Ross Leslie is happy his team are back where they belong

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As a well-known (in my family anyway) Rangers FC 1873 supporter you may be surprised by such a statement but it’s not all about the team of Bill Struth, John Greig, Walter Smith et al, remember we are Scottish Comedians – World Game.

My “other” team is the Blucerchiati, UC Sampdoria.

This goes back to a time when in 1991 I was so fantastic that I got a free school trip to Italy.  My mother couldn’t afford it but as I was the best Italian speaker in the class, the headie said I could go free and represent the school in the wonderful home of Christopher Columbus, Genoa.  How many words in Italian do I remember now? Just vier of funf really.

We arrived in May 1991 just after Samp had clinched their one and only Scudetto, the Serie A title with a great side that included Roberto Mancini, Gianluca Vialli in attack, the Brazilian Cerezo in midfield, the wily Moreno Mannini at right back, Italy’s third most famous goalkeeper (after Zoff and Buffon), Gianluca Pagliuca and my personal favourite, Attilio Lombardo.  A man who I was so pleased to see involved on the sidelines at Man City’s celebrations joining in.

As we teamed up with one of the local schools, who had been at ours the previous month and enjoyed trips to Inchcolm Island, Princes Street Gardens and had been drenched at both, we got to be quite friendly with some of the kids who all seemed to be supporters of Samp and not local rivals Genoa.

It was quite easy to get caught up in all the excitement of the time period where supporters who had scarcely believed the previous year where they had been lucky enough to win the Cup Winners Cup (remember that tournament?) the previous season but nobody believed the Serie A title was a possibility.

In the end the title was won by 5 points from both Milan sides who boasted world cup winners Matthaus and Klinsmann at Internazionale and Milan with Baresi and the fabulously talented three Dutchmen – van Basten, Rijkaard and Gullit.

Since the Scudetto 20 years ago there have been some tumultuous times due to ownership changes mainly and a policy of selling any decent player we had.  We were relegated in 1999 and spent three seasons in Serie B before returning as runners-up.

Samp were top half of the table for a few seasons before putting together an excellent side led upfront by Cassano and Pazzini, that managed to make 4th place and the Champions League qualifiers.  Soon though we sold both our best players and, with nobody to score the goals, (yes, we even signed Massimo Maccarone) we were relegated again.

Last week we beat Varese to again get back to where we belong.  Hopefully this time we will stay a little longer.

I realise there isn’t much humour in this one (what’s new?), however I will leave you with a true story of my time in Italy.  Me and a couple of friends had been paired up with these Italian twins (both male) and their cousin who were in the same class.  All members of the class had to be paired with an Italian to spend time in their culture, we were just lucky enough to all be together.

We were taken as part of a huge family to a clifftop restaurant, which if I had half as much knowledge as I do know about organised crime, might have concerned me.  Anyway, the 6 boys were outside in the car park taking part in some calcio and the old grandfather came too.  He loved football and was chasing after the ball.  All 3 Scots then thought it would be a lot of fun to accidentally kick the ball down a brae (Genoa is full of them – trust me!) and have the 70 year old man chase after this.  This went on for a good amount of time, after which one of our Italian friends advised us that he had made comments to them, along the lines of “no wonder, the Scots are sh*te at football”.  Good times.

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About the Author
At 31 years old, Ross Leslie, is a relative latecomer to the comedy scene and with his general appearance you would be forgiven for thinking he is an even later-comer, which is a phrase that should hopefully not catch on as it sounds a little uncouth.

As well as starting out in the stand-up comedy world, Ross writes articles and blogs for various other websites and has other TV and radio projects in the pipeline that will probably never see the light of day, however at least it has cured his Football Manager addiction.

A lifelong Rangers fan, Ross’s first game was at Tynecastle in 1986 to watch Hearts hump us 3-1, when they used to be a football team and not the tabloid-fodder they have become. His favourite human being (apart from any family or friends reading this) are Alistair (Ally to everyone apart from Walter Smith for some reason) McCoist, with (King) Kenny Miller a close second.

Best memory from supporting Rangers was when leaving Ibrox after Rangers had annihilated Sturm Graz 5-0 telling his impressionable younger brother that he would take him to the Champions League Final they would definitely be making this year.

Please visit Ross on his Tumblr blog and Twitter page for more disappointment and resentment.

Follow Ross on Twitter: @misterross
Read Ross’ blog: http://mum-blings.tumblr.com/

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