"Richardson returns to our screens on Monday evening at the Diego Maradona Stadium for Napoli against Bologna, which is live on BBC Alba from 19:35 BST. Gazzetta, which ran from 1992 to 2002, garnered a huge following at a time when televised live football was relatively scarce. Sky had snapped up the rights to the newly formed Premier League in England and, while the Scottish Premier Division, as it was then called, was available free to air, Serie A offered something unmistakably different."
"It wasn't just the kits (think Sampdoria, Fiorentina or Milan), it was the star players from across the globe, exorbitant transfer fees and enormous stadia, many of which remain architectural marvels. Richardson was both presenter and cultural tour guide who brought it all to life. He describes it as "a magical era...when giants scored goals in Italy and was totally different to anything else on offer at the time. There wasn't the blanket coverage of football we see now"."
"Richardson explains he got the job with C4 almost by accident. Channel 4 acquired the rights to Serie A principally to follow the fortunes of Paul Gascoigne, who had joined Lazio from Tottenham Hotspur in 1992. "I knew someone who worked at the company producing the coverage, happened to speak Italian and was cheap, so I got the job," Richardson explains. "Paul was the catalyst for the whole thing, It just so happened to be the place where all of the world'"
Richardson is closely associated with Channel 4’s earlier Serie A coverage, where he presented weekly Italian top-flight news from an Italian setting with a relaxed, sophisticated style. The league offered a different appeal than other available football, featuring iconic club identities, global star players, high transfer fees, and large historic stadiums. Gazzetta ran from 1992 to 2002 and gained a large following when live televised football was limited. Richardson returned to screens for Napoli versus Bologna, live on BBC Alba. He described the era as magical, with less blanket coverage than modern football broadcasting. He said he obtained the Channel 4 role largely by chance through a connection and language skills, with Paul Gascoigne serving as a catalyst for the project.
Read at www.bbc.com
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