“Goallllazzo!”

We caught up with James Richardson from Channel 4’s ‘Football Italia’ – a TV show that ran from 1992 to 2002 – for the launch of our introductory adidas Originals Italia 70s – size? exclusive pairs which debuted last month in light of our 25th anniversary. 

The next two pairs in the pack pay homage to AS Roma and S.S. Lazio heritage respectively and feature limited-edition touches in the form of Italian sidewall flags, premium fabrics and papery insoles inspired by La Gazzetta dello Sport.

For the second half of the release, we had a sit down with the man, the myth, the legend himself – Mr James Richardson – where we discussed Mediterranean culture and all things vintage Italian football heritage. Get stuck in below.

Can you introduce yourself?

“I’m James Richardson, and for many years, I roved Italy as a correspondent for Channel 4’s Football Italia.”

Can you tell us about the Football Italia TV show?

“Football Italia was a show that began in 1992 for a variety of reasons, but above all, because Paul Gascoigne – the most enigmatic UK football player of the time – had made a very protracted transfer from Tottenham Hotspur to Lazio in Rome.”

Onto Paul ‘Gazza’ Gascoigne then…

“The Show was called Gazzetta Football Italia, this was due to Gazza, and he was the central part of the Saturday morning review program we used to do. At least for the first couple of years when he was at Lazio and playing regularly.

I was really starstruck when I first met Paul Gascoigne. We met in Rome before the season started and he was this global superstar and I was this strange person who’d walked into the job kind of by accident largely because I spoke Italian.

But he was a lovely chap. Incredibly difficult to track down, timekeeping meant nothing to him, almost took a perverse delight in not being where he was supposed to be. But when you got him in front of the camera he was a dream.”

What was it like living in Italy in the 1990s?

“So the 1990s obviously were the best decade of all, and Italy was a pretty good place to go through them. The weather was great, food was great, everything was great.

The downside, if there were any, was that the production was a one man band. We would traipse around and hopefully lock down an interview, which made it a bit of a nailbiter: would we get an interview? And the subsequent nailbiter: could we actually get the footage back to England? But you know what, at the end of the day, as is often the case, everything was fine and the show got made for ten years.”

What is the Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper?

“Newspapers used to be a thing. And in Italy there was no bigger thing than the football newspaper. And there was no bigger football newspaper than the Gazzetta dello Sport which was the most sold daily newspaper in the country.

The first twenty-five pages were about football and then there would be a little bit left over to talk about cycling and other sports. It started as a paper to talk about cycling, predominantly, but the rise of football thanks to the various English pioneers in Italian football soon saw it outstrip cycling as the preferred sport so now it’s all about football.

It’s not a scandal-focused paper. It’s remarkable how little off-the-field intrigue they dip their noses into. They talk endlessly about what a player might’ve said and what tactical shift is underway. If you feel that you can’t talk too much about football then the Gazzetta dello Sport is here every day to prove you wrong.”

Who is your favourite AC Milan player from that period of time?

“When I was there in the 1990s it was the golden era for Serie A and AC Milan who were comfortably the best team in the world. What they did to Barcelona in 1994 is something that anyone who follows Italian football will never forget. And for that I’m inclined to pick one of those great Capello signings, Dejan Savićević.

But failing that, he’s a less flashy player, but I might just go for Zvonimir Boban who was an absolute gent and a really interesting figure who eventually rose through the ranks in UEFA.”

Favourite S.S. Lazio player of all time?

“This is difficult for me as I’m an AS Roma fan. But beyond club proclivities there are some people who are just so nice you can’t help but follow them whatever they are doing. Out of all the players at Lazio, Gazza was obviously a great colleague for decades, but it was one of his teammates, Giuseppe Signori, who was top scorer for three seasons in a row and a dazzling striker who was a really sweet guy off-the-field.”

Favourite AS Roma player?

“In some ways I would say Giannini from the glorious but doomed Roma side of the late ‘80s. He was from that heritage of homegrown Roma midfielders, but it’s maybe the guy that followed him in that role, Francesco Totti. His ability to reinterpret the role of a strikerless formation really made that whole approach popular. I’d have to say Francesco Totti.”

Best game you went to see in that decade?

“I’m gonna go for a match that took place at Stadio Olimpico in 1997 between AS Roma and Inter Milan. Inter had a stupid line-up in those days, frankly. When you look back at it now it seems like the stuff of science-fiction. You had Roberto Baggio, Youri Djorkaeff, Iván Zamorano, Pirlo was there, certainly Zanetti at the back, too. So they went down to Rome and it was a low-scoring affair. 5-4 was the final score to Inter. Just a mad night.”

Best goal you witnessed?

“One that stands out for me was Mancini’s flying back heel from a corner for Lazio against Parma. I wasn’t actually there for that one but I was there at San Siro when Recoba stole the show from R9 who was making his debut and scored two absolutely stupid goals from range. The second of which was a freekick from somewhere out in the car park, I think…”

Who was the most interesting player you interviewed?

“Of all the players that we had I think the one who I used to look forward to most getting an interview with when we could was Gianluca Vialli. A really thoughtful and illuminating guy to speak to who always had a fresh take on things and really helped you see things from a different perspective.”

The second drop of our adidas Originals Italia 70s – size? exclusive is available online and in-store now. Check out more interviews over on the size? blog before you go.