Well, since unlike the majority here I almost exclusively read Italian sports papers, I shall give my essentially Italian-centered perspective on this topic.
My thesis is that Milan and Juve are criticised more or less equally by the medias and more fiercely than all other serie A teams, and quite rightly so. First off though I’d like to clarify a point regarding Berlusconi’s hold on Italian medias. While this is an acknowledged fact as regards private TV channels, it really isn’t when it comes to sports newspapers. The Gazzetta dello Sport, though based in Milan and though it traditionally gives more coverage to the two Milanese teams, is owned by the FIAT group, as are the two other main daily sports papers (Corriere dello Sport and Tuttosport) and the Guerin Sportivo, which is by far the most influential football weekly in Italy.
Secondly, things need to be put back into their historical perspective. Juve hasn’t always been Italy’s darling. Up until the early/mid 70’s, Milan and Inter were undisputedly the most supported teams in Italy, essentially because they had put Italian football on the map following their European successes in the 60’s. But as you may know, that triumphant era was followed by a prolonged period of dearth on the international front (both at club and NT levels) which was finally interrupted with Juve’s UEFA Cup win in 77. Not only did Juventus restore some pride, but it actually gave birth to a proper Renaissance of Italian football, by becoming the first team ever to win all 3 European Cups in the following years and by laying the foundations of the 1982 World champion squadra. Quite logically and also because of Inter and especially Milan’s demise, it quickly became the most popular team in Italy too, and a highly respected one, because not only could it win but it could do it with style (Tardelli, Boniek, Platini, Rossi yada yada).
The 80’s were the years of Italy’s economic boom, and the all-dominating FIAT (then the 1st car manufacturer in Europe - how times have changed…) with its all-winning football team Juventus were very strong symbols of that thriving era. Football was also a lot more simple, and despite living in a world that was hardly comparable to that of the man in the street, a charismatic character like Gianni Agnelli (or Moratti’s father Angelo or Rizzoli before him) was a figure the journalists could much more easily relate to and approach than the multitude of vice-presidents, managers and football agents we see today. To make a long story short, Juve was an hegemon that could gather and rely on the general consensus of the medias in order to rule supreme.
20 years on, the situation is very different. Apart from the obvious economic decline of Italy (and it’s no use kidding ourselves : politics, the economy and football are very much intertwined in the Peninsula), we have a Milan-Juventus duopoly that - sad but true - seems to consider itself vested with some sort of divine blessing that makes it untouchable for us mere mortals. The revolution took place at the end of the 80’s, with the advent of Berlusconi’s Milan, and it has then been copied, albeit in a somewhat more complex way, by Juventus. Nick is right in saying that the doping trial has greatly damaged Juventus and its relations with the press. And of course today’s Juve, despite still winning consistently, is hardly as attractive as its 1996-98 counterpart, let alone Platini, Scirea and co’s Juve, so this probably is a factor too. But I think the essential reasons for today’s mediatic « unfriendliness » go much deeper than that.
Indeed one should ask himself the following question : who represents Juventus today ? Who speaks for the club ? Giraudo ? Bettega ? Moggi ? Assuming that the answer is Moggi, do we really want to compare this guy to Gianni Agnelli ? Surely, the latter may have had his own snags, but hey, we’re talking about a man who originates from possibly the most important family of Italian industrialists ever, a man who has shaped a relevant share of the country’s history for about 50 years and who despite this or maybe precisely because of this never fell short from honouring his position as chairman of Juventus, and that includes maintaining decent relations with the media, who ulimately are the bridge between the team and the everyday tifoso.
Now, Moggi, who is he ? I’ll tell you who he is : an uninspiring ex-station master (seriously) who thanks to some obscure contacts got catapulted into the business of football, built and empire and now sees himself as some sort of sanctity, so much that he (thinks he) can afford to treat journalists like Padovano treats women’s shoes, i.e. by strictly using them for self-gratification. "If I feel like answering I will answer. Maybe I will talk crap though because I think you’re stupid enough to buy it anyway. If I don’t feel like answering, I won’t, and if at some point I realize you’re putting up a funny face I’ll ignore you". This basically is the Moggi motto. Mind you, Galliani, the ex TV antennas retailer from Monza turned Fininvest CEO, is hardly better. Unlike Moggi he might display a shining Berlusconesque smile, but ask him a question that is just a little bit challenging or simply pull your tongue out of his bottom for a second and he will furiously storm out of there faster than Adrian Mutu on speed. I’ve seen him do this repeatdely : just who exactly does he think he is ???
To sum up, football teams have always represented a world that is out of reach for most common people. But while a club in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s was still just that, a football club, and whereas it was run by one figure who still managed to at least appear human and considerate towards the fans, today’s big clubs are multinationals run by unaccountable figures that are merely there to do just that : run a multinational company. Ultimately, I believe it is no coincidence that Inter receive a more lenient coverage than Milan and Juventus. Apart from the fact that their perennial curse and suicidal tendencies inspire more sympathy, they are run pretty much the way teams were run 20 years ago, through the easy to identify (for good and for worse) and accessible figure of Moratti.
Professional football keeps taking more and more distance with its fans, because it believes that it can do without them - and sadly it is right : who cares about the peanuts attendance figures bring you when broadcasting rights alone will get you 50 million euros a year ? So by shooting on the self-proclaimed and self-absorbed new élites of the Beautiful Game, the medias are only reverberating the growing disillusion of the left-out masses.
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