Booted

Or

One with the Cosmos

Fans of 1970s soccer were saddened to learn of the heart attack death of Giorgio Chinaglia, the all-time leading scorer in North American Soccer League (NASL) history. After moving to Wales from Italy, he was discovered by the local team, Swansea Town, and first saw action with the club in 1964, where he spent two seasons until his traditional Italian training regimen - booze, women, late nights and an aversion to practice - led Swansea to let him go on a free transfer. He would return to Italy, spending three seasons in Serie C before landing with Lazio, where he scored 98 goals in 209 games and would later be named the greatest player in Lazio history. At the height of his career, he made the move to the NASL and the New York Cosmos, where he would register 242 goals in 254 games and lead the league in scoring four times. He was also able to return to his relaxed training schedule. Once, the Cosmos manager told the team that they couldn’t go out the night before a big game, and that he’d fine anyone who did $1000. Chinaglia asked who among his team planned to go out, saw four raised hands, and immediately paid the manager $5000. He was not quite as good with his money later on, between investing in the clearly failing Cosmos in 1985 and being subjected to two money laundering investigations when trying to buy teams in Italy.