There are no official matches today in Lazio history so we will talk of a manager who had a brief experience at Lazio, but a long career.
Federico Allasio was born in Turin, on May 30, 1914.
As a boy he played in the Torino youth sector. He was with the famous "Balon Boys" until 18 when he made his debut for the first team in an away game in Naples, on November 20, 1932.
He played for the Granata for nine seasons. He made 170 league appearances with 18 goals. For "Toro" it was a transition period between the great team of the 1920's and the unbeatable "Grande Torino" of the 1940's. They did however win the Coppa Italia in 1936.
In 1941 Alassio joined Genova 1893 (became Genoa again in 1945). He stayed five seasons in a period tragically affected by World War II. He played 58 league games for the "Grifone" with 4 goals.
In 1946 he moved down a division to Suzzara (Mantova) in Serie B. He took on the role of player manager and made 37 league appearances with 6 goals.
At 33 he retired and concentrated on coaching. In 1948 he was back with Genoa and obtained a decent 7th place in Serie A. The following season from the 4th fixture until the 15th he held the manager job alongside Welshman Dai Astley (legendary Aston Villa player). They were both replaced in December by Manilo Bacigalupo.
In 1949-50 after 17 games, he took over at Lucchese in Serie A. The "Pantere" survived finishing 16th.
In 1950 he was manager of Bari in Serie B for the first seven games (the "Galletti" changed managers eight times that season… and unsurprisingly got relegated).
In 1951 he moved to Sardinia and joined Vincenzo Soro as manager of Cagliari in Serie C. "Casteddu" won promotion to Serie B with first place. He stayed the following season on his own but left during the 1953-54 season after disagreements with the club owners.
From March 1954 he joined Lazio in Serie A. He took over from Mario Sperone after the 24th fixture (a 0-1 home defeat to Torino). In the last matches Lazio won 3, drew 2 and lost 5. The Biancocelesti finished 11th and Allasio was confirmed for the next season.
The 1954-55 season however did not get off to a great start. Lazio had lost goalkeeper Lucidio Sentimenti IV and midfielder Serafino Montanari had retired. On the other hand, they had signed legendary Danish striker John Hansen from Juventus. The fact is in the first 7 matches Lazio lost 5, drew 1 (the derby 1-1) and only won 1. Allasio paid the price and was replaced by Englishman George S. Raynor, with Roberto Copernico as Technical Director. Lazio improved slightly and finished 12th, winning the second derby 3-1.
In 1955 Allasio joined Verona in Serie B but did not last the season.
In 1956 he moved back to Bari in Serie B. He stayed two seasons with "La Vecchia Stella del Sud". In his first, the "Galletti" finished 11th while in his second they won promotion to Serie A with 2nd place and after a double-legged playoff with Verona (revenge is sweet…). Despite promotion however he was not kept on.
In 1958 he moved home to Torino in Serie A. The Granata were officially called Calcio Talmone Torino due to a sponsorship deal with a local chocolate company. Indeed, it was a dark season for Allasio and "Toro". The manager was sacked after eleven games (W 2, D 4, L 5) and Torino were eventually relegated.
In 1959 he joined Bologna in Serie A. His first season was good with 5th place and his second was reasonable with 9th place. In 1961 the "Felsinei" won the Mitropa Cup (beating Czechs, Slovan Nitra 5-2 on aggregate).
In 1961-62 he returned to Bari for a third time. The Biancorossi were in Serie B and finished 12th.
In 1964 he went back to Sardinia but this time with Torres, from Porto Torres in the North-West. The Rossoblu finished 9th in Serie C.
In the 1965 season he returned to Piedmont and joined Alessandria in Serie B. He did not last the season with the "Orso Grigio" (The Grey Bear) who changed manager twice and ended up 13th.
The last job of Allasio's career was with Trani, near Bari, in 1966-67 The "Dragoni" finished 12th in Serie C.
That was the end of his thirty-five years in professional football.
As a player he was a strong defensive midfielder and had a solid club career. He was both physical (1.80 metres tall and 78 kilos) and technical which, especially with Torino, helped him score a good number of goals despite his position.
As a manager he won two promotions, one to Serie A (Bari) and one to Serie B (Cagliari). His top Serie A finish was 5th with Bologna.
At Lazio he was only manager for 17 matches over two seasons but especially in the first had his satisfactions winning three matches (including a 5-1 thrashing of Triestina).
Off the field, his daughter, Marisa Allasio, must have made him proud. She is a well-known Italian actress having worked with many of the great film directors including Dino Risi, Luigi Zampa, Franco Zeffirelli, Steno and Mauro Bolognini. She was also in "War and Peace" by King Vidor and claimed, regretfully in hindsight, to have turned down the role of Angelica Sedara, then taken by Claudia Cardinale, in Luchino Visconti's masterpiece, "Il Gattopardo".
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