A bit of luck
Biancocelesti manage to beat Catanzaro with a bit of luck, but the level of play is still pretty dismal.
Also on this day: January 12, 1997, Verona Lazio 1-1. The Biancocelesti drew a match they should have won. Player of the day: Mark Fish
The season so far
The 1984-85 season had seen Lazio relegated to Serie B. This meant that there had to be a revolution in the team to get players that could adapt to the new circumstances. President Giorgio Chinaglia, keen to amend to the disastrous season where he had made many mistakes, chose Gigi Simoni as manager. Simoni had been able to help promote Genoa (twice), Brescia to Serie A plus Pisa the year before, so he was considered the best possible manager for Lazio.
As far as players are concerned, goodbye Bruno Giordano, Lionello Manfredonia, Joao Batista, Michael Laudrup among many, and welcome Domenico Caso, Giuliano Fiorini, Fabio Poli, Roberto Galbiati, Giorgio Magnocavallo and Astutillio Malgioglio.
But there was a big financial problem. Chinaglia was sure he would get money from the US but this did not happen and he was forced to step down as President in December 1985. The new president, Franco Chimenti, could not sustain the financial commitment alone so he started looking for partners. Giorgio and Gian Marco Calleri arrived and helped out so at least a part of wage debt was able to be paid off.
Meanwhile the team was not doing well. Financial insecurity and injuries were not helping the team. Out of the Coppa Italia early, in Serie B, despite being one the favourites on paper, the situation was not looking good. At home Lazio did not do too badly (6 wins and 3 draws) but away from home the results were terrible (6 losses and 3 draws). It would take a miracle to get back up to Serie A.
The match: Sunday, January 12, 1986, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
The game opened with a miracle from Fabio Calcaterra in the 9th minute who managed to clear the ball off the line and save the situation. Roberto Borrello had had the opportunity to score thanks to a mistake by the Lazio defence and had lobbed the ball over Malgioglio, but Calcaterra had made sure the score remained 0-0.
It did not stay 0-0 for long. In the 13th minute Oliviero Garlini headed the ball into the Catanzaro net following a corner from Francesco Dell’Anno.
At this point, Lazio decided they had to defend the 1-0 so Catanzaro were given the control of the game. The Calabresi did not take advantage of Lazio’s gift in the first half, but they did in the second.
Lazio had terrible trouble in holding off the Catanzaro siege of the second half and were very lucky. The Giallorossi hit the woodwork twice with Antonio Soda and Paolo Benedetti, dominated the game, but were unable to equalise.
A terrible performance from Lazio, booed by their fans at the end of the game, but the two points were vital oxygen.
Who played for Lazio
Malgioglio, Podavini, Calisti, Spinozzi, Calcaterra, Magnocavallo, Dell’Anno (72’ Poli), G. Corti, FIorini, Caso (77’ Vinazzani), Garlini
Substitutes: Ielpo, Filisetti, Galbiati
Manager: Simoni
Who played for Catanzaro
Ceriello, Logozzo, Cascione (63' Donà), Masi, Benetti, M.Gregori, C.Bagnato, Piccioni (46' Surro), Soda, Iacobelli, Borrello.
Substitutes: Di Fusco, Guida, Pala
Manager: Santin
Referee: Greco
Goals: 13’ Garlini
What happened next
The season went from bad to worse. Lazio had their chance to get back at least among the contenders for promotion. Against Vicenza at home they went two goals up, then 3-2 but lost due to a mistake by Malgioglio. The goalkeeper, who had not played a good season, after the umpteenth insult from fans, took off his jersey and spat on it. Not a good idea. He was sacked. It went from bad to worse with four games without scoring. The possibility of relegation was behind the corner when Lazio went to Catanzaro. No goals and no wins away from home that season. Lazio won 3-2, a half miracle.
Back at the club things were not going any better. Chimenti made the mistake of confirming Simoni for another year without telling his new partners. The Calleri brothers backed out of Lazio and asked for their money back. Chimenti tried to look for new investors but found none. Lazio was bust.
At this point, the Calleri’s came back but they did not want to do it alone. Renato Bocchi, a Parma born entrepreneur who had always lived in Rome, came in and bought 51% of the club with the other 49% left to the Calleri brothers. The club was saved.
But a dark shadow was just around the corner.
Lazio 1985-86
Competition | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals scored |
Serie B | 38 | 11 | 14 | 13 | 38 |
Coppa Italia | 5 | 2 | 3 | - | 5 |
Total | 43 | 13 | 17 | 13 | 43 |
Top five appearances
Player | Total | Serie B | Coppa Italia |
Garlini | 43 | 38 | 5 |
39 | 34 | 5 | |
Calcaterra | 37 | 33 | 4 |
Galbiati | 35 | 30 | 5 |
Vinazzani | 35 | 30 | 5 |
Top goal scorers
Player | Total | Serie B | Coppa Italia |
Garlini | 18 | 18 | - |
Caso | 5 | 4 | 1 |
Fiorini | 5 | 3 | 2 |
Podavini | 3 | 2 | 1 |
Let’s talk about Oliviero Garlini
Oliviero Garlini was called by Lazio fans Boom Boom Garlini because he often scored doubles (Boom Boom being a pun taken from the nickname of the boxer Ray Boom Boom Mancini). He was a good centre-forward and scored some spectacular goals for Lazio in his second year.
Born in Stezzano on March 4 1957, Garlini started his professional career in Como in serie A in 1975-76 but a year later he was sold to Empoli in Serie C. Despite scoring a lot of goals, his career never really took off, at least initially. After a year at Empoli, he played two years for Nocerina, contributing to their promotion into Serie B, and a year at Fano in Serie C1.
Garlini then started to play for Cesena where he found some stability and stayed four years. Cesena got promoted in his first year and in Serie A he became the attacking partner of Walter Schachner.
Lazio signed him for the 1984-85 season, which was a very negative one, but despite being behind Giordano and Laudrup in the attacking ranking he still managed to play a number of games even though he scored just one goal. The next year he was in Serie B but in the centre of the attack. Despite another annus horribilis for Lazio, he was top goal scorer for Serie B with 18 goals.
Lazio had very little money and needed to cash in, so they sold him to Inter. He played one year for the Nerazzurri (and scored against Roma!!!) before going back to Serie B with Atalanta and helping them win promotion in Serie A with 17 goals.
His last four years of football at Ancona, Atalanta, Ascoli and Ravenna saw him score less and less and he finally quit professional football in 1991.
Garlini then became manager and worked with the youth teams of Dalmine from 2004 to 2011.
In 1999 he was called by his friend Alessandro Altobelli to be team manager of Padova. But had to resign following a dramatic mistake. In the match between Padova and Varese in Serie C1, with Padova wining 2-0, the Manager Adriano Fedele called for the substitution of the only under-21 player left on the pitch. The problem was that the rules for Serie C1 that year indicated that at least one under-21 player had to be on the pitch at all time. The substitution cost them the game and the lost points cost them relegation. Garlini theoretically was in charge so he was the guy who had to resign.
Garlini played 67 games for Lazio (20 in Serie A, 38 in Serie B and 9 in Coppa Italia) and scored 19 goals (1 in Serie A and 18 in Serie B).
Appearances for Lazio
Season | Total | Serie A | Serie B | Coppa Italia |
1984-85 | 24 | 20 | - | 4 |
1985-86 | 43 | - | 38 | 5 |
Total | 67 | 20 | 38 | 9 |
Goals for Lazio
Season | Total | Serie A | Serie B |
1984-85 | 1 | 1 | - |
1985-86 | 18 | - | 18 |
Total | 19 | 1 | 18 |
Sources
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