The Grande Torino was the historic Italian football team of Torino Football Club in the 1940s, five-time champions of Italy, whose players were the backbone of the Italy national team and died on 4 May 1949 in the plane crash known as the Superga air disaster.
With this name, although it is commonly used to identify the team that died in the disaster, it defines the entire sports cycle which lasted eight years and led to the conquest of five consecutive championships, equaling the record previously set by Juventus of the Quinquennio d'oro; Grande Torino also won a Coppa Italia.
Ferruccio Novo, or how to build the myth
In the summer of 1939, the industrialist Ferruccio Novo, at age 42, assumed the presidency of Torino, succeeding Giovanni Battista Cuniberti.
Novo was not a patron, but a careful administrator: he had entered Torino at a young age, even donning the jersey as a player, in 1913: a subpar player ("I was a duffer," he said smiling), he continued to follow the team as an enthusiastic fan first, then with the tasks socio-financier and advisor. He also once started a factory of leather accessories with his brother.
His first moves as Torino president were therefore ones to reorganize the club, and following the suggestions of Vittorio Pozzo, make management more similar to the models of the English teams, then at the forefront: he surrounded himself with competent employees, such former players Antonio Janni and Mario Sperone (Italian Champions 1928), and Giacinto Ellena; Rinaldo Agnisetta was given the role of managing director; Roberto Copernicus, who owned a clothing store, was named the role of counsellor; Englishman Leslie Lievesley was given the role of youth coach; while the technical direction of the team was given to Ernest Egri Erbstein, who, of Jewish origin, worked incognito because of the racial laws.
The first "hit" of Novo was to purchase a talented 18-year-old Franco Ossola from Varese that, with hindsight, would be first piece of the squad: Ossola cost 55 thousand Italian lire, a small amount at the time, under the suggestion Janni (who had managed Varese) and Ellena. He made his debut on 4 February 1940 in 1–0 win against Novara. That year, Ossola played two more matches, against Bologna and Napoli.
Italy enters the war, football goes on
Italy, which until then had remained neutral, on 10 June 1940 entered World War II on the side of the Axis powers. Benito Mussolini was so sure the war would be a "lightning war" that he announced the players would remain at home, claiming: "We need them more on the fields than the army."
The following year, Ossola showed his value as top scorer for the Granata, scoring 14 goals from 22 appearances, but the team as a whole did not change form. Torino ended the season in seventh position with 30 points, nine less than champions Bologna. Two players retired that year: Oberdan Ussello, who in turn took over the youth team; and Raf Vallone, who devoted himself to a career in cinema and theatre.
The foresight to Novo allowed him to take advantage of the climate of stagnation and lack of investment. There was little money in football, which Novo anticipated. In view of the 1941–42 Serie A season, Torino brought in five new players: Ferraris II, who played on the left wing for 1938 FIFA World Cup champions Italy, was signed from Ambrosiana for 250,000 lire; Romeo Menti, a winger with good technique and a powerful shot who was signed from Fiorentina at the recommendation of Ellena; and Alfredo Bodoira, Felice Borel and Guglielmo Gabetto, all from Turin city rivals Juventus.
The arrival of Gabetto at Torino was due in part to Borel, who, perhaps to reward Novo for his faith after acquiring him from Juventus after years of misunderstanding techniques, revealed Gabetto, which Juventus considered was "finished" as a player, would be sold to the Genoa for 300,000 lire. Borel suggested to raise the bid and Novo purchased the striker for 330,000 lire.
From the "metodo" to the "sistema"
The turning point came when Felice Borel (who in the future would hold the role of manager), Ellena and Copernicus suggested to Novo that Torino should be set up with the sistema tactic, a new form of the game in those years.