EDDIE FIRMANI

Eddie Firmani, born in Cape Town in 1933, played as a centre or inside forward when he joined English team Charlton Athletic in 1950. He became a regular goal scorer, including scoring five goals in a 6–1 win against Aston Villa in 1955 and totalling 50 goals in 100 apps. At the time the Charlton team included several South Africans, John Howie, Stuart Leary and Sid O'Linn. During his first spell with Charlton he married Pat Robinson, daughter of the club's assistant manager. 

On July 18th 1955, he moved to Italian team Sampdoria (63 apps/52 goals) for £35,000, a record fee for a British club, beginning an eight-year spell in Italy, when he also gained three caps for the Italian national team, qualifying for the national team because his grandfather was Italian. Firmani was paid £5,000 signing on fee and his wage rose from £15-150 p.w.,  a fortune at the time. He next played for 8 years with Internationale (82 apps/38 goals) and Genoa (62/25).

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 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, now playing in the second division. After two years he moved to Southend United 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 NASL.

In 1967 Firmani was appointed Charlton manager and retired as a player. Firmani thus became the first Italian international to manage an English club. In his second season in charge, Charlton finished third in the Second Division just missing out on promotion. He was fired in March 1970 with the Addicks battling against relegation to the Third Division.

Firmani moved to North America and managed several NASL sides: Tampa Bay Rowdies, NY Cosmos and Philadelphia Fury. He was named the NASL coach of the year in 1976, when he guided Tampa Bay to the best regular season record. He also led the Rowdies to the finals of the NASL's indoor tournament in 1975 and 1976, winning the latter. 

In 1977 Firmani was signed by the Cosmos mid-season, after having resigned from the Rowdies for personal reasons. At the time the Cosmos had a team featuring Pele, Beckenbauer, Chinaglia and  Brazil's World Cup-winning capt in 1970, Carlos Alberto and the Cosmos won back-to-back titles in 1977 and 1978. In June 1979, he coached the New Jersey Americans and later returned to coach in the NASL as coach of the Fury.

He later managed Canadian sides in 1983-93 and went back to the NASL 1996. Firmani later coached in the Middle East during the mid-to-late 1980s, and in the early 1990s, where he worked as a manager in both Kuwait and Oman. He was also held captive during the First Gulf War but was released unharmed.