Did you read the new weekly crap written by the thing called Sheridan Bird??
If you don't know him before this, I have to tell you he's an anti-Juve thing. Have fun
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The Filthy, Filthy Mess Of Italian Football
Try and remember the last time you had a big party in your own house - you probably had fun, took an alcoholic drink or two and left a nice little mess which could be 'sorted out in the morning'. Then you awoke with a muscular hangover and plodded downstairs...and when you saw the filth and chaos from the night before you may well have thought to yourself, "I knew it was dirty, but didn’t realise it was this bad."
That sums up the scandals in Italian football at the moment. If you know a little about calcio you probably already knew it was a bit dodgy. But the betting is that you had no idea it was this dirty.
The Argentine press, reporting in a country where football corruption isn’t exactly unknown, is already calling this the biggest sports scandal in history, and everyone is shocked at how far-reaching and widespread the muck is.
Any description of this nastiness starts with the man at the centre of it, the intimidating, slitty-eyed director general (ex- actually, he resigned on Sunday night almost in tears, poor little lamb) of Juventus, Luciano Moggi. This tough guy has been the subject of a torrent of accusations in the last two weeks, with transcripts published of his phone calls intercepted by investigators. The list of underhand things he is claimed to have done is chilling.
First up is his cosy relationship with the referees of Serie A, some of whom he sneakily instructed to book any players on the cusp of a suspension for games against Juventus. So if, for example a key Bologna defender was one yellow away from missing his side’s game with Juve, an order to caution that player would filter down to the ref officiating the next Bologna match.
His most worrying personal relationship was with the referee Massimo De Santis, who is so involved with the murky dealings he has been banned by FIFA from going to the World Cup. He was one of Italy’s representative officials. But now he isn’t going. Very embarrassing for L’Italia.
Naturally, woe betide those whistle-men who didn’t do as Moggi said, most emphatically the housewife’s fave Gianluca Paperesta, who just happened to deny Juventus a clear penalty in the Reggina v Bianconeri league match of last season and paid the price. Obviously he wasn’t killed, or
didn’t wake up with a Ruud Van Nistelrooy’s head in his bed
, but he was cornered in his dressing room after the game by Moggi and partner in crime Antonio Giraudo, threatened, shouted at and then locked in.
Moggi made off with the key, leaving Paperasta trapped inside with nothing but his wash bag and spare socks for company. At the time the tanned ref didn’t report the incident for fear of losing his job. But locking someone in a room in a fit of rage? Pathetic.
Players have also felt the rough side of Lucky Luciano, most of all those who refused to join his son’s management agency, GEA, which is also under investigation. Any pro who decided against being represented by GEA when approached was quite clearly told that his chances of playing for Italy would be severely hindered.
The Turin club are not the only side under investigation, as Lazio, Milan and Fiorentina are in the spotlight too. But not with the same scrutiny as Juve, who could be relegated if the allegations of match fixing and referee 'conditioning' are proved, and they may even have their last two titles taken away, including the one they won this weekend. The last time a Scudetto was revoked was in the 1920s, when Torino got punished. Any relegation, whether to Serie B or C1, would surely see the Zebras’ star players all nick off elsewhere, even the old ones like Pavel Nedved.
It all makes for very ugly reading, and does Italian football’s image so much harm. With all the predicted trials and enquiries expected to last months and months, it has been claimed that next season may not start until October, which would throw any Italian participation in the Champions League into doubt as registrations for the competition have to be completed by July 28th, which will be far too early for this disaster to be sorted out.
It gets worse too, although thankfully on a less sinister note, as calcio prepares a painful farewell to one of its greatest ever strikers, Mr Andriy Shevchenko. Milan are pretending that he will stay, but the way in which he went into the crowd at the San Siro to watch some of the first half of Sunday’s match with the fans was significant and smacked of an affectionate goodbye. Sheva and his family fancy London and the Premier League, and what Sheva wants he often gets, in his own ultra-polite, gentlemanly way. Italy’s loss would be Britain’s gain - the man is a legend, intelligent, loyal and the ultimate predator. A hero on and off the pitch. Chelsea fans, you lot should be smiling like loonies.
Unlike the Juve fans.
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