GEA UPDATE:
Since the initial accusations much has surfaced from the still ongoing GEA hearings. I have gathered as much as I can from various newspapers regarding the testimonies and I will present that here.
Before doing so however I will utilize simple mathematics to discredit the first accusation against GEA. The accusation that GEA commanded a monopolistic market share of players and coaches throughout Serie A.
At its peak GEA had the contracts of 262 players and 11 coaches. The players and coaches were spread out across Serie A, B and Europe. This sounds like a lot. It raised many questions in the public but did anyone think that a Monopoly should consist of much more?
Omitting the 10-15 players that were registered outside Italian football the number goes down to approximately 250. Serie A is comprised of 20 teams and Serie B 22 teams. Each team has an average roster of 22 players. A total of 42 teams X 22 players gives us 924 players in Italy’s top two divisions. If GEA represented only 250 of them…where is the Monopoly? That amounts to about 27% of Italy’s players. What of the other 73%. How could a company with a minority market share be accused of operating a monopoly? Even the coach representation amounted to about 24% in Italy. What of the rest? So much for accusation number 1.
So how does Juventus tie in with the GEA Trial? The second accusation is that Luciano Moggi used his position as Alessandro Moggi’s father to “threaten” players into handing their contracts over to GEA agents or else. The idea is that
Moggi so controlled the market and teams that he could single handedly place players where he wanted. Evidence? Nah. You don’t need that when you accuse Luciano Moggi, all that’s really needed is he accusation as we’ve seen in the past but there are witnesses this time around. Let’s explore who they are and what they have stated in court shall we:
Antonio Caliendo:
Antonio is a successful player promoter who earns a living by obtaining endorsement deals for famous footballers. He had a long list of accusations regarding GEA’s interference with his operations which seemed to rarely tie into his initial police report. Names, dates, and activities were consistently inconsistent which led to him being reprimanded in court for false testimony. It should also be note that Caliendo was arrested in 1991 and plead guilty to corruption charges receiving a 10 month sentence. He was again arrested after the downfall of Hellas Verona for…you guessed it…corruption charges.
Stefano Antonelli:
Stefano was Blasi’s former agent who accused GEA of forcing Blasi to abandon him and accept GEA representation. His evidence was a wiretap he had recorded himself after calling Blasi’s father. We’ll come back to him in a moment.
Zdenek Zeman:
Zdenek…good old Zdenek. Once again testifying against Luciano Moggi. Zeman made a lot of very general accusations. When he was asked for proof he came up with nothing. When asked what specific rules GEA violated he responded by saying “I do not possess specific details” meaning he went to court with…what? Hearsay?
Marco Trabucchi:
Originally of Russian descent accused GEA of forcefully requesting the contract of Salernitana keeper Ruslan Nigmatullin. The forceful nature of the demand consisted of “all inclusive stay at a luxury hotel including pre-paid Mercedes rental”. That’s some vicious shit huh? Of course it was later revealed that Marco Trabucchi is in fact wanted by the FBI for association with one of Moscow’s most dangerous crime syndicates (Izmailovskaya).
Franco Baldini:
Franco is a long time enemy of the triade who accused GEA of not allowing players the chance to play in his Roma squad (where he was a director). Unfortunately for him the players (Chiellini, Baiocco) admitted that they personally desired Juventus over Roma and therefore refused the Roma transfers. This is the same Baldini who began the accusing during Farsopoli regarding the yellow card system (which the trial itself discredited). This is the same Baldini who is a long time friend of Attlio Auricchio (police officer in charge of verifying the Farsopoli wiretaps in 2006) who is under indictment with Baldini for issuing threats regarding the accounting fraud trial that saw Roma put under the microscope along with other clubs. Furthermore Attilio has already been charged with an early 90s evidence tampering charge. Baldini was also connected with the Recoba passport scandal and is currently facing potential charges for perjuring himself in the GEA trial.
Not the most credible of sources so far. Maybe the players themselves will shed more light on the situation.
A brief list of has been, washed up, and in some cases broke footballers were brought in one at a time by prosecutors to confirm Moggi’s omnipotence within the player market. Here is the high level summary of the accusations:
Marco Rigoni:
Marco claimed he was sold by Juventus to an inferior squad because he wouldn’t sign with GEA. The trial revealed that he had suffered career altering injuries after a car accident which rendered him near useless.
Nicola Amoruso:
Amoruso blamed Moggi and GEA for punishing him after he too refused to sign with GEA. He was sold to lesser clubs and s a result according to Amoruso, his career was ruined. Those of us who remember Amoruso remember a player all too often left on the bench because the squad possessed far superior talent in attack (Del Piero, Trezeguet, Inzaghi). He was sold because he couldn’t find space on the squad according to Luciano Moggi…we saw that with our own eyes.
