The Italian midfield maestro played for both the Mariners and tonight’s opponents Tranmere Rovers almost 30 years ago in the mid-90s.
When Ivano Bonetti joined Town on loan in September 1995, it’s difficult to explain the level of excitement felt around the whole town at that time. You see, he had real pedigree. By the time he arrived at Blundell Park, the midfielder had twice won Serie A with Juventus and Sampdoria and played in the 1992 European Cup Final at Wembley. To put the signing into context, it’s a bit like Toni Kroos rocking up in Cleethorpes.
Bonetti genuinely sprinkled stardust onto Brian Laws’ team in the early part of the 1995-96 season. His intelligence and craft on Town’s left flank created countless chances for the likes of Steve Livingstone, Neil Woods and Jamie Forrester to convert. Thanks to our little magician from Brescia, we climbed to the top of Division One in November and were looking like promotion contenders.
Town fans had begun to flock back to Blundell Park to catch a glimpse of Bonetti’s skills first hand and were demanding the Club sign him permanently. With the board unable to pay the £100,000 fee demanded by the American management company who bizarrely held the rights to his ‘services and image’, supporters formed the ‘Ivano Bonetti Fund’ to raise the funds. Thanks to donations from fans all over the world (and after Bonetti himself stumped up half of the cash himself), he was able to sign a deal until the end of the season and the Mariners could begin to dream of promotion.
But Brian Laws’ side dropped into midtable after failing to register a league win during December and January. Then after a dressing room bust up following defeat at Luton, Bonetti suffered a high-profile fractured cheek bone. Despite featuring for Town three more times, Laws and Bonetti’s relationship appeared to have broken down and he left at the end of the season having made 22 appearances, scoring three goals, including a memorable winner against West Bromwich Albion in front of a packed Blundell Park.
Bonetti found himself a free agent in 1996 and the then Tranmere boss John Aldridge acted quickly to sign the Italian who he described as being the “chief culprit” in Town’s impressive performances against Rovers the season before. Bonetti fever hit Birkenhead just as it did Cleethorpes a year earlier. Despite a handful of stellar performances (his assist and winner against Portsmouth will live long in the memory), the enigmatic midfielder’s time on Merseyside was short lived and he only appeared 15 times for the Club.
A short spell with Crystal Palace in the Premier League followed in 1997 before the Italian returned to his homeland for the next three seasons. He became player-manager of Dundee in 2000 and guided the Dee to 6th and 9th-placed finishes in the SPL before he was sacked.
Although Bonetti didn’t take the Mariners or Rovers to the Premier League, those who saw him in action will testify to his abundance of natural skill and sublime technique.
UTM
