Galliani resists resignation calls
Thursday 11 May, 2006
TheJuventus Triade and the FIGC President have resigned over the transcript scandal, but Adriano Galliani resists calls to quit the Lega Calcio.
“Every day there is a new allegation,” said the Milan vice-President who is also President of the League – similar to a union of Serie A and B clubs.
“It’s like hunting season. There is talk in the newspaper of telephone taps, betting scandals and pressure on Coaches to pick certain players, but this makes it difficult to tell the false rumours from the real investigations.”
Juventus are at the centre of the initial scandal, as transcripts of alleged telephone conversations between director general Luciano Moggi and various other people, including refereeing designator Pierluigi Pairetto and his son Alessandro Moggi, the head of the GEA agency, were published in the Italian Press.
“All I’ll say is that if someone has made a mistake, then they will pay, but football will recover from this. Up until now, it’s all rumour and conjecture, not facts. I don’t think anyone should jump to conclusions or rush to condemn. This season’s Scudetto is not sub judice, it will be assigned regularly.”
The entire Juventus Board of Directors resigned this evening over the scandal and over the past few days both FIGC President Franco Carraro and vice-President Innocenzo Mazzini also quit.
Today Lega Calcio vice-President Maurizio Zamparini called for Galliani to follow in what would be a total restructuring of Italian football.
“The Lega has expressed its intention to go towards a radical change, not just in the Federation, but also the Lega itself,” noted Zamparini, who is also patron of Palermo.
“It should be put in the hands of an external caretaker President. We’ve discussed this option many times and everyone agrees on it except Galliani.”
The Milan transfer guru was quick to dismiss these calls to resign his post in charge of the Lega Calcio.
“This is the first I’ve heard of it,” said Galliani. “We have never talked about the possibility of my resignation during the meetings of all the clubs, so this is a personal view taken by Zamparini. I am amazed and don’t see why I should quit, especially as resigning is a sign of weakness in Italy. There’s no reason for me to go now.”
Instead, Galliani proposed a 'Code of Ethics’ for football, which was approved unanimously by the clubs in today’s meeting.