Pied piper of Serie A coverage returns on BBC
Then there were the imports, Gabriel Batistuta, Ruud Gullit, George Weah, Zinedine Zidane, the original Ronaldo. World transfer records routinely broken, seemingly season on season. Goals from another planet weekend on weekend.
In Italy, the term is "Sprezzatura" – the art of making style look effortless. This was Serie A in the 90s and Richardson was there for all the big moments. "I was in the San Siro for George Weah's famous goal against Verona and Youri Djorkaeff's volley against Roma," he says.
For younger readers, both are worth watching on YouTube. "It was the era of the great number 10s, none more so than here in Naples and Diego Maradona, albeit he predated the Gazzetta days. "There was a poetic beauty to that, even when a lot of the teams were set up defensively.
The 10 was the one player who got free licence and, as such, they were venerated. " No Scot played in Italy in the 90s. Not since Joe Jordan [AC Milan and Verona] and Graeme Souness at Sampdoria in the 80s had a Scot been seen in Serie A.
However, now with far less money than in the glory days of the 80s and 90s, Italian clubs have recognised that there is value to be had from the Scottish market. "Serie A used to have a lot of money and doesn't anymore, but the league has been enriched by the influx of Scottish players," he suggests. "Liam Henderson was the first in the modern era and was an enormous success at Bari.