THE SARTORIAL ELEGANCE OF SERIE A: PESCARA CALCIO, 1992-93 [PIENNE]

Pescara Calcio’s roots can be traced back to 1926 when two teams, Aternum Castellamare and Ursus Pescara, merged to form Tito Acerbo. After just one season Tito Acerbo, who wore blue and yellow, were kicked out of the Second Southern Division for irregular activities and quickly reformed as Unione Sportiva Adriatico, wearing black and blue. After finishing 3rd in the regional Third (Abruzzi) Division, Unione Sportiva Adriatico then split up and reinvented itself as the Società Sportiva Abruzzo, reverting to the blue and yellow colours of its forebear.

After taking a brief sabbatical, the club was re-admitted to the Third Division, winning promotion to the Second in 1931 and the First the year after, whereupon they became known as Associazione Calcio Pescara. This iteration lasted an unprecedented four years before again dissolving, possibly in reaction to the restructuring of the leagues that was taking place at the time; the formation of Series A, B and C.

In 1936 the Società Sportiva Pescara was established, sporting the pale-blue and white stripes worn to this day. Perhaps for this reason, this date is recognised as the formal beginning of the club and what preceded it a mere footnote. At any rate, Pescara appeared to be on a surer footing, gaining promotion to Serie C in 1938, Serie B in 1940, and winning something called the Torneo Misto Abruzzese in 1945, a tournament designed to keep footballers active during the final years of the Second World War. Unfortunately, they were unable to capitalise on their regional success and by 1950 had dropped down into the newly formed Serie IV.

Discounting the club’s move into the Stadio Adriatico-Giovanni Cornacchia in 1955, the following twenty years were fairly uneventful, spent in and around Serie C before finally making it back into Serie B in 1974. Società Sportiva Pescara duly registered as a public limited company, becoming Pescara Calcio SpA in the process. This economic restructuring served them well and in 1976-77 Pescara were promoted to Serie A for the first time in their history. They only lasted one season there but bounced straight back after defeating Monza in a play-off. Relegated again the next season, by 1982 Pescara were back in Serie C, were promoted again the following year, and then languished in Serie B for the following three seasons.

Pescara won Serie B in 1986-87, and so the most successful period in their history began. At the time their shirts were manufactured by N2 (Ennedue), a sort of subsidiary of the more recognisable NR (Ennerre), and sponsored by Cassa di Risparmio Pescara. They stuck with NR until being relegated in 1988-89, although were by now sponsored by Gelati Gis. Pescara spent the next two years wearing kit manufactured by ABM Sport before switching to Pienne in 1991-92, the same year they were promoted back into Serie A.

The Pienne shirt wasn’t substantially different to ABM's effort. Both had collars, the width of the pale-blue and white vertical stripes were about the same, and both companies incorporated their emblem into the fabric of the shirt. Whereas ABM’s logo was/is a geometric representation of the letter S, Pienne’s was/is a cartoon snake, or maybe even a worm. It looked more like a worm but a snake seems more credible. This embroidered serpent, its shadow repeated in the texture of the shirt, made for a distinctive and attractive motif. Gelati Gis was printed in navy blue ink, except the dot of the second ‘I’ which was red. The away kit was arguably more interesting but wasn’t really much of an away kit. The top half was white, the lower dark blue, with light blue quadrilaterals horizontally bisecting the two. Shorts were also dark blue, as opposed to the home versions, which were white. Socks were white in both instances. (A third option, predominantly red, was also utilised.)

Pescara acquired some decent players ahead of their return to Serie A. The Brazilian midfielder Dunga and Italian striker Stefano Borgonovo joined from Fiorentina, Senegalese defender Roger Mendy and Danish defender John Sivebæk signed from Monaco, while Ottavio Palladini proved an adequate replacement in midfield for fans’ favourite Michele Gelsi, who had left for Perugia but would ultimately return to Pescara in 1994.

It wasn’t enough. Despite defeating Roma in their opening game, and then narrowly losing to reigning champions AC Milan 4-5 in their next, Pescara finished the season in 18th place and were relegated. Gradual decline followed before bankruptcy befell them in 2009. They soon reformed as Delfino Pescara 1936 Srl and gained entry into the Lega Pro Prima Divisione – Serie C1 in old money – and immediately won promotion into Serie B. Since then they’ve spent two seasons in Serie A and have improved upon their stadium. Shirts are currently made by Errea.

THE SARTORIAL ELEGANCE OF SERIE A: FIORENTINA, 1988-90 [ABM]

Upon its formation in 1926, ACF Fiorentina wore red and white halved shirts, representative of the city of Florence (or more specifically its flag and coat of arms) as well as the two teams from which the new club was formed: Club Sportivo Firenze, who had worn white shirts, and Palestra Ginnastica Fiorentina Libertas, who had worn red. The iconic purple jerseys, used to this day, were introduced in 1929, but nobody can say exactly why. The myth that often prevails is that it was result of a laundering incident. In fact, the switch in livery was a decision made by Luigi Ridolfi, the club's then president, inspired by the kit worn by Újpest, a Hungarian football team against whom Fiorentina played a friendly match in 1928.

It was in this configuration that Fiorentina won their first scudetto in 1956: purple collared shirts, white shorts and purple socks, with a red fleur-de-lis (a stylised lily, or ‘giglio’) set against a white rhombus acting as the club's badge. The presence of a badge of any sort was quite unusual for the time, but it seems to be something Fiorentina adopted from the moment they started wearing purple shirts.

