ha, well said Nick.... anyone have an idea on whether RAI would show the Serie A/B playoff contest?...it would be very interesting to see fiorentina-perugia...
In past years, they have shown Serie B games after the Serie A season ended, and the last two times there was a relegation play-off in Serie A, they showed that, so I am hoping for something.
Why did you drop them? If you love the club, you love the club - that simple. And to be honest with you, it's hard to find an Italian club where there are hardly any 'racists' nowadays. And Lazio ain't the worst one either..
I did love them, thats why it was so hard to drop, but I cant support a team with a large racist fan base like Lazio has. I will never support racism, I cant stand it, and the fact that I was accused a racist because I declared myself a Lazio fan, and that they were so well known for having racist fans by the many people I asked(in an effort that someone might tell me that I was misinformed). I'm sorry, I just cant do that. Of course there will always be racist fans, unfortunately that will never change, but when there are so many that all fans of that club are considered racists, its just too much.
Lazio isn't that much worse than many other clubs, they just have that reputation. Their city rival Roma has also got a lot of rightwing fans, just like Inter, and even Real Madrid. If you want to see a team where there is really a vast majorty of racists, look at Verona.. Supporting Lazio doesn't make a racist out of you, and it also doesn't make you support racism. Of course I see your position too, but I think it's sad that a club suffers so much from some of their fans who make other people turn away from the club.
okay, i am not saying all Lazio fans are racist, I certainly am not, and I have spoken to a few that werent racist, but there obviously was enough to make an impression on just about everyone I asked.
But what does that change for you as a fan? Lazio has a Ultra group in a very powerful position, the Irriducibili, which consists mainly of right wing fans and racists. They are known for that, and Lazio officials have been trying to get rid of that bad reputation for years. If you support Real Madrid, you might also not know that the Ultras Sur consist mainly of racist fans, same with Inter and the Boys S.A.N and Irriducibili Inter. You have to accept this as a fact, and we can only hope that racism (and all politics, basically) will some day leave the sport of football completely. But that is a dream yet, because football fans are often a picture of society - and Italy does have a problem with racism (as almost any country does up to some degree, even nowadays). These people do neither represent the club, nor the majorty of the fans. And if you look at it in a different way: by not supporting Lazio anymore because of those racist people, you somehow "accept" their powerful position - if everyone did that, we'd soon really see clubs with 100% racist fans. But it's your decision of course.. Cagliari is a nice club too, don't get me wrong
All this talk about right-wing, and racist fans is relevant to some earlier posts about Serie A and Serie B rivalries. Someone pointed out tthat those rivalries and alliances are principally between the ultras and have little to do with the fan base as a whole... still, the idea of people identifying themselves with a club for political or ideological reasons is very intresting to me. Regarding Hellas Verona and their reputation, an English novelist and translator named Parks wrote a really good book about the team, the city, and its fans called "A Year with Verona" (I think). Throughout he challenges the racist reputation of the city and its fans. BTW, I was never a Lazio fan... but I was "warned" off them by their reputation. I couldn't become a fan (I don't think) because of those associations. Same with Inter. Couldn't possibly root for Milan either (can't stand Berlusconi). Anyway, please don't spoil Palermo for me. No bad stories about the fans, please! They're my team. Love the city and look forward to next year.
For me, a team can not be "spoiled" as long as the bad stuff doesn't come from the club itself.. looking forward to seeing Palermo in Serie A Awesome fans..
Back on topic... I have been hearing some rumors that Palermo could be a possible landing spot for Chevanton... Anyone else heard that? Back off topic... My father's mother was from Palermo but I no longer admit to that, EVER, because many people mistake me for a gangster... ;-) Nick
I googled and found this: Palermo Battle AC Milan for Chevanton tribalfootball.com - May 5, 2004 Promotion chasing Palermo are ready to compete with AC Milan for Lecce striker Javier Chevanton. Palermo president Maurizio Zamparini is determined to build a team capable of surviving in Serie A next season and is already sounding out Chevanton's advisors about a summer switch. Lecce rate the Uruguayan at £6 million and its understood the 24 year-old has told Palermo intermediaries he would be interested in talking about a switch.
Searched a little more and found some later stuff that says that Chevanton is going to Juventus. Gosh, writing the word "Juventus" made me realize that I won't be posting in the Serie B thread as much next year. I guess it really hit me. Palermo in Serie A.
