from another forum
This is for those who are really intrested in Italian football and it has my point of view as a Juventus fan and a Serie A fan. Those of you who know me, know how much i care about Italian football and how much i love the Calcio. I stood for Serie A against epl, liga fans and any other who talked **** about Italian football. I even mention Inter when i talk about how strong is Serie A.
The Begining
When i first heard about the scandal i thought as many Juventus fans that its an Ac Milan propaganda to distract Juventus from the league like they did last year with the Cannavaro tape. Then when things got heavier i somehow accepted that we did something wrong and that we will go to B and i said to myself its the right thing if we were proven guilty and if it means that we are going to have a clean Serie A.
The Phone Taps
The evidence kept coming but none of them proved beyond doubt that we cheated. In English press they call it ''the match fixing scandal'' although not a single phone call from the ones published showed Moggi fixing a game or agreeing with another president on a certain result etc. Not a single phone call showed that Moggi clearly said that we should get favours on pitch. Not to mention that not a single phone call was between Moggi and a Serie A ref. He didnt talk to a ref in any of his calls and he didnt talk about Penaltys, Offsides or any other on-pitch favours. If they have proved anything they proved that Moggi had alot of connections that he used to choose refrees, he said it was to protect Juventus from the real powers in the calcio world (wich was proven right later when both Calciopoli verdicts came, the first one and the other from the appeal court).
Moggi called a Uefa designator, and asked for a specific refree. Uefa considerd this as a wrong doing and a breach of the law but they did not see it as a reason to kick Juve out of the Champions League. This is exactly what he did when it came to Serie A. And obviously he asked for the best refrees and the most known in both cases. (Protecting or Corrupting??)
The Trial
The trial was a pig circus and the verdicts has been already issued before it even starts (see the ultimate media campaign). They did not allow video evidence although when you talk about ''corrupt refrees'' the video evidence plays a vital role in the case.Not to mention that the biggest trial in sports history was rushed to a no more than 12 days period leaving the defence no time to properly prepare their case.
If we gonna talk about favouritism then i can say with alot of confidence that Milan with favoured alot more than Juventus when it came to refrees calls. Also alot of calls for Juve came in 50%-50% situations while alot of Milan calls were bizzare and sometimes odd (remember we are talking about the 2004-2005 season). 5 minutes and in one case 7 minutes of injury time were common when Milan was drawing or losing a game. Some calls were very obvious in favour of Milan (see the Milan - Lazio game for example). Juventus had more penalty kicks against them than Inter and Milan. Juventus Had less penalty kicks for them than Inter and Milan. Also there was mistakes against Juve (see the Juventus - Sampdoria game for example) and for a club like Juventus who supposedly had controle on everything, it dosent add up.
In the first day of the invistigation Naples anounced that there was no elements to invistigate 2005-2006. Juventus got that title stripped because of the backslash effect of relegating them on 2004-2005. Most people dosent know that and specialy Inter fans.
Very Important Note: There were around 10,000 phone taps, the court based their verdict on no more than 40 phone taps. Justice?
The Power And Influence
Is it normal that the club who was favoured more have the prime minister and the media tycoon of Italy as their owner? is it a coincidence that Gallianni, Ac Milan director is president of the league?
Was it by chance that almost all the papers got Moggi phone calls the next day? and that they launched a massive attack on Juventus and Juventus alone? Later they undermined the role of any other club involved to show Juventus in the starring role.
The world cup final night, Mediaset (Berlescuni Tv company the holder of serie a broadcasting rights.) froze 65 million euros due to be payed for the FIGC for Serie A rights. Claiming that the product they are buying (Serie A) will not be the same without Milan, Juve.
48 hours later the verdict came out and guess what? Milan in Serie A with UEFA cup possibilty. Juventus down to B with two titles stripped and a 30 points penalty (One of them they truly earned and got cleared of any wrong doings in it). Juventus suffered a massive financial loss in the stockmarket. They lost 4 key players.
In the appeal, Milan got access to the champions league. Fiorentina, Lazio were sent back to Serie A. Note that Fiorentina was proven guilty in fixing their last game in Serie B to get promoted to serie A. For all this, Milan got 8 points penalty, anyone believe this?
Conclusion
I never before the two verdict took what Moggi said seriously when he talked about protecting Juventus from the real powers. But looking back at some things, and seeing the verdicts, considiring what i saw with my own eyes during the games. I guess he was right. I am not claiming that he is an angel or that Juventus is 100% clear. He commited some wrong doings but now i can understand why. I see this now as a war on Juventus and not a matter of cleaning corruption because obviously Serie A is still and will always be corrupted.Juventus just like me changed their position from accepting Serie B to rejecting all Calciopoli verdicts and taking this into the civil court. I back them 100%, because it should either Justice or unjustice for all, but that never the case in Italy.Some people are more equal than others as it seems.
Rant over!
umpkin:
