Wernham Hogg Forum

BILLY V2.0 · Sat Jul 15, 2006 12:56 am Italians are cheaters.

Serie A sides Juventus, Lazio and Fiorentina have been demoted to the second division for their involvement in Italy's match-fixing scandal.

Juventus were also stripped of their last two Serie A titles and had 30 points deducted, meaning they are likely to stay down for two seasons.

AC Milan will stay in Serie A but will start the season docked 15 points.

All are barred from playing in Europe - Juventus, Milan and Fiorentina in the Champions League; Lazio the Uefa Cup.

Lazio were penalised seven league points while Fiorentina suffered a 12-point penalty.

Inter, Roma, Chievo and Palermo, who finished third, fifth and seventh and eighth are in line to take the places of the penalised clubs in next season's Champions League.

Subject to appeals, Lecce, Messina, and Treviso will avoid relegation to Serie B and keep their places in the top flight as a result of the verdict.

---

Wahay! Actually surprised. I thought they'd get off lightly. Juventus will probably spend at least 2 seasons in Serie B, due to the 30 point deficit and the fact they have to compete with Fiorentina and Lazio in that league, not to mention a few semi decent teams like Bologna. 30 points means they'll have to win 10 more games than the 2nd place club, in theory.
All the clubs will suffer without champions league/uefa income, and lost TV deals. Milan are going to have trouble qualifying as well with that deficit.

It'll be at least 3 seasons until we see Juventus in Europe, I think. I can't wait to see who leaves and goes where. Chelsea and Real Madrid are going to have a field day. Theres no way these clubs can continue to keep there current salary budget on the money they'll make now.

The Nadine Experience · Sat Jul 15, 2006 4:57 am

beautiful thread title, billy-oh.

hard on juve. though i have to say i usually dislike the powerhouses of italian club football, i never really minded the bianconeri as much as i did, say, milan. haha go scousers! <--- yeah that's just for you, billeh.

gila and gattuso aren't budging an inch..
del piero has definitely pledged his loyalty to his club-- he's not going anywhere.
though it seems likely to happen, i really really hope cannavaro doesn't follow capello to real madrid, he's too damn good for them!

trezeguet to ligue 1..and buffon to milan, possibly arse??
they want kaka over at real, as well.

fun summer. fucking chelsea better stay out of this shit, they don't need anymore stars in their squad, jesus. i'd rather arsenal over chelsea, and that's definitely saying something.

man, champions league is gone all warped now.

BILLY V2.0 · Sat Jul 15, 2006 1:06 pm

Juventus are confident of keeping most of there players but I'm sure they don't want to put there international places in danger by playing weaker opponents. The step up from Serie B, to an international game against a top side would be quite great, and if you consider that a large majority of the Italian team are homegrown, it could have quite a big effect on them.

"Anyway, it's clear that we won't sell off our players, they will leave with adequate prices.

"Who wants them must pay because we have the duty to defend the club's heritage. Should Real Madrid want our players, they will have to pay."

I guess they will milk them for all there worth, afterall that'll be the large majority of there income for the next few years. Buffon would be a great signing for us, but I don't think its Wenger's style to pay huge amounts for goalkeepers. He'd rather buy 10 unknowns, in the hope that 1 actually comes good. 8)

I bet Vieira is feeling like a ruddy idiot now.

The Nadine Experience · Sat Jul 15, 2006 10:40 pm

why.

he has no reason to be, juve are still a top side, serie b and everything. juve will go back up in due time, top sides always do.

Quote: Despite facing relegation to Serie B, Juventus are set to table an audacious bid for Cristiano Lucarelli.

The Bianconeri have already secured a loan deal for Fiorentina’s Bulgarian hitman Valeri Bojinov and, despite being assured that Alessandro Del Piero will stay at the Stadio Delle Alpi, now they are looking to sign the prolific Livorno idol and complete a devastating attacking trident.

