379: Benito Carbone, Sheffield Wednesday, Merlin’s F.A. Premier League 2000, Millennium Edition Sticker Collection

In recent political discourse the term ‘echo chamber’ has been bandied around a lot. For those who have, sensibly, chosen to avoid political Twitter this is where people are surprised by voting patterns on the basis that no one they follow expressed these opinions. For what it’s worth football Twitter isn’t much different. After all, it’s highly unlikely that if you support Crystal Palace you are going to follow a bunch of Brighton and Hove Albion podcasts. Unless they are entirely dedicated to the work of Glenn Murray in which case I want to know everything about them.

 

We’ve all been shocked and flattered on this blog when the luminaries we have discussed have liked or retweeted the nonsense we have written about them. Special thanks to Mark Crossley who has been particularly enthusiastic on this front. What has surprised us most is on our Instagram page (@Sticker500 if anyone wants to know) is the number of likes we’ve received from a man we have yet to post about apart from the odd passing reference. It is therefore a great honour to be able to talk a little bit about the Italian maestro that is Benito Carbone.

Carbone was discovered by Torino playing for amateur side A.S. Scilla Calcio in a youth tournament in the late 1980s and was quickly thrust into their first team. Sadly this elevation from obscurity was not enough to prevent Torino dropping down to Serie B in his debut season. A series of loan spells followed before his performances in the first team earned him a move to Roma in the summer of 1994. Somewhat bizarrely he was almost instantly transferred to Napoli in a deal that saw Daniel Fonseca go the other way but this didn’t stop Carbone performing well in both Serie A and the UEFA Cup in his one season in Naples impressing manager Vujadin Boskov with his skill and attracting the attention of Internazionale who brought him to the San Siro.

 

As a Palace fan I obviously believe that Roy Hodgson is a football visionary. At the same time I did watch enough of England’s performances in Euro 2016 to know that he is prone to the odd tactical aberration. Despite being signed as a traditional no.10 Hodgson decided to first play Carbone on the wing and then at full-back predating the conversion of Ashley Young by nearly twenty years. Carbone pleaded with Hodgson stating “mister, I am a forward, let me play there” but his English manager could not guarantee him a place in a star-studded attacking line that included...well, actually, no one particularly special and in 1996 Carbone departed for Sheffield Wednesday.

 

He made a good start in the steel city and Wednesday finished the 1996/97 season in an impressive seventh position. Ahead of the 1997/98 season Carbone was joined by compatriot Paolo Di Canio and the two posed for some suitably racial stereotyping photos eating pasta and pizzas alongside manager David Pleat. Carbone forged a strong partnership with Di Canio but the team struggled to reproduce their form and flirted with relegation before finishing in sixteenth. A twelfth place finish in 1998/99 under Danny Wilson was a marked improvement and Carbone finished the season as the club’s top scorer. A fan’s favourite on the pitch, teetotaller Carbone’s lack of engagement with his team-mate’s social activities created a rift in the dressing room and, after his contract negotiations stalled, he moved to Aston Villa in the October of 1999. Wednesday were relegated that season.

 

His brief stay in Birmingham saw him help the Villans to a sixth placed finish in the Premier League and his five goals in the FA Cup, including a hat-trick against Leeds United notable for a sublime strike from 35 yards, saw them reach the final of football’s oldest cup competition. A clearance off the line from Frank Leboeuf prevented Carbone from writing his name in cup final folklore and led to Chelsea walking out as 1-0 winners in the last final at the old Wembley Stadium. His performances at Villa Park were enough to attract the attention of his former club Napoli and fellow Serie A giants Fiorentina but instead Carbone moved back to Yorkshire with Bradford City.

 

Rich neatly summarised Bradford’s brief sojourn in the Premier League a few weeks ago, including Carbone’s selfless decision to forego his wages in order to protect the club from liquidation, so I won’t say any more besides they were relegated. Following loan spells at Derby County and Middlesbrough, where he interestingly scored against former club Villa for both, he returned to Italy to play out the rest of his career with Como, Parma, Catanzaro, Picenza and Pavia with a brief loan spell for Sydney FC chucked in for good measure.

 

Carbone has subsequently looked to cut his teeth in football management in the Italian lower leagues as well as a brief spell at Leeds in 2014 as a specialist consultant. Often derided as a mercenary for his somewhat nomadic career Carbone comes across as one of football’s good guys willing to put in the hard yards with struggling clubs and earn a place in their fan’s hearts. He played most of his career with specially designed shin pads depicting his footballing heroes, Diego Maradona and Roberto Baggio, and while he may not have reached the dizzying heights of those two legends of the game he is fondly remembered by those who played alongside him or enjoyed the flair he brought to their clubs. Most importantly though he’s made us look cooler on Instagram and what more could you ask for?