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Cellino: 'Prem shadier than Serie A'[/FONT]
Thursday 21 January, 2010
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Massimo Cellino is still venting his fury at West Ham. “They asked for a certificate proving I wasn’t a crook, but I should’ve asked for theirs!”
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The Cagliari President saw his offer to buy out the Hammers rejected in favour of the Sullivan-Gold partnership that only snapped up 50 per cent of the club.
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“They asked me for a certificate proving I wasn’t a crook, but I should’ve asked for theirs!” he snapped in the Corriere dello Sport.
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“They didn’t want me there and I am just stunned. The newspapers wrote nasty things and then I discovered the new West Ham director general works for The Sun...”
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Cellino was referring to a guilty plea in 2000 for his food company defrauding the EU, an accusation that went back to 1996.
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The businessman maintains the Calciopoli scandal did not automatically make Serie A dealings shadier than the Premier League.
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“In England they don’t know how to run football. In Italy we really shouldn’t be ashamed, as in London I found less transparency and on top of that we’re more efficient.
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“I have seen many things in the Lega Calcio, but compared to what I saw here in the last few days, they looked like child’s play.”
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Cellino also revealed more about the club he was going to build at West Ham.
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“Daniele Arrigoni would’ve come with me as Coach and Gianluca Festa his assistant manager.
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“I would have also brought Robert Acquafresca and Juventus said they were willing to give me Jonathan Zebina.
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“I was negotiating for a Brazilian defender with Portuguese passport, but now I’ll just bring him to Cagliari instead.”[/FONT]