Just spoke with one of my friends in Genoa and they are crapping their pants. It looks like the fixing scandal could be for real and may have serious consequences. I thought this would be just another Italian conspiracy, but Genoa might actually get busted. There are a lot of people in the football world that do not like Genoa's president and they are digging very deep to find something. From what I am told there will be some kind of announcement on July 25th as to what may/may not have transpired the last game of the season. If anyone out there has any information, rumor or not, I would like to here about it. My friends are very hesitant to speak about the situation because they do not want to jinx it. Forza Grifone!
Well, as I understand it, the most incriminating piece of evidence is a recording of a phone call during the last game of the season from Enrico Preziosi to his son, after Venezia scored the game's first goal, which went something like - "Oh, my GOD! They've scored by MISTAKE!! What's going on!!!" That and the suitcase containing 250,000 Euros which was found in the hands of a Venezia employee just after leaving the Genoa club offices. Sounds pretty bad to me, but I've been anticipating the typical points penalty - interesting that the fans there still think they might get kicked out. And yes, Preziosi is not well-liked.
The case is getting heard by the disciplinary committee today. So far, the intercepted phone calls (like the one mentioned above) have been admitted as allowable evidence.
SCREWED! C1 F***ing Italian Bull****. There goes that. I guess all the rumors have been true and there will be no derby for me. I know that I have heard for years about fixing matches and things of the sort, but this is unbelievable. I can't believe they had a taped conversation of the Pres saying that. They must have really been out to get him. I can't say that I blame the federation for the punishment, because I don't. Crap like this is wrong and should not go unpunished. I just hate to wake myself up from the naive world I have been living in when it comes to football in Italy. This obviously has gone on forever and will not cease. This is not what the sport is about and it should never be tolerated. I now wonder how often this happens and which teams are allowed to slide. This post is a little random, but I am just a little pissed at the moment. Later
The league's disciplinary committee will announce its sentence "no earlier than Tuesday afternoon". It sounds pretty grim for Genoa. The prosecutors have requested that, if found guilty of direct responsibilty, that they be penalized with a last-place finish in Serie B, meaning relegation to C1. In case of "objective" responsibilty (not sure what that really means, but it must be a lesser charge), that they be penalized by remaining in Serie B PLUS a points penalty to start next season. Yikes.
Sue thanks for the help and the link. I will call my friends in Genoa to see what they say tommorrow.
There would have been two more derbies added this year. Torino-Juve. Genoa-Samp Hopefully both teams come up and we can enjoy these great derbies.
Thanks for the Times link, jabinho. As the article says, it seemed like Genoa's best hope was to have the intercepted phone calls ruled as inadmissible evidence, but as I posted above, this request was thrown out. So I think the club is bracing for the worst.
Chicago in 1919 too! I was so happy to see Genoa go up to Serie A... Now it could be many many years again.. Maybe they can bribe someone else and stay up!!
I'm actually surprised that we don't see more stories like this come out. In 'The Miracle of Castel di Sangro', the author implies that this happens in Italy all the time. Especially when the last game of the season involves a team that needs a result against a team with nothing to play for. Didn't something similar to this happen to Lazio and Milan in the early 80's?
Yes.. I didn't link this because it was PDF.. In the past relegation has been the result.. **** Sampdoria escaped relegation after the 1973-74 season although they finished second last. Instead Verona was relegated because they were found guilty of match-fixing. As a consequence of a bribery scandal in the 1979-80 season Milan and Lazio were forcibly relegated to serie B. Thus Catanzaro and Udinese escaped relegation.
The last days of seasons in Italy are often very predictable, especially if one team needs a result and the other doesn't. There is also the matter of some clubs having friendships/brotherhoods. A few years ago, Reggina went to Torino needing a win to clinch its first-ever promotion to Serie A. Torino had already clinched promotion. There were as many Reggina fans in the stands as Torino fans, and with the score 2-1 for Reggina in the final minutes, the fans of both clubs circled the field ready to celebrate. The players on both sides kicked the ball around making no effort to score. I don't think it was a case of Reggina buying the game; it was just "understood" that this would be the final result. If Torino ever needs a similar "favor" from Reggina, I have no doubt it'll happen. Anyway, I think, in Italy, as long as there is no proof of money being exchanged, a blind eye is turned, or a relatively minor penalty is given. Last year, for instance, a pretty substantial betting ring involving several players got uncovered and several players received suspensions. A few Serie B teams even received points penalties at the start of last season although most of these were removed or reduced by appeals later on. Genoa's biggest "mistake" was that the idiot from Venezia got caught with the suitcase.
They tried to say the money was related to a player transfer, but I guess nobody has put much stock in that. Anyway, the ruling from the disciplinary council has been delayed until at least tomorrow.
And it's the worst possible news for Genoa fans this morning, as the club has been relegated to SERIE C1 AND will start the upcoming season at -3 points. Holy crap. http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/jul27e.html Appeals are certain to follow of course.
I wonder if he has a clause to get out of it although at this point, he's missed out on all the Serie A jobs to start the year. But I'm sure he'd top the list of names as soon as anybody starts struggling this season.
The next step for Genoa is to appeal to the Commissione d'Appello Federale (CAF), the appeals arm of the league, a hearing which would likely take place on Aug 5. Then they would follow the same path as the teams fighting exclusion, through the Tar del Lazio and the Consiglio di Stato.
Here's the detailed ruling, in case anybody feels like pawing through 18 pages of Italian legalese: http://www.lega-calcio.it/comun/0506/cu10.pdf - Besides the penalty to the club, all the club principals involved in the activity (Preziosi, Dal Cin et al) have been banned from the league for 5 years. Preziosi resigned immediately after the ruling. - Two Venezia players involved in the fix, Massimo Borgobello and Martin Lejsal, have been banned for 5 and 6 months, respectively. Lejsal is actually owned by Reggina and was on loan at Venezia.
The stupidity of all of this, from a Genoa perspective, is that they should have been able to beat Venezia anyway. There was no need to pay them off.