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Lorenzo Amoruso

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Lorenzo Amoruso
Personal information
Full name Lorenzo Pier Luigi Amoruso
Height 1.81 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)
Position(s) Defender
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1988–1995 Bari 75 (8)
1991–1992 → Mantova (loan) 13 (1)
1992–1993 → Pescara (loan) 19 (1)
1995–1997 Fiorentina 54 (3)
1997–2003 Rangers 149 (13)
2003–2006 Blackburn Rovers 18 (3)
2008– Cosmos 0 (0)
Total 328 (26)
International career
Italy U-21 2 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Lorenzo Pier Luigi Amoruso (born 28 June 1971 in Bari) is an Italian footballer, who currently plays for Sammarinese team Cosmos. Amoruso has played for seven teams in his footballing career but is best known for his six year spell with Glasgow side Rangers. In that six year spell, he managed to win nine major honours with the club including domestic trebles in seasons 1998/99 and 2002/03, representing them over 150 times in competitive football. To date he is the only player to have won two domestic trebles in the history of the Scottish Premier League.

Club career

Italy

Prior to coming to Scotland, he played for Italian clubs Bari, Mantova, Pescara, and Fiorentina, where he won the Italian Cup in 1996, as well as reaching the 1997 UEFA Cup Winners Cup semi-finals, losing out to the eventual champions Barcelona.

Rangers

Amoruso signed for Rangers on 29 May 1997 for a fee of £4 million. Whilst with the club he won the Scottish Premier League on three separate seasons, as well as the Scottish Cup four times and the Scottish League Cup three times. He was installed captain of Rangers by Dick Advocaat in 1998—a surprising move for many considering that Advocaat had brought the captain of his previous club, Arthur Numan, to Glasgow with him. However Amoruso clashed with the manager several times, resulting in an eventually aborted move to Sunderland. Advocaat began to sign defenders to replace Amoruso, Bert Konterman for example and also Paul Ritchie, but the Italian remained first choice after his replacements failed. Ritchie failed to make a single appearance[1] while Konterman was one of a several expensive acquisitions to bring "minimal return".[2][3] In December 1999, Amoruso issued a public apology for directing racist comments at Borussia Dortmund's Nigerian striker Victor Ikpeba.[4] Initially he had used tabloid newspapers to deny doing so, but was forced into issuing the apology (considered by the media as "an embarrassing change of position") when TV footage contradicted his story.[5][6]

In the 2000–01 season with Rangers having a poor start and the defence in particular having a horrendous run of form, Advocaat was already thinking about changes. When the club crashed out of the UEFA Champions League to Monaco because of a bad mistake by Amoruso, he was stripped of the captaincy; it instead went to the 22 year-old Barry Ferguson. Amoruso had briefly been the first ever Catholic to captain the club.[7] After Dick Advocaat's October 2000 attack on what he described as "fat necks" in his squad, reports named the Italian as the probable target.[8]

After Advocaat's removal as manager, Amoruso rediscovered his form under new boss Alex McLeish and won the 2002 Scottish PFA Players' Player of the Year. After a four-match ban for spitting on James Grady,[9] he scored the winning goal in his final game for Rangers—the 2003 Scottish Cup final—and wept as he left the pitch.

In 2010, Amoruso was inducted into the Rangers F.C. Hall of Fame.[10]

Baileys Irish Cream

Amoruso initially struggled to adapt to life at Rangers, due to a serious achilles injury and his hostile relationship with compatriots Marco Negri and Sergio Porrini.[11] He admitted in his 2002 biography that during this period he succumbed to depression, loneliness and an addiction to Baileys Irish Cream.[12] Amoruso returned from his injury but was booed by Rangers fans after, as they saw it, several unconvincing displays and sloppy errors.[13]

Amoruso's fortunes improved in 1999 as Scottish referees reportedly allowed him to "throw his weight about with impunity."[14] However, a further catalogue of errors[15] saw him again being booed by his own fans in late 2000.[15] Sadly the lure of Baileys Irish Cream proved too strong and Amoruso relapsed, substantially gaining in weight[15] as a result of his solo binges.