Fiorentina were champions again in 1968-69, now wearing black shorts. It is unclear what motivated this change, or when it came into effect, although the club's two Coppa Italia triumphs in 1961 and 1966 were achieved in white shorts. In any case, the next season Fiorentina were back to wearing white shorts, the fleur-de-lis appended to the corner of the scudetto that adorned the jersey.

The 1970s saw little in the way of sartorial change. Then, in 1980, construction magnate Flavio Pontello assumed control of Fiorentina and appointed his son, Ranieri, as president. Within a year they’d changed the club’s badge and struck a deal with the clothing company JD Farrow’s to sponsor the kit, which was not the done thing back then. The new circular emblem comprised of half a fleur-de-lis appended to the letter F, taking on the appearance of a halberd, and was displayed in the middle of a red-trimmed shirt, occupying a fair proportion of it, with the club’s sponsor transcribed above. On top of all that, the team now wore purple shorts.

Fiorentina’s new look was not popular, but when Pontello & Son started investing in actual players opinions softened. In 1981-82, the club finished Serie A in second place and would probably have won the championship had a goal not been controversially disallowed against Caligari in the last game of the season. Thereafter Fiorentina’s form was inconsistent: in 1983 they placed fifth, in ‘84 third, and in ‘85 ninth. Meanwhile, Ennerre had taken over as kit supplier and set about reducing the size of the club’s inflated crest, while also accommodating car manufacturer Opel as the team sponsor.

1985-86’s strip could itself be considered iconic. The red trim was discarded, white shorts were reintroduced, and the badge moved to the more usual position over the left breast. This made room for Ennerre’s wonderfully minimal green insignia on the right, while the sponsor was set against a white band wrapped around the trunk of the shirt. Fiorentina managed a respectable fourth place that term, although it’s worth pointing out that they drew 13 of their 30 matches, which wouldn’t now place them quite so high (at the time, two points were awarded for a win, inflating the value of a drawn game). Moreover, their top scorer was the defender Daniel Passarella, prompting Inter to divest Fiorentina of the player’s services.

For what would be club captain Giancarlo Antognoni’s final year at the club, Ennerre handed over shirt making responsibilities to the their subsidiary brand, N2 (or 'Ennedue'), to be sponsored by the non-alcoholic aperitif Crodino. N2 reverted to issuing purple shorts, and Fiorentina finished a disappointing ninth, although new signing Ramon Diaz impressed with 10 goals and Nicola Berti was looking like good value after his transfer from Parma in 1985. In 1987 Sven-Goran Eriksson was drafted in as technical director, to be assisted by Sergio Santarini in the role of coach. The managerial partnership coincided with the emergence of Roberto Baggio as a force to be reckoned with after struggling with a serious knee injury the previous season. Fiorentina ended the campaign in eighth place, Diaz scoring seven leagues goals, Baggio six.

The situation for 1988-89 looked precarious. Nicola Berti and Ramon Diaz had both signed for Trapattoni‘s Inter, while doubts still remained regarding Baggio's fitness. Incoming players included defensive-midfielder Dunga, signed from Pisa, and striker Stefano Borgonovo, taken on loan from AC Milan. At the same time sportswear firm ABM succeeded Ennerre/N2, introducing a micro-patterned shirt utilising subtle shifts in the fabric’s texture [65% polyester, 35% cotton] to make a pattern out of the manufacturer’s logo.

Fiorentina did all right, finishing in seventh place and reaching the quarter finals of the Coppa Italia. Fortuitously, AC Milan went on to win the European Cup and Sampdoria the Coppa Italia, effectively freeing up an extra place in the UEFA Cup, which went to Fiorentina after they defeated Roma in a play-off. Even more auspicious was the fact that Baggio and Borgonovo had formed a very effective partnership – as well as a close friendship – scoring 15 and 14 goals respectively. Or it would have been if AC Milan didn’t then recall their man to provide cover for Marco Van Basten.

For 1989-90, Fiorentina were furnished with white shorts and purple socks. It is this iteration of the ABM strip that is by far the best. Local rag La Nazione took over as sponsor, their uppercase, serif-font emblazoned in yellow (yellow being the complimentary colour of purple). The red parallelogram that constituted ABM’s logo complemented the simplicity of the giglio, as well as making its presence felt against the whiteness of the shorts.

Fiorentina replaced Borgonovo with Argentine striker Oscar Dertycia, as well as bringing in Czech midfielder Luboš Kubík, winger Renato Buso, and defender Giuseppe Volpecina, among others. The results were mixed. On the one hand Fiorentina only just avoided relegation after beating Atalanta in their final game. On the other they reached the UEFA Cup final, controversially losing to Juventus 3-1 over two legs; Fiorentina were forced to play their home leg in Avellino, despite having played the rest of their European campaign in Perugia, which was far closer to home (Stadio Artemio Franchi was undergoing refurbishment prior to the 1990 World Cup and judged unfit for European competition). Nonetheless, the images of Roberto Baggio and the rest of the team, resplendent in purple and white, are some of Fiorentina’s finest.

ABM hung around for another year but reverted to issuing purple shorts, as well as adding white trim to the neck-line. In 1991, Lotto took over, and all was lost. Not only did the white shorts go for good but so did Pontello’s giglio. In an era where clubs re-design their insignias with mild regularity, one can only hope it might one day make a return.