Salvatore Fresi:
The few who recall this unfamiliar face will likely recall his antics in Coppa Italia matches since he rarely was fielded ahead of the likes of Montero, Thuram, Ferrara etc. in Juventus’ defense. The player lacked the skill to make a starting 11spot for himself but blamed Moggi for ruining his career by selling him to Perugia against his will for not having signed with GEA. He claimed that Moggi stated “do what we say or you will never play again” and “if you stay you will train alone in the mountains”. The defense managed to extract a crucial detail in court however that rendered his testimony to laughable. It was revealed that when the transfer was finalized, Fresi threw a party at his home complete with champagne to commemorate his massive financial gain. Fresi was then asked to step down.
Later Marcello Lippi confirmed that he no longer wanted Fresi because he was useless and caused too many problems in the locker room. No players wanted to have him around.
Fabrizio Miccoli:
This is my favorite. His own non Gea agent (Franceso Calandro) claimed that there was no mobbing involved in Miccoli’s transfer activities on an Italian radio station. What he stated was that Micolli wanted to be transferred for three reasons:
1) he wasn’t allowed to celebrate the 2002-2003 scudetto with the team (he plaid for Perugia and only arrived in the summer) which he took offense to.
2) he was pressured to accept a transfer to Portsmouth (though he never actually went)
3) he wasn’t allowed to wear earrings on the field
This story changed when the trial surfaced and suddenly Moggi an GEA ruined Micolli’s career by loaning him around. Simply put, Del Piero and Trezeguet were the dominant strikers in his stay at Juve and as a result he saw very little playing time in the 2003-2004 season. With the arrival of Mutu and Ibrahimovic in the summer of 2004 Miccoli (along with Di Vaio) were seen as an excess in the payroll department.
Micolli requested to be moved and was therefore sent to Fiorentina where he did not impress. Fiorentina made no offer to retain him and Micolli was then sent to Benfica where he enjoyed regular playing time and the two best seasons of his career…poor guy. When Benfica made no offer to retain him he stated that he had no intention of returning to Juventus and was therefore sold to Palermo…Moggi and GEA were long gone.
Similar accusations but is there any evidence that demonstrates anything more than the simple buying and selling of players?
A short list of players that confirmed they never felt pressured to sign with GEA in court:
Fabio Gatti
Davide Baiocco
Riccardo Allegretti
Giorgio Chiellini
David Trezeguet
Christian Molinaro
Fabio Capello
Emanuele Blasi
Marcello Lippi
Marcello Lippi confirmed that he never felt pressured to bring certain players to the World Cup. He received suggestions from many including Moggi who actually suggested Miccoli but Lippi opted not to bring him.
Emanuele Blasi’s testimony sent shock waves throughout the courtroom. He was initially brought in by the prosecutors after a wiretap revealed a conversation between him and his old agent (Antonelli) where Blasi states that he is being forced to leave him and accept GEA agent representation. In court Blasi admitted that he lied to his old agent to spare his feelings. He was no longer satisfied with him and wanted Davide Lippi to represent him. To this day, Davide is his agent and GEA has been closed down since 2006.
Far cry from what the press says isn’t it? For two years every anti-Juventino arguing in favor of Calciopoli that has had their arguments dismantled has referred to the GEA influence as a last resort without knowing what is happening at all. Finally Capello and Giraudo were charged with false testimony after defending Moggi and Gea. Though their testimony never contradicted their reports the two may face eventual charges. It appears as though the prosecution has recently adapted a new procedure; anyone who testifies in defense of the accused will be charged. Of course nothing will come of the charges since there are no contradictions to speak of but by being under indictment, their testimonies will be discredited. Someone should explain why no others on the prosecutors side have been charged considering the numerous contradictions found thus far.
http://www.espnsoccernet.it/news/story?id=529935&cc=null
http://www.pupia.tv/sport/notizie/000102.html
http://www.siciliainformazioni.com/...avere-ricevuto-pressioni-moggi-nazionaler.htm
http://kr.goal.com/it/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=646841
http://www.corrieredellosport.it/Notizie/Calcio/29031/Processo+Gea,+Capello+e+Giraudo+indagati
http://www.spysport.org/processo-gea-moggi-ostenta-sicurezza-ma-fresi-e-zeytulaev-lo-accusano.htm
All other articles can be found in this Calciomercato search engine that gathers articles from various Italian papers:
http://www.calciomercato.com/index.php?n=search
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