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Originally Posted by Jonathan Ezarik
I'm not sure the punishments here fit the crimes. I keep hearing it referred to as the "match fixing scandal," but were any matches actually fixed? I understand that Juve officials wanted refs that were friendly to them, but does this automatically imply that they were fixed? Shouldn't the refs who favor certain clubs be looked at as well? Maybe they are, but I don't hear anything regarding that.
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Actually, that's been brought up as well. I'm basing these comments on an article in the June '06 World Soccer written by Paddy Agnew (I put his name in here in case he's had a long-standing axe to grind with these teams that I am not aware of).
- One example given involved ex-referee Danilo Nucini awarded a penalty against Juventus for Bologna in January '01. He was suspended for 4 weekends and, supposedly (according to the article), his "top-flight career" was more or less ended. According to him, it was a clear penalty where Iuliano handled the ball and supposedly admitted it in a TV interview that was never broadcast.
- Another did not directly involved Juventus but was between Siena and Livorno on May 8, 2005. Apparently, Siena -- who had players and coach Gigi Di Canio on GEA Sports Agency's books, which happens to be run by Alessandro Moggi . . . son of -- was struggling to avoid relegation. In the match, Livorno defender Fabio Galante was "controversially" sent off after 17 minutes in a match officiated by De Santis where he supposedly boasted to Innocenzo Mazzini afterward: "Did you see it? Off and away we go and I had one of them already off."
- Apparently, Pierluigi Pairetto told referee Paolo Dondarini to keep "50 eyes wide open" ready to "see even that which is not there". The author postulates that he may be making a veiled reference to make sure to call even a non-existing penalty.
I'm with ISiddiqui in that I think they got off even more lightly than deserved -- I could certainly live with Serie C AND 40-50 point reduction. In fact, I think IF they appeal and fail, their punishment should become more severe.
I also don't see any mention of tapping up and what nots with transfer. Apparently, the transcript talked about their attempt to buy Zlatan Ibrahimovic. When negotiation stalled in the summer of '04, he was advised to create a fuss. So he supposedly went out and got into a big deal with his Ajax teammates by, uhhh, kicking Rafael van der Vaart and John Heitinga in a friendly between Holland and Sweden. I guess that didn't leave Ajax much choice but to let him join Juve 2 weeks later.