And Messina is up. Atalanta is 3 pts ahead of Fiorentina so only needs a point to win promotion. I don't know the deal if Atalanta and Fiorentina end up equal on points. Italy almost always uses playoffs in that situation, but there is already a playoff scheduled for whoever loses out on June 16, so there wouldn't be any time for that. I've been trying to figure it out but haven't seen the tie-breaker that would be used. I'm guessing the results of the head-to-head matches between the two teams.
Okay, looks like the tiebreaker will be goal difference (because, I think they tied both games in the season), and Atalanta has a +23 while Fiorentina has a +7, so essentially, the positions are already set.
I missed doing this over the weekend: Week 45 results: Albinoleffe 3 Ascoli 3 Avellino 2 Cagliari 3 Bari 2 Piacenza 1 Fiorentina 1 Torino 0 Genoa 2 Napoli 2 Livorno 1 Palermo 1 Messina 3 Como 0 Salernitana 0 Vicenza 0 Ternana 5 Venezia 2 Treviso 0 Atalanta 3 Triestina 0 Catania 0 Verona 4 Pescara 3 The table, with one week remaining: Palermo 80 - promoted Cagliari 80 - promoted Livorno 78 - promoted Messina 76 - promoted Atalanta 76 - guranteed at least promotion playoff -------------------------- Fiorentina 73 - guaranteed at least promotion playoff ------------------------- Ternana 68 - cannot be promoted Piacenza 67 Triestina 64 Catania 64 Torino 59 Ascoli 59 Vicenza55 Napoli 55 Treviso 54 Salernitana 54 Genoa 54 Albinoleffe 53 - cannot be relegated Bari 50 ------------------------- Verona 50 Venezia 48 ------------------------- Pescara 45 - relegated Avellino 37 - relegated Como 33 - relegated
Here is my understanding of the relegation situation. There will be a playoff because the condition was that "no more than 5 pts" would separate the two teams in 20th and 21st place. Though 5 pts could happen, it'll be no more than 5. Albinoleffe is safe even though they can be caught on points by Bari and Verona, because they beat both of them twice during the season. These are the games that count: Palermo-Bari Como-Verona Venezia-Triestina Verona has the tie-breaker advantage vs both teams while Venezia holds the edge over Bari. Therefore: If Verona wins - Bari vs Venezia in the play-out. If Bari wins and Verona doesn't - Verona vs Venezia If Venezia wins, Verona loses and Bari fails to win - Bari vs Verona. If Venezia wins, Verona draws, and Bari fails to win - Venezia vs Bari. If Venezia fails to win, they play whichever team drops more points, Bari or Verona. If they both have the same result, that'll be Bari.
SueB, So what are the football politics here? We must always have a scandal, a conspiracy theory right? Palermo is already promoted. Is first place that important to them? Are they "friendly" with Bari? Would they rather see Verona and Venezia (two northern clubs) fight relegation than Bari? Are Triestina and Venezia rivals? I'd assume so. Surely Triestina would like to tighten the screws on their neighbors. Just a thought.
I'm pretty sure all three teams will win because the games mean nothing to their rivals, and teams in general don't like to piss off other teams for no good reason, in case they need a future favor. But we'll see. Palermo might want to win the Serie B "championship", especially playing at home. Triestina may indeed have some wish to twist the screws on their neighbors. Verona seems to be the one in the best position here.
Actually, this will be what happens. Verona will take an early commanding lead over Como, meaning the other two games will essentially be meaningless. Then Palermo and Triestina can go ahead and win if they want.
Found this bit in an article about Palermo going after Inter's Kallon: "Palermo turned their attention to Kallon after making enquiries about two higher profile forwards recently. "We are interested in Javier Chevanton of Lecce and Parma’s Alberto Gilardino," said President Maurizio Zamparini last week. However, Chevanton is believed to be a target for Juventus, while Roma are in pole position for Gilardino."
Yeah we want Chevanton but dought we will get him because we don't have big pockets like Milan. I strongly belive we are going to get Antonio Di Natale. ____________________________ GianPaolo http://www.comune.palermo.it/images...ermo_Calcio.gif
Maybe playing time would be an issue in Palermo's favor. How much would Chevanton play at Milan? They've already got so much talent...