RECORD TRANSFER FEE

On July 18th 1955, a new transfer fee record for a Football League player was set. Since March 1951 the record was for Jackie Sewell’s transfer from Notts County to Sheffield Wednesday but on this day that record fee was topped when South African, Eddie Firmani, moved from Charlton Athletic to Sampdoria in Italy. 

OK, the new record transfer fee was only £35,000 – just £500 more than the previous record – but the Italians were certainly seen to be throwing their money around. 

In addition to the record transfer fee they paid Firmani a £5,000 signing-on fee and increased his wages from £15 to £150 a week. Amazing! 

Firmani played as a centre or inside forward. He joined English team Charlton Athletic in 1950 and became a regular goal scorer, including scoring five goals in a 6–1 win against Aston Villa in 1955. At the time the Charlton team included several South Africans, John Hewie, Stuart Leary and Sid O'Linn. 

During his first spell with Charlton he married Pat Robinson, daughter of the club's assistant manager. Later in 1955 he moved to Italian team Sampdoria for £35,000, which at the time was a record transfer for a British club, beginning an eight-year spell in Italy when he gained three caps (scoring twice) for the Italian national team, qualifying for the national team because his grandfather was Italian. He also played for Inter Milan and Genoa.

While playing in Italy, he was given a nickname, which was later modified twice. He was originally called Il Tacchino (The Turkey) because he flapped his elbows when he ran. It was first changed to Il Tacchino Freddo (The Cold Turkey) for the phlegmatic way he celebrated his goals, before he was finally known as Il Tacchino d'Oro (The Golden Turkey) when he began scoring with greater frequency.

In 1960 Firmani wrote a volume of autobiography "Football with the Millionaires", which provides an interesting contrast between the lifestyle of Italian footballers and their English counterparts in the era of the maximum wage.

He returned to England in 1963, linking up again with Charlton, then playing in the second division. After two years he moved to Southend Utd in the third division but returned to The Valley for a third spell with Charlton two seasons later. In total, he made 177 appearances for the Addicks, scoring 89 goals. In recognition of his talents, he was named as Charlton's greatest overseas player in 2005. Firmani is the only man ever to have scored 100 League goals in both England and Italy, albeit only 50 in the English first division. In 1975, he played one game for the Tampa Bay Rowdies of the North American League.

Firmani spent 8 years in Italy and also played at 3 different times for Italy, being eligible to play for them as he had an Italian grandfather. He returned to Charlton in 1963 and later had a spell as manager the The Valley.

Edwin Ronald Firmani
Date of birth	7 August 1933 (age 89)
Place of birth	Cape Town, S. Africa
Position	Striker

Youth career
1949–1950	Clyde F.C. (Cape Town)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1950–1955	Charlton Athletic	100	(50)
1955–1958	Sampdoria	63	(52)
1958–1961	Inter Milan	82	(38)
1961–1963	Genoa	62	(25)
1963–1965	Charlton Athletic	55	(32)
1965–1967	Southend United	55	(24)
1967–1968	Charlton Athletic	10	(6)
1975	Tampa Bay Rowdies	1	(0)
Total		440	(238)
International career
1956–1958	Italy	3	(2)
Managerial career
1967–1970	Charlton Athletic
1975–1977	Tampa Bay Rowdies
1977–1979	New York Cosmos
1980	Philadelphia Fury
1981–1982	Montreal Manic
1983	Inter-Montréal
1984	New York Cosmos
1985–1990	Kazma SC
1990	Al-Talaba
1991	Montreal Supra
1992–1993	Sur FC
1993	Montreal Impact
1996	New York/New Jersey MetroStars
*Club domestic league appearances and goals