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Serie A exclusive: Tony Dorigo on what Joe Hart can expect at Torino

Matthew Stanger gets the lowdown on what Joe Hart can expect at Torino and Serie A from ex-England international Tony Dorigo, who was the last Englishman to play in Turin.

Serie A exclusive: Tony Dorigo on what Joe Hart can expect at Torino

Joe Hart was given a hero’s welcome when he arrived in Turin to complete a season-long loan to Torino.

Wearing a scarf in the club’s colours and clutching a shirt as he stuck his head out of a first floor window, the goalkeeper was greeted by chants of “Joe, Joe, Joe, Joe”. He smiled for the cameras, gave a thumbs-up to his new adoring public and, in typical Italian fashion, blew a kiss.

The move to Torino poses an interesting and unexpected challenge for Hart. According to the last Englishman to play for the Serie A club, it is one he should embrace from the outset. Tony Dorigo was brought to Turin by Graeme Souness in 1997 and, while Souness’s reign only lasted a handful of games, Dorigo remained for the season, winning the club’s Player of the Year award.

“Graeme got there and realised they had brought in 13 new players that summer and not one of them was left-sided,” says Dorigo. “He called me out of the blue and said ‘Right, do you fancy an experience?’ I was 31 at that stage. It was a shame I didn’t go out earlier in my career, I would have loved that.”

It is rare to see English players move abroad in their prime, but at 29 Hart is still at the peak of his powers.

Similar to Dorigo, who was part of the England squad at the 1990 World Cup and won the First Division title with Leeds in 1992, he has experienced football at the highest level. But that doesn’t mean everything he has learned will translate to his new adventure in Italy.

“What I would say to Joe is commit to the lifestyle, commit to the language,” Dorigo tells Yahoo Sport.

“You can’t go there and think you can live in exactly the same way you would here, but it’s a great learning experience. Football-wise he’ll learn a lot, simply because it’s a different perspective. Some things will be better, some things won’t be.

"It’s probably a good thing that he has no other English teammates because it means he has to learn Italian.”

One of the main differences, which Hart may have realised when he was standing on the balcony in Turin, is the manner in which the fans convey their passion for the team. With the visit of Juventus scheduled for December 11th, Hart at least has time to establish himself before the biggest game of the season.

“They will wholeheartedly support him,” says Dorigo. “I didn’t get to play in a derby but I’ve experienced the craziness of the fans so I can just imagine what it will be like against Juventus. It’s all they go on about, even more than in England.

"If Joe pulls off a save that gets them three points, my goodness, he’ll be a hero. If that happens he won’t have to pay for his food at the Torino restaurants in Turin ever again.”

And if Torino lose to their bitter rivals? “Suddenly your bill gets rather expensive.”

1993: Tony Dorigo of England in action during a US Cup match against Brazil. \ Mandatory Credit: David Cannon/Allsport
1993: Tony Dorigo of England in action during a US Cup match against Brazil. \ Mandatory Credit: David Cannon/Allsport

Hart’s decade-long relationship with the Manchester City supporters culminated in a fond farewell as City won their Champions League play-off against Steaua Bucharest to reach the group stage. There have been good times and bad, but generally the fans have always shown their appreciation.

That may not necessarily prove to be the case at Torino, Dorigo warns, especially if they come up against a sticky patch.

“They expect a lot of passion and commitment,” he says. “I remember once we played against a lowly side at home who we should have beaten, but unfortunately we lost.

"The next day at the training ground the fans turned up and unfurled a huge banner and wouldn’t let us train. We had to leave Turin and go somewhere else to train for the whole week until the next game. So they can be a bit crazy.”

As well as the demands of the supporters, Hart will also need to adjust to the slower pace of life, which mirrors the more measured nature of the Italian game. Dorigo admits that both can take some getting used to.

“It’s certainly tactical. It’s slower in a different way, matches can be really quick and then suddenly slow down. You can’t relate today’s game to 30 years ago, thinking the Italians are great in defence, they’re going to win 1-0 and all that sort of stuff, because it doesn’t happen anymore.

"I think there’s a certain attitude they have though where if they’re 2-0 down they don’t want to lose 4-0, whereas in England you’ll want to win 3-2.

“I went over with an English attitude of ‘Right, today I have ten jobs to do and I want to get them all done’, but you can’t do that there. It’s basically, get what you can done, then you go for lunch for three hours, you relax, and then later everything’s shut so you have a little drink and you go and eat some more. It’s a different lifestyle completely.

“I enjoyed Turin but if you talked to my old teammates they thought of it as being very industrial. I lived in a little town called Moncalieri and woke up and saw the Alps every day. It was lovely.”

When Hart’s move to Torino was first reported, one newspaper referred to the club as “Serie A minnows”.

But with more top-flight titles than Manchester City, it’s a tag that many would dispute. Dorigo knows the club’s illustrious history better than most.

“They are living in the shadow of Juventus at the moment, and it’s been tough,” he says. “But if you go back to the 1940s, Torino were the greatest side. Grande Torino won four championships in a row, they supplied ten of the 11 players in the Italian national side. They were the team. Then there was the disaster at Superga.”

That tragic day in the club’s history impacted throughout world football. On May 4th, 1949, when the team were returning from a friendly against Benfica in Lisbon, their plane crashed into the Basilica of Superga just outside Turin. The disaster claimed 31 lives.

Torino have experienced a challenging existence ever since, lifting the Serie A title on only one occasion in 1976. Since winning promotion in 2012, the club have established themselves in Serie A, finishing 12th last season and appearing in the Europa League in 2014/15.

They are expected to progress under new manager Sinisa Mihajlovic, who has made a number of shrewd additions over the summer.

“It’s a team and a club in transition that will bring through youngsters but then have to sell them on, hence really why they’re in mid-table,” says Dorigo. “There was Ciro Immobile, Alessio Cerci, Matteo Darmian, and this year Kamil Glik and Bruno Peres, who’s gone to Roma for €12 million. Next it’s Nikola Maksimović, who I think is going for €20 million.

“At that sort of level, once you get to a certain point with a player, you have to move on. Or what you try and do is bring in experienced players who haven’t quite worked out elsewhere - which is what they have done with Iago Falque and Adem Ljajic from Roma.

“For them to get a big-name player like Joe, they’ll absolutely love him. It’s a real step forward for Torino to try and catch their neighbours who are winning everything.”

Torino started the season with a 3-2 defeat at AC Milan as star striker Andrea Belotti missed a penalty in the 90th minute that would have rescued a point. They bounced back last week, however, with Belotti scoring a hat-trick in a 5-1 drubbing of Bologna.

With Hart seeking a fresh challenge to stay in Sam Allardyce’s England plans, and Torino looking to kick on under Mihajlovic, Dorigo senses that both can fulfil their objectives.

“He can definitely keep his England place. He’ll be number one, he’ll be playing all the time, and Torino will be playing Juventus, Napoli (and so on). It’s an extremely good standard and it’s a good place for him in that he’s not completely under the spotlight all the time like in the Premier League.

“I feel a bit of sympathy for him that he hasn’t had a chance to show what he can do at Manchester City. But if Joe approaches it in the right way there’s no doubt he’ll be a success. I can advise him which restaurants to go to, so he’ll be fine.”