Lucarelli – who was Serie A Capocannoniere in 2004-2005 – turned down a lucrative move to Russian side Zenit St Petersburg last week, but may be more tempted by the chance to play for one of Italy’s big clubs even if it is at a lower level.

If Lucarelli does sign it will be a blow to Raffaele Palladino. The Under-21 international was loaned out to Livorno last term – where he was below Lucarelli in the striking hierarchy - but has returned to Turin determined to play first-team football.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic and David Trezeguet are expected to leave Juve within the next few weeks, but Uruguayan marksman Marcelo Zalayeta could stay and fight for a place in the strongest side ever to play in Serie B.

BILLY V2.0 · Sat Jul 15, 2006 10:51 pm

He's 30 now. Lets assume it'll take 2 seasons for Juventus to get back into Serie A (-30 pt deduction will make immediate promotion very difficult), and 3 seasons to get into Europe (thats if they can go straight from promotion to challenging for a top 3 spot. They could have an entirely different squad in 2 years time) He'll be 33 by the time the 08/09 season begins (his birthday is in July)

He got outclassed by Fabregas in the Champs league and got himself booked, missing the 2nd leg. Aaaand his house got burgled by thieves that gassed the occupants and stole his car.

Not related to football, but I bet it annoyed him!

I'm just bitter because we had to put up with rumours of him leaving for 25mill every summer for about 5 years then one day I woke up and just saw that he had left all of a sudden, when the rumours hadn't actually even surfaced that summer. I cried like a baby, and my friend and I burnt his Vieira home shirt in protest (fortunately I got Henry on mine 8) )

The Nadine Experience · Sun Jul 16, 2006 12:31 am

haha good call.

i dunno, i just don't think vieira has any reason to regret anything.

juve in serie b are still a pretty strong side, and they'll pull themselves back up -- it'll take a couple seasons, sure, but it's bound to happen.

at his age, vieira's seen and done enough in his career, he doesn't have the mentality of a younger, up-and-coming player who's focused on seizing opportunities to prove himself, etc.

i think italian football on the whole, on multiple levels, is sure to get veeery interesting.

The Nadine Experience · Wed Jul 19, 2006 6:49 pm

Buffon to stay!

BILLY V2.0 · Wed Jul 19, 2006 7:15 pm

What a twat!

Real Madrid have announced the signing of Italy World Cup-winning captain Fabio Cannavaro and Brazil midfielder Emerson from Juventus.

Feck.

The Nadine Experience · Thu Jul 20, 2006 12:55 am

i know i wanted him to stay put at juve (cannavaro, i mean) but shit, i'm going to madrid in about a year..

sweet. every cloud, you know.

The Nadine Experience · Thu Jul 20, 2006 10:52 pm

lol@

Quote: FIFA have handed Marco Materazzi a two-match ban for the crime of being headbutted. Even more bizarrely, they've banned the retired Zizou for three games. Oh, and given them token fines...

The Nadine Experience · Thu Jul 20, 2006 11:31 pm

BREAKING NEWS

Quote: Barcelona have won the race to capture Juventus duo Lilian Thuram and Gianluca Zambrotta following the Italian club's relegation to Serie B.
Thuram, 34, has signed a two-year deal, while the 29-year-old Zambrotta has put pen to paper on a four-year contract.

Juventus were relegated from Serie A and will start next season with a 30-point penalty after the match-fixing scandal which rocked Italian football.

More to follow.

BILLY V2.0 · Thu Jul 20, 2006 11:41 pm

Crikey! I wonder if Juventus will accept a bid on Camorenesi's hair.

The Nadine Experience · Sat Jul 22, 2006 11:36 pm

need the season to start.

=(

LDIF · Sun Jul 23, 2006 12:15 am

I thought you were a girl - are you a United fan?

BILLY V2.0 · Sun Jul 23, 2006 12:17 am

She's a Liverpooooooool fan. Don't hold it against her.