Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the club generally floated between fourth, fifth and sixth position in the league, Things started to turn around when new manager and former 1928 Italy national team Olympian Fulvio Bernardini took his place on the Bologna touchline.

On his arrival at the club, the side was already well stocked with talented players, but a few crucial ingredients were missing that would make Bologna true title contenders once again.

Bernardini made several quality acquisition, such as the purchase of Harald Nielsen, a Denmark Olympic squad member who caught Bologna's eye at the Rome 1960 Games.

However, they still only managed a fourth place finish and the finger was pointed at goalkeeper Santarelli, who at times was guilty of poor mistakes.

In March, the Italian Football Federation issued a statement that 5 Bologna players had tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs.

Protest marches exploded in the streets, the local media cried foul in the newspapers, and a team of Bolognese lawyers took on the case.

The Bolognese prosecutor discovered that the tubes containing the urine samples from the players were not adequately sealed – therefore, anyone could have tampered with the specimens.

Finally it came – an established lack of evidence of any wrongdoing meant that the crucial three points would be returned to Bologna, bringing them level with Inter, with just three games to go.

At the end of the season, both teams were still on equal points, which meant that for the first and only time in the history of the Serie A, a playoff would decide the ultimate champions.

Four days before this penultimate match however, Bologna's emblematic president of 30 years, Renato Dall’Ara, died from a heart attack in the middle of a meeting in the offices of the Federation.