It was clear when Pep Guardiola arrived at The Etihad that he was going to make some changes- and no one felt it harder than City’s long standing keeper Joe Hart. England’s number one has been a first team regular at City for the last five years but after a few high profile mistakes at the Euros he lost Pep’s faith and as a result he’s off to Torino on loan.
Now, you might be thinking: who are Torino?! Well, we’ll tell you!
- Torino is based in the Northern Italian city of Turin, and the clubs nickname ‘Il Toro’ (The Bull) is derived from the traditional symbol of the city.
- Torino is among the most successful teams in Italy, having won Serie A seven times, including a record five consecutive title wins in the 1940s. And they’ve also won the Coppa Italia five times.
- In 1949 the whole Torino team was killed in the Superga air disaster. Having topped the league at the time, Torino were awarded the 1949 title- and they played their youth team for the remaining four games.
- Giorgio Ferrini holds the record for the most appearances for the club with 566 between 1959 and 1975. Playing as a defensive midfielder he was nicknamed la Diga (the dam) though he managed to notch 56 goals for them too! He was also part of the Italian 1968 Euros winning team.
- Paolo Pulici is the clubs record goal scorer with 172 goals between 1967 and 1982. He also won the Capocannoniere (Serie A top scorer) three times in that period. And holds the record for the second most appearances in the clubs history with 437.
- Torino and Juventus both play in the city of Turin and they play out the Derby della Mole. In the 2006/07 season Torino played a division higher than their local rivals for the first time following Juve’s relegation to Serie B after the Calciopoli scandal.
- The fans of Torino founded the first ever official supporters group in Italy, the Fedelissimi Granata, which was founded in 1951.
- Torino had their most successful campaign in Europe in 1991/92 when they reached the UEFA Cup final, only to lose to Ajax. Torino lost the final on away goals after they drew the home leg 2-2, but could only draw their away leg 0-0.
- Joe Hart will become only the fourth Englishman in Torino’s history to play for them, following Joe Baker and Gerry Hitchens in the 1960s and Anthony Marchi in the 1950s.
- Hart will become the first English goalkeeper to feature in Serie A since it began in 1929/30.
Matt Bullin
