991, and then took the top flight by storm. Signori formed a dangerous attacking triumvirate with Francesco Baiano and Roberto Rambaudi, and the Satanelli finished the campaign in 9th place, a true feat given the club’s humble history. Signori’s 11 goals earned him his first cap for the Italian national team, and were picked up on by Lazio, who needed a replacement for their departed goalscorer Ruben Sosa. Signori left Foggia for Rome and, upon entering the Eternal City, also entered the golden era of his football career.
The 1992/93 season stands as arguably Signori’s greatest. While Paul Gascoigne’s arrival at Lazio grabbed the initial headlines, Beppe netted seven times in the Biancocelesti’s first five league games, announcing his position as the club’s real star. His stunning individual goal in the 3-1 victory against Inter is possibly the greatest he ever scored. Receiving the ball within the Lazio half, he dribbled towards the right side of the pitch before cutting across to the left twice, bamboozling Inter defenders. He then burst into the box and unleashed a strong ball into the bottom right corner of the goal.
It was not only Signori’s goalscoring exploits that benefited the team; in il Derby della Capitale against Roma, his perfect free-kick found Gascoigne, who headed in his first Lazio goal. Signori finished the season as Serie A’s top scorer, with an incredible 26 goals in 32 matches. He would win the capocannoniere crown twice more, in 93/94 and 95/96.
For someone so talented, Beppe’s international career was unfortunately short. Italy manager Arrigo Sacchi selected him for the squad to play in the 1994 World Cup, and started the Lazio man in the Azzurri’s first match against Ireland. Signori’s hard-working display against Norway in the next game, in which he ran the opposing defenders raggèd and took the free-kick from which Dino Baggio scored the only goal of the tie, won the hearts of Italy fans worldwide.
Alas, although Italy advanced to the final, problems arose when Signori refused to play as a winger for the semi-final against Bulgaria. Sacchi preferred him in that role, and naturally felt affronted when told that Signori would only play as a striker. Beppe was dropped for the final and watched from the bench as Italy lost to Brazil on penalties. After 1995 he was never to play for his country again, having made 28 international appearances and scored 7 goals. Signori later admitted that he regretted his refusal to play where Sacchi wanted, “a choice which… practically excluded me from the final”, he told sport.it.
From 1992 to 1997, Signori enjoyed an uninterrupted status as the star striker at Lazio, and became the club’s captain. The team’s peak was the 2nd place they achieved in 1994/95, when Signori was re-united with Foggia manager Zeman.
However, when Sven-Göran Eriksson took over as Lazio manager for the 1997/98 season, Signori found himself out of favour. He was behind new transfer Roberto Mancini (who had played under Eriksson at Sampdoria) in the pecking order. Beppe decided that a loan move was in order, heading to Sampdoria in January. His few months in Genoa were blighted by poor form and injuries, and he managed only three goalss
At this point, Signori was 30 years old. Others of his age may have experienced a slow decline, drifting from club to club and making only a limited impression at each of them, à la Christian Vieri. Instead, Signori opened a new chapter by signing for mid-table Bologna. He had seen the success of Roberto Baggio who, after an unremarkable spell at Milan, spent 1997/98 at the Stadio Dall’Ara and scored 22 league goals. Baggio had since moved on to Inter, so Bologna were in need of a forward to replace him – enter Signori.
His time at Bologna made him a club symbol, and it was a mutual love. Signori regarded the city as “perfect because it allows you to work quietly, without pressure.” In his first season therein in 1998/99, the Rossoblu embarked on their best ever run in Europe. First winning the Intertoto Cup, which allowed their entry into the UEFA Cup, Bologna then reached the semi-finals of the competition, powered by Signori’s 6 goals and partnership with Kennet Andersson. In the end, they only missed out on the final due to Marseille winning on the away goals rule.
15 league goals in 98/99, and again in 99/00, secured mid-table finishes for Bologna. In 2000/01, after overcoming injury problems, Beppe scored 16 goals in 23 matches. But the following season injury struck again and Signori, out for much of the season, netted only three times.
A more successful 2002/03 campaign saw him score 12 goals, but tensions with manager Francesco Guidolin were reported in the press as the striker was left on the bench in matches when he was apparently fit to play. The Bologna tifosi were on Signori’s side and, after he was not offered a new contract come the end of the season, they took to the streets in protest. Guidolin resigned and Carlo Mazzone, the boss who brought Signori to Emilia-Romagna in 1998, was appointed in his place.
However, 2003/04 brought more injury problems and Signori admitted at the season’s close that his body was not up to the demands of Serie A before leaving Bologna after five seasons. The following year, the Rossoblu were relegated.
Signori tried his luck first with Iraklis in Greece, and then with Sopron of Hungary. Neither stint was particularly successful, so in 2006 he brought his magnificent career to a close.
The boy from Alzano Lombardo’s success is not reflected in his silverware cabinet. That Intertoto Cup win in 1998 and Lazio’s Coppa Italia victory in 97/98 (the latter stages of which Signori missed out on due to his Sampdoria loan move) are his only club trophies.
However, trophies are not the be all and end all. Signori was the league’s top scorer in three seasons and totalled 188 Serie A goals – joint eighth in the all-time rankings, a magnificent achievement. Furthermore, his place in the hearts of Lazio and Bologna fans cannot be denied.
It is surprising then that he would feel the need to get involved in betting scams. It has certainly compromised his reputation, as scandals have done with so many other valued calcio greats. His crime cannot be forgotten; such scams blacken the name of Italian football throughout the world. But it is important also not to forget the feats on the playing field of a man who remains a football legend.
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