When Amoruso's relationship with his girlfriend later broke down, he coped by again turning to the Baileys and throwing himself into promiscuous sex.[16] Amoruso reported that at this stage he was drinking up to two to three bottles of Baileys a week.[16]

Blackburn Rovers

Amoruso left Rangers in July 2003 to make a £1.4 million move to Blackburn,[17] who wanted him as a replacement for Henning Berg. The sale was forced by Rangers' large debts.[18] His Blackburn debut came on 16 August 2003. On the pitch for the full ninety minutes, his place in the team was justified as he scored the opening goal after 17 minutes. In October, a knee injury kept him out of the game for five months, which, coming at the end of a run of bad form, was somewhat of a boost. As he returned and came into the team on a sporadic basis playing only eighteen times for Blackburn. His 2004–05 season was marred by regular injuries and he did not play any part of the 2005–06 season. He was released by Rovers in the summer of 2006.

In January 2008, Amoruso came out of retirement to sign for Cosmos on a part-time basis.[19]

Honours

Rangers

References

  1. ^ Mike Wade (2000-09-09). "Ritchie the Maine attraction puts Ibrox flop behind him". The Scotsman. Retrieved 2010-06-29.
  2. ^ Peter Jardine (2000-12-09). "Advocaat's defence of A SQUAD THAT just can't meet great EXPECTATIONS; Reality check needed if you believe Rangers can be Europe's best". The Daily Mail. Retrieved 2010-06-29.
  3. ^ David Leggit (2001-04-21). "Football: BERT GETS A BASHING; Rangers 0 Dundee 2 Utd Fans go mad at top flop". The People. Retrieved 2010-06-29.
  4. ^ "Amoruso in race comment about-turn". BBC. 10 December 1999. Retrieved 24 March 2010.
  5. ^ Phil Gordon (2000-12-10). "Amoruso admits racist taunts". The Times. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  6. ^ Roger Hannah (2000-12-10). "Disgraceful in anyone's language..." The Daily Mail. Retrieved 2010-06-29.
  7. ^ Mark Guidi (2003-07-13). "Football: MY HEART WILL ALWAYS BE AT GERS; Big Amo signs off". Sunday Mail. Retrieved 2010-06-29.
  8. ^ Peter Jardine (2000-10-24). "Rangers need to be hungry again". The Daily Mail. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  9. ^ Stephen Halliday (2003-03-19). "Amoruso banned for four games for spitting". The Scotsman. Retrieved 2010-07-10.
  10. ^ http://www.rangers.co.uk/articles/20100221/in-the-club_2254024_1973054
  11. ^ Iain Campbell (2003-06-24). "Football: Quiet man Lorenzo was more Bailey's & nice than hellraiser; EXCLUSIVE: Former Gers hero Alan McLaren on old pal's Rovers' move WHEN HE ARRIVED AT IBROX STAR WAS SHY GUY". The Mirror. Retrieved 2010-06-29.
  12. ^ Dani Garavelli (2002-11-17). "Amoruso's cream cracker". Scotland on Sunday. Retrieved 2010-07-08.
  13. ^ "GO EASY ON THE AMO; Gough spares a thought for Lorenzo's toil". Daily Record. 1998-11-03. Retrieved 2010-06-29.
  14. ^ Phil Gordon (1999-05-03). "Football: Scottish Championship - Rangers take title amid the mayhem". The Independent. Retrieved 2010-07-10.
  15. ^ a b c Colin Duncan (2000-12-13). "Football: THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS OF LORENZO". Daily Record. Retrieved 2010-07-10. Cite error: The named reference "blooper" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  16. ^ a b Charlie Gall (2003-08-30). "Sex before marriage is my biggest weakness; Amo confesses". Daily Record. Retrieved 2010-07-10.
  17. ^ "Blackburn sign Amoruso". BBC Sport. 2003-07-14. Retrieved 2008-04-13.
  18. ^ "Rangers could lose Ferguson". BBC Sport. 2003-08-15. Retrieved 2008-04-13.
  19. ^ "Cosmos starstruck by Amoruso arrival". UEFA website. February 14, 2008.


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