Photos: Roberto Ruya
Words: Tom Reed
Sampdoria is an iconic Italian club for fans of a certain vintage, thanks to their iconic 90s kits and old-school star names, such as Roberto Mancini, Attilio Lombardo, and the late Gianluca Vialli.
But those old enough to remember David Platt turning out in the blue, white, red and black stripes would have spat out their espresso at reading the news that Samp have been relegated to Serie C this week.
The Genoa-based club had been playing in Serie A as recently as 2023, but a series of calamities will have Lombardo, now Sampdoria assistant coach, rubbing his baldpate at the drop to the third tier.
Samp have gone through more managers than the colours of their jerseys, even sacking the great Andrea Pirlo in August 2024 after missing out in the Serie B playoffs and a relatively poor start to the season.
Think about having to break the news that you are dismissing the king of cool, Pirlo, and then multiply the cringe factor by 100 when considering that Sampdoria have been through four coaches this season before finishing 18th in Serie B and sliding into division three.
It’s literally and metaphorically a long way back for Samp to Serie A, while David Platt is left staring longingly at the Mizunos, wondering if he can still do a job.
