Of all the iconic Italian football clubs, there is arguably none more iconic than AC Milan.

However, what few know is that I Rossoneri were founded by a lace warehouse assistant from Nottingham, born to the son of a butcher in 1870.

Herbert Kilpin, a football fanatic from a young age, ended up travelling to Italy and became, as is believed, the first ever Englishman to play the sport abroad. He turned out for Internazionale Torino, one of Italy’s first football clubs, between 1891 and 1898, when he moved to and settled in Milan.

It was in that city where Kilpin played a role in establishing the landscape of European club football, founding a team known as the Milan Cricket and Foot-Ball Club on 13 December 1899. It was Kilpin who decided upon the famous red-and-black colour scheme which Milan wear to this day.

As said by Kilpin in 1899: “We are a team of devils. Our colours are red as fire and black to invoke fear in our opponents.”

Leaving presidential duties to Alfred Edwards, Kilpin became player-manager, and led Milan to the national title in 1901 – just the second year of their existence.

Despite founding one of Europe’s greatest ever football clubs, and playing such a key role in their early years, Kilpin is largely unknown both in England and Italy.

There has been a concerted effort for Kilpin to receive the respect he deserves in recent years, and one of his distant relatives, James Kilpin, spoke to Danny Kelly’s Trans Europe Express to discuss the life a man who changed the face of Italian future just over a century ago.

You can hear the must listen interview above…

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