DEATH VIALLI
We’re finally up and running – if with kinks still in need of ironing out – and about to chop on into the first wave of 2023 cadavers. Before doing so, let’s give kudos to those who assisted the 2023 committee of DI, Reptile, and Banana with getting things up and running – Grim Up North, who even in retirement as co-host held an advisory role these past few weeks teaching Banana the many intricacies of our system, and Whitehouse, who alongside GUN helped chip in with the celebrity bios…
Star Italy striker Gianluca Vialli has died after a long bout with pancreatic cancer, aged 58. The son of a self-made millionaire and raised in a 14th-century castle, his beginnings with local club Cremonese showed early promise. Sampdoria soon swooped him up and he ushered in a golden era for the team with multiple cup victories and the Serie A. His double threat with Roberto Mancini were the fulcrum of the team’s success and christened the duo “I Gemelli del Gol” (“the goal twins”). Internationally, he made two World Cup appearances. His starpower fully established, Juventus’s recruitment of him valued a then-record £12.5 million. Though his stint with the Old Lady was briefer than his Sampdoria years, it proved his career apex as he led the team to wins in the Champions League, another Serie A, and multiple cups.
He made the final swap of his playing career when joining Chelsea, and his affability made the transition from Italy to England a smooth one. The Blues were already on the upswing after a number of rickety years, and Vialli, now donning the player-manager jacket, continued their good fortunes with four cup wins. Sacked after a lukewarm start to his fifth season, his year-long turn managing Watford never really got anywhere, and another sacking segued to a lengthy punditry career. Frequently visible during the UEFA Euro 2020 as part of Italy’s assistant staff, his heartwarming embrace of Mancini as their team clinched victory was unforgettable. He founded charities to combat both cancer and ALS in the aughts, and a class act to the end, he assisted his charities where he could even as his own cancer death loomed.
Vialli’s long-term cancer struggle made him a DDP longtermer. He was first picked in 2019, but fully landed on deadpoolers’ radars the subsequent year on the back of revealing it was pancreatic. The remission-relapse tug-of-war followed with an appropriate ebb and flow of popularity, but by the end of 2022 it was readily apparent the end was closing in. This made him as consensus a joker as Gary Burgess, and more illustrious to boot: among those who double up are a murderers’ row of former champions including David Quantick’s Showbiz Pals, The Love Boat, The Living End, and Octopus of Odstock, welcome returnee To Kill A Gabor Sister, and aptly enough the old lady. I’m also off the mark with the joker, and this means my perfect boomerang hit rate (picked in a past year, dropped, brought back) now tallies at 4/4. Hmm maybe I should’ve brought back Superstar Billy Graham…
Gianluca Vialli
9 July 1964 – 6 January 2023, aged 58
127 TEAMS (💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀 + 40 = 12 POINTS, 🃏 (x38) 24 POINTS)