Strip Club–Extras Edition
I’m a Juventus guy and it took a lot of lubrication (read Honey Brown, Newcastle, and Summer Shandy) to get me through this post, but I felt I had to get this out.
Inter entered the 2010-11 campaign as the kings of Italy and Europe. Mourinho had led the club to a historic treble that included the elimination of FC Barcelona in the semis of the Champions League (thank you volcanic ash) before a comprehensive victory over Bayern Munich in Final.
Of course the Special One left shortly after lifting the European Cup to attack his next challenge with Real Madrid. Enter Rafael Benitez. After relatively successful stints at Valencia and Liverpool, Rafa would take the reins of a team looking to stamp their authority in all competitions.
The Spaniard only lasted until December as poor form in the league could not make up for winning the Italian Super Cup and FIFA Club World Championship. Leonardo took over, leading the Nerazzurri all the way up to second in the league and another Coppa triumph against Palmero. However in the Champions League, Schalke hammered the Italians in the quarter-finals, winning 5-2 at San Siro and 2-1 at home.
Their away kit for the 2010-11 season is stunning. But divisive. Comment threads across the interwebs sway between the extremes of love and hate. I fall in the love category. I have a knockoff away jersey from a couple of years ago that is simple and elegant in all white. This top takes that basic, beautiful foundation and adds the sinister symbol of the city of Milan and the club Internazionale—the serpent.
From the Inter Milan Wikipedia page:
Animals are often used to represent football clubs in Italy, the grass snake, called Il biscione or Serpente representing Inter. The snake is an important symbol for the city of Milan, appearing often in Milanese heraldry as a coiled viper with a man in its jaws. The symbol is famous for its presence on the coat of arms of the House of Sforza (who ruled over Italy from Milan during the Renaissance period), the city of Milan, the historical Duchy of Milan (a 400 year state of the Holy Roman Empire), and Insubria (a historical regional area which the city of Milan falls within).
The entire strip is clean and sharp, and this post from Soccer Bible has some nice pictures and descriptions. I haven’t done any searching for this jersey, but if I could find a really good deal on it, I might consider buying it. I may not ever wear it, but just having it hanging in my closet might be enough. Yes. I know. I have issues.
Soccer Nomad 
I’ve never seen this jersey before, but I absolutely love it (i’ve always liked serpent imagery). At the same time, I totally understand why it is love or hate. As cool as it is to me, I see how some fans might see it as hokey and not classy. For example, it would be something an upstart team/league might come out with to appeal to fans. In other words, it is very “American.” I wonder if if there would be more acceptance if it were embossed and more subtle rather than stark. Either way, I like it a lot.
Definitely in the “love” group for this one. Wouldn’t mind having one in my closet, though I’m not sure if I’d wear it, either.
ha. suppose from your avatar that you support the rovers. will the halycon days of Sir Jack and Alan and Sutton ever return?
Correct on Rovers. As to your question, I suspect the short answer is no; the long(er) answer is at least not until years of wandering in the wilderness of lower league football, courtesy of Venkys and their minions, has gone by the wayside. Everything they’ve done so far has gone about as wrong as it possibly could…the ongoing game of “who’s in charge this week” is just par for their course…
that’s too bad. the mid 90’s team was nice to watch and i enjoyed them for a time when they Roque Santa Cruz, Bentley and another winger. can’t remember is his name. maybe from norway? anyway, thanks for reading and commenting and hope that the glory days return (without chicken based owners).
MGP – Morton Gamst Pedersen – is the other winger you’re thinking of, and that’s the team that cemented my Rovers fandom. For what that’s worth now
Sorry to start checking out the blog now that it sounds like you’re having to step back from it a bit. But I’ll work my way through some of the older posts – great stuff that I’ve seen so far. And thanks for the good wishes – hopefully a return to the EPL, and maybe some larger relevance, won’t be too far into my mid-to-old age…
Morton Gamst Pedersen. exactly.
thanks for any thoughts you have on previous posts. are you twitter? would enjoy adding you to the timeline as i track the rovers wonderful return to EPL mediocrity. i’m @austinlong1974.
I’m on twitter (@joeficarra) but have been pulled away from it for a fairly long time. Thinking about getting active on it again though, and have been starting to log in more often just to track what’s going on, so we’ll see…
Your recent shirt posts have had me drooling longingly over at classic football shirts’ website the last few nights, trying to figure out what I need to add to my small collection.