Bruno Giordano is an Italian footballmanager and former player, who was deployed as a forward; as a footballer, he is mostly remembered for the title of Serie A capocannoniere achieved with Lazio as well as for his successful time at Napoli. Giordano was a prolific striker with good technique and dribbling ability, and he also possessed an accurate and powerful shot with either foot; due to his characteristics, he was regarded as the heir of Giorgio Chinaglia.
Club career
Born in Rome, Giordano played for most of his career with Lazio, debuting in Serie A on 5 October 1975. He soon revealed himself to be one of the most effective Italian strikers, winning the Serie A capocannoniere title during the 1978–79 season, scoring 19 goals. In 1980, he was arrested under the charge of participating in the national footballing betting scandal, and he was banned from the Italian championship until 1982. Lazio had been demoted to the Serie B following their involvement in the scandal, and upon his return to competitive football, Giordano became the Serie B top goalscorer during the 1982–83 season, helping his team to finish in second place behind Milan, and to re-gain promotion to Serie A the following season. He is currently Lazio's top ever goalscorer in the Coppa Italia. In 1985, he was sold to Napoli for 5 billion lire. At Napoli, along with Diego Maradona and later Careca, he formed the famed "Ma-Gi-Ca" front line. Giordano was instrumental in Napoli's first historical scudetto win of 1987; he also helped Napoli to win a rare domestic double that season, by capturing the 1987 Coppa Italia that year, and finishing as the top scorer of the competition with 10 goals. He later played for Bologna and Ascoli, before turning to a coaching career.
International career
Giordano represented Italy at U-21 level, scoring 8 goals in 16 appearances level, and under manager Azeglio Vicini, he was called up as an over-aged member of the team in the 1978 European Under-21 Championship. He also made three appearances for Italy's Olympic squad, scoring twice. Giordano made his Italian national team senior debut on 5 December 1978, coming on as a substitute for Francesco Graziani in a 1–0 friendly victory over Spain, and playing alongside Paolo Rossi. He was capped 13 times for Italy in total, scoring one goal in a 3–0 friendly win over Greece; despite his success at club level, he never represented Italy at a major tournament, and only two of his international appearances came in competitive matches, with both being UEFA Euro 1984 qualifying matches.
Managing career
Giordano's managing career before coaching Messina was somewhat modest, starting in 1993–94 with Monterotondo of Serie D, where he obtained his first promotion in 1996–97 to coach Crotone. Sacked six times in his career, he remained unemployed. After a good season with Reggiana in 2004–05, he ended in fifth place despite his club's serious financial troubles, which then led to its cancellation. On January 2006, he was called to coach the last-place Serie B team Catanzaro, in a situation widely similar to Reggiana's. Notably, Catanzaro was relegated to Serie C in that season, and declared bankruptcy soon after. In the summer of 2006, Giordano was announced as the new coach of Messina, just relegated to Serie B. However, following the 2006 Serie A scandal, Messina was readmitted to Serie A, therefore allowing Giordano to finally coach a Serie A side. On 30 January 2007, following a series of poor results including a home loss to last-place Ascoli, Giordano was sacked, but then reappointed by Messina chairman Pietro Franza on 2 April, following the firing of Giordano's replacement Alberto Cavasin. In his second tenure at Messina, Giordano lost all four matches before being sacked again on 23 April, only 21 days after his reappointment. He was replaced by Bruno Bolchi. On April 2009 he was appointed by Serie B club Pisa to replace Giampiero Ventura as head coach of the nerazzurri. He then briefly served as head coach of Lega Pro Prima Divisione club Ternana in 2011. Since the end of October 2013 he is the new coach of Ascoli.
