And this year's contestants include Giuseppe Signori and Inter Milan!! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13620144
My boy hood hero Beppe Signori is the ring leader! WTF [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, Swiss, SunSans-Regular]Drinks spiked in betting scandal?[/FONT][FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]There are some bizarre allegations after 16 people, including Beppe Signori, were arrested in a betting scandal, including Inter-Lecce and drugged players. [/FONT][FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]This morning police swooped in several cities to break up what they claim is a betting ring that was involved in match-fixing, bribery, intimidation and even spiking drinks. [/FONT] [FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]Former Lazio star Signori was named as the ‘ringleader’ by the court order and is now under house arrest, while others include Ascoli players Vincenzo Sommese and Vittorio Micolucci. [/FONT] [FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]Atalanta captain Cristiano Doni is among those under investigation, but has not been arrested, while former Fiorentina midfielder Mauro Bressan and ex-Bari man Antonio Bellavista are also implicated. [/FONT] [FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]The Cremona public prosecutors allege that at least 18 games between Serie A, B and Lega Pro were involved after examining unusual betting patterns. [/FONT] [FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]According to the paperwork signed by prosecutor Guido Salvini, Signori is “the undisputed leader due to personal prestige in the Bologna area. He is involved in a betting ring on fixed games, placing €150,000 on the Serie A match Inter-Lecce.” [/FONT] [FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]This is an interesting case, as the bets were for at least three goals in that Inter-Lecce game, but it ended 1-0 for the home side. [/FONT] [FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]The result prompted alleged retaliatory attacks on those in the betting ring who had not done enough to ensure the fixture went as ‘planned.’ [/FONT] [FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]Brescia-Bologna on April 2 saw unusual betting patterns on a home victory, which emerged 3-1. [/FONT] [FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]Another game pin-pointed was Atalanta’s Serie B 3-0 victory over Piacenza, which ended 3-0 on March 19. The prosecutors wrote that “Doni was one of those players who allegedly agreed the result with Piacenza defender Carlo Gervasoni. The second goal was a penalty from Gervasoni’s foul on Doni.” [/FONT] [FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]It’s also alleged that both teams automatically promoted from Serie B this season, Siena and Atalanta, had games that were part of this betting ring’s focus. [/FONT] [FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]Perhaps the most disturbing allegation is that Cremonese players had their drinks spiked ahead of the 2-0 victory over Paganese on November 14, 2010. [/FONT] [FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]Several players and members of staff felt ill during and after the game, with some requiring hospital treatment. It’s alleged they were given sleeping draughts.[/FONT] [FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular][/FONT] [FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/FONT] [FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular][/FONT] [FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular]This is insane [/FONT]
It's all still "well" when these criminals are investigated and prosecuted. one could hope the usual "furbi" are gonna learn sooner or later but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for that moment to come. you know honesty is a hard concept to grasp for the always too many "smart" fools walking around in italy. I just can't understand why a wealthy person like signori, with a respected career, had the need to get involved in all this in order to gain some extra money. he actually was one of the master minds. i guess there's some mental illness involved.
^ Its human nature. You will always ask for more. You get 100 million, u will ask for 200, then u get 200 u will ask for 300.
But I like Signori's legacy took a hit, he did say some bad words in the past about totti. I am happy to see him involved in this
There was talk all year about book makers closing bets because of irregular betting patterns, but it was ignored by both the fans and the media. And even after that, the criminals contiued with their work. These guys just didn't care. In the end it's more egg on the face of Italy and italian soccer.
Signori is a known gambling addict. I was already hearing stories about him when I was in middle school and he was at Sampdoria. He was completely broke by the time he retired (he was constantly begging for contracts and ended up in Greece and Bulgaria). If you look around the Internet for those lists about football's "open secrets" (most of which date to about 10 years ago) you'll find references about it.
Latest rumor...De Rossi involved...Genoa-Roma 4-3 under investigation. Ouch. Hopefully it's bullshit (Er cervo didn't even play that game)...not for De Rossi who I couldn't care less about and whose off-field antics are well known...but cuz it would tarnish one of the highlights of our season.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW2KKcxc0a0&feature=player_embedded"]YouTube - episodio Paoloni-Colombo da cui ha origine il 2-2 al 90° in Cremonese-Spezia 17/10/2010‏[/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxpmfBhVUm0&feature=player_embedded"]YouTube - Paoloni in Monza-Cremonese 2-2‏[/ame]
According to La Repubblica the phone conversation isn't being considered by prosecutors, as they believe it's only a case of his trying to boast to his handlers that he cold influence bigger clubs and players. Hope that's the case, would be pretty unforgivable otherwise.
The prosecutor in the betting scandal says that he spoke with his police officials and De Rossi's name actually doesn't come up in the tapes. Very nice of every paper in Italy to devote the cover story to De Rossi without doing any fact checking.
Protected by who? Give me a freaking break he didn't even play the game the newspapers questioned and the central prosecutor said he doesn't come up in the tapes. A little common sense instead of spreading crap like that. I supose that's why he's been excluded from the NT twice in a row for misconduct, while model examples Cassano and Balotelli are called up. A part of the protection plan.
Cassano hasnt done anything wrong this year well of then insulting Samps owner but in the end he was right to do so looking at what happend to samp this year. i think Balotelli wasnt called up one game for getting a red card. Both Cassano and Balotelli are getting some what better at controlling themselves.
Cassano is a retard who managed to screw things up at the only club left that was willing to give him a chance. A club that let him do anything he wanted and set his own set of rules. They would let him drive his car out of te side of the pitch so his chubby self didn't have to strain himself. Then when he managed to find another club willing to gamble on him he presented himself fat and overweight to the point where even with a striker shortage they didn't want to rely on him. An overweight out of condition player, is no model example. As for Balotelli he was omitted for dangerous conduct. The point though was not these two head cases, but the fact tht there is simply no evidence of De Rossi being in any way protected.
I agree with what you say and its good that De Rossi isnt part of this the guy has gone through enough already. Yes Cassano has acted like an idiot for almost his entire career but i hope the guy can save whats left of it. Ballotelli is just being young and stupid and will become a great player because that's what he wants to become.
Estonia, next? You can like Cassano, but to me he's just another player who had talet but lacks the discipline to do anything with it. That's what separate him from players like Messi and Ronaldo.
