Gastone Bean (; born 11 August 1936) is a former Italian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a striker.

Club career

Growing up in San Canzian d'Isonzo, he joined

A.C. Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional Association football, football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 ...

as a youngster.Interview with Gastone Bean
filippofabbri.net He played on loan at

Piacenza Piacenza (; egl, label= Piacentino, Piaṡëinsa ; ) is a city and in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, and the capital of the eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with over ...

, scoring 23 goals in 21 games in the 1955–56 C-Series season. He made his Milan debut on 14 October 1956. At the end of the 1956–57 Season the ''Rossoneri'' won the title thanks to his decisive contribution of 17 goals, including the initial goal in the derby on 10 March 1957, which ended with a 1–1 draw. He was the fourth best goalscorer of the season, and was voted "favourite Champion 1957" by the Italian magazine ''Il calcio e il ciclismo illustrato''. With Carlo Galli alternated in the role of striker, the two took up the legacy of

Gunnar Nordahl Nils Gunnar Nordahl (; 19 October 1921 – 15 September 1995) was a Swedish professional footballer. A highly prolific, powerful, and physically strong striker, with an eye for goal, he is best known for his spell at AC Milan from 1949 to 1956, ...

, who had moved to

AS Roma ' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its ...

. In the next season he scored 10 goals, always alternating with Galli. The 1958–59 season ended with another championship title. Despite a tally of 39 goals in four seasons, in 1960 he moved to

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

, to be paired with

Eddie Firmani Edwin Ronald "Eddie" Firmani (; born 7 August 1933) is a former professional football player and manager. A former forward, he spent most of his career in Italy and England. Born in South Africa, he represented the Italy national team internat ...

. On 2 April 1961, Bean scored four goals past

Novara Novara (, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous city in Piedmont after Turin. It i ...

, however, the ''Griffins'' remained in Serie B because of a penalty. The promotion came in 1961–62, when the MLS closed the season 64 goals and eleven points ahead of

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, who finished second. Bean, deployed as a left winger, produced 20 goals. He was in Genoa for four seasons, contributing to the achievement of the

Cup of the Alps Coppa delle Alpi (translated as ''Cup of the Alps'') was a friendly football tournament, first organized by the Italian national league as it started in 1960 and then they were aided by the Swiss League from 1962, for the reason that the majorit ...

in 1964 and Friendship Cup in 1963. Sold to

, in Serie B, he helped them to win promotion to the top flight in his first season in

Campania (man), it, Campana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demog ...

. He ended his career in Naples in 1969, joining Bellaria Igea as player-coach.

International career

He was summoned to the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

during the qualifying flop for the 1958 FIFA World Cup. In total he played 4 games at international level.Nationals
storiapiacenza1919.xoom.it

Management career

After retiring as a player he spent twenty years as a coach with lower league sides Bellaria Igea,

Ravenna Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the ca ...

Cattolica Cattolica (; rgn, Catòlga) is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Rimini, Italy, with 16,233 inhabitants as of 2007. History Archaeological excavations show that the area was already settled in Roman times. Cattolica rose as a resting pl ...

Lecco Lecco (, , ; lmo, label= Lecchese, Lècch ) is a city of 48,131 inhabitants in Lombardy, northern Italy, north of Milan. It lies at the end of the south-eastern branch of Lake Como (the branch is named ''Branch of Lecco'' / ''Ramo di Lecco''). ...

, Benevento,

Barletta Barletta () is a city, '' comune'' of Apulia, in south eastern Italy. Barletta is the capoluogo, together with Andria and Trani, of the Province of Barletta-Andria-Trani. It has a population of around 94,700 citizens. The city's territory be ...

Casertana Casertana Football Club is an Italian association football club based in Caserta, Campania. The club currently plays in Serie D. History The club was founded in 1908 as Robur Caserta and became known as Unione Sportiva Casertana from 1928 unt ...

, Cavese, and

Fasano Fasano (; Barese: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Brindisi, Apulia, southern Italy. It is the second most populated town in the province after Brindisi, with a population in 2021 of 39,026. History According to a folk etymology, ...

Honours

Club

A.C. Milan *

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

: 1956–57, 1958–59 Genoa *

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had been ...

: 1961–62

References

External links

Profile
at EnciclopediaDelCalcio.com

at MagliaRossonera.it
International caps
at FIGC.it {{DEFAULTSORT:Bean, Gastone 1936 births Living people People from San Canzian d'Isonzo Italian footballers Italy international footballers Association football forwards Serie A players Serie B players A.C. Milan players Piacenza Calcio 1919 players Genoa C.F.C. players S.S.C. Napoli players S.P.A.L. players A.C. Bellaria Igea Marina managers Calcio Lecco 1912 managers Benevento Calcio managers Italian football managers Footballers from Friuli Venezia Giulia