Player Database: Ivano Bonetti

By: Richard Hubbert
Date: 06/08/2001

How can I write such a small piece on Ivano Bonetti? What can I tell you? He was great. The first ever foreign player to play for Town, sent Town fans into an Italian delirium with Italian flags all around Blundell Park and chants of "Ivano....Bonetti"! It was great and nothing was better than when he smashed in the winner at home to WBA to beat Alan Buckley and our former players.

Bonetti's presence and skill inspired Town and by November we reached the dizzy heights of 2nd. Then came the unfortunate "chicken incident" when, after a 3-2 defeat, Brian Laws decided to throw a plate of chicken at the Italian, leaving him with a broken cheekbone.

This put Town's season in to limbo and made the long-haired Italian looked rather a mess. Town finished 17th that season and Bonetti did play a few games towards the end, but his relationship with Laws was somewhat 'strained' and he departed to Tranmere the next season.

Bonetti now manages Dundee in the Scottish Premiership, where he is not doing a bad job for someone who was labelled by Brian Laws as "unable to manage an Italian restaurant, let alone a football club". Perhaps one day, Ivano may make a return, but it remains to be seen whether it will be as the opposition or the home teams' manager.

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