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Interview with my first Wednesday Hero - Benito Carbone


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Great interview with Benito Carbone, remember going to his first game as a lad, hope one day I can watch this calibre or player at hillsbough again.

 

Carbone has happier memories of Sheffield Wednesday and Villa, even if it took a fall-out with current England coach Roy Hodgson to trigger his move to England.

 

‘When Hodgson took over at Inter Milan, he decided I should play wide on the right, instead of my true position as second striker,’ he said. ‘I wasn’t happy, but he said I could continue there or leave, because he would go out and sign Youri Djorkaeff to replace me. That was the choice, so I left.

‘Wednesday was fantastic. So much so, I stayed three years. I played for 17 clubs, and the last one, Pavia, was the only other where I stayed that long.

 

‘I sometimes look at pictures with my headband on and hair flying in the wind, and it brings back all the memories. It was magical playing alongside Paolo Di Canio. We were mates, and our families spent a lot of time together in Sheffield, but it was on the pitch where we really clicked.

‘We spoke the same language. Not just Italian, but in football terms.

 

‘We were on the same wavelength, and it was one of the best spells of my career.’ The only regret was the way it finished. ‘There were problems in the dressing room in my final season. It became two Italians on one side, and the English players on the other. It was partly my fault. I should have tried harder to mix with the others.

 

‘The problem was they would invite me for a pint, but I didn’t drink. I have always been teetotal, so I never joined them. That’s where I went wrong. I was only 24. I’m 40 now, older and wiser, and if I could rewind, I would go with them, order a coke and laugh at any stick about being a lightweight.

‘That way, we would have got on. It’s the English mentality to go for a pint, and I should have realised.

 

‘I never had any problem with the managers. Ron Atkinson was my favourite. He just wanted me and Paolo to go out and play. We loved that.



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2258624/Benito-Carbone-interview-Former-Bradford-Aston-Villa-striker-looks-eventful-career-England.html#ixzz2HNyAu3UY
 

 

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Bloody loved Benni when he was here. Top player, and top memories of him playing the blue and white.

 

Just a shame Mr Wilson and Mr Richards handled the whole situation which culminated in him leaving in such a shambolic way.

 

Great to hear him speak so highly of us too.

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Interesting that Carbone and Di Canio were often referred to as mercenaries (ironically by Dave 'f*cking' Richards for one) given the personal sacrifices they have both been prepared to make for their clubs in the past and even the present [referring to the Swindon manager offering his own cash to help the club fund the squad].

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He did an interview saying how much he enjoyed villa too. Benni got a lot of bad press by the club as we pressed self destruct, as a teenager I bought a lot of it but still loved him as a player and how hard did he work out of possession too?

The goal in the first minute vs Toon at home. Carbone looks up once and sends a cross over to the D where Di Canio pinged a first time volley without even looking up into the corner. Old Gerald Sinstadt on MOTD nearly had a heart attack. That's clicking!

I think it's another example of how our club failed to move with the times. Foreigners were deemed as not "no nonsense" enough when players like that were the future and would've kept us up there. Going out boozing too was becoming a thing of the past. Always makes me angry how short sighted our OAP board were.

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The difference now is that the players will not being going out for a pint after matches / training like they did back then. Maybe if the English game as a whole had been more advanced we might have seen these players at Wednesday for longer.

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Guest Teetowl

I've never done it before and haven't since but I used to get to the ground 20 mins before kick off just to watch those two warm up. The little tricks and keepy uppies they did were amazing. Excellent players.

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Great interview with Benito Carbone, remember going to his first game as a lad, hope one day I can watch this calibre or player at hillsbough again.

 

Carbone has happier memories of Sheffield Wednesday and Villa, even if it took a fall-out with current England coach Roy Hodgson to trigger his move to England.

 

‘When Hodgson took over at Inter Milan, he decided I should play wide on the right, instead of my true position as second striker,’ he said. ‘I wasn’t happy, but he said I could continue there or leave, because he would go out and sign Youri Djorkaeff to replace me. That was the choice, so I left.

‘Wednesday was fantastic. So much so, I stayed three years. I played for 17 clubs, and the last one, Pavia, was the only other where I stayed that long.

 

‘I sometimes look at pictures with my headband on and hair flying in the wind, and it brings back all the memories. It was magical playing alongside Paolo Di Canio. We were mates, and our families spent a lot of time together in Sheffield, but it was on the pitch where we really clicked.

‘We spoke the same language. Not just Italian, but in football terms.

 

‘We were on the same wavelength, and it was one of the best spells of my career.’ The only regret was the way it finished. ‘There were problems in the dressing room in my final season. It became two Italians on one side, and the English players on the other. It was partly my fault. I should have tried harder to mix with the others.

 

‘The problem was they would invite me for a pint, but I didn’t drink. I have always been teetotal, so I never joined them. That’s where I went wrong. I was only 24. I’m 40 now, older and wiser, and if I could rewind, I would go with them, order a coke and laugh at any stick about being a lightweight.

‘That way, we would have got on. It’s the English mentality to go for a pint, and I should have realised.

 

‘I never had any problem with the managers. Ron Atkinson was my favourite. He just wanted me and Paolo to go out and play. We loved that.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2258624/Benito-Carbone-interview-Former-Bradford-Aston-Villa-striker-looks-eventful-career-England.html#ixzz2HNyAu3UY

 

My favourite Wednesday player. Thank you so much for the upload mate, it's greatly appreciated.

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I've never done it before and haven't since but I used to get to the ground 20 mins before kick off just to watch those two warm up. The little tricks and keepy uppies they did were amazing. Excellent players.

 

Hi mate, me too.

 

It was an absolute pleasure watching them warm up. Football freestyle has evolved a lot over the years and there's some amazing guys out there, that can do incredibe things with a ball. But out of all the videos I've watched online, I've still never seen anyone do the things that Beni did. I used to go and watch Beni play at Bradford when we were away, and I went to Derby a few times to see him too, while he was on loan with Ravenelli.

 

Did you ever hear David Pleat talking about Beni in a training session on middlewood road?

 

It was once in the paper, in an interview that they did with him. Apparently after a final training session, Beni had walked away from the training pitch, and he was sat down taking his boots off. Then according to Pleat, Pressman smashed the ball in the air with his big left foot out of his hands, a long way from where Beni was, and it ended up looping  towards him and he wasn't facing the pitch. All the players shouted "Beni!" and he turned around to see the ball coming towards him. He then controlled it without it hitting the floor, and then started doing kick ups with it. Ha! Pleat says he'd never seen anything like it in his life before.

 

The guy was a genius, and it was just a joy to watch him and Paolo. I've been waiting to be entertained like that again for years. The nearest we've come is watching Franck Song'o.

 

 

Regards, Rob.

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I've never done it before and haven't since but I used to get to the ground 20 mins before kick off just to watch those two warm up. The little tricks and keepy uppies they did were amazing. Excellent players.

 

Same. I went once and met Paulo and Benni, also met Prince Naseem who is a Sheffield Wednesday supporter!

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It's also worth noting, that Beni saved us from relegation in the 98/99 season when Paolo was suspended, and then was sold.

 

I'm also absolutely convinced, that had he not gone to Villa in October 99, we definitely would have stayed up with him i the team. He was outstanding at Villa.

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It's also worth noting, that Beni saved us from relegation in the 98/99 season when Paolo was suspended, and then was sold.

I'm also absolutely convinced, that had he not gone to Villa in October 99, we definitely would have stayed up with him i the team. He was outstanding at Villa.

Yeah he made marco matterazzi look a fool twice at goodison to keep us up!

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