The Old Lady (and friends) are going down!

[djones]

Old Lady to go down
Juventus likely to be out of the top-flight for at least two seasons

Juventus, Fiorentina and Lazio will all be demoted to Serie B for their roles in the match-fixing scandal that has tarnished Italian football, according to today's Gazzetta dello Sport.
The verdict of the long-running trial will not be officially revealed until 6pm this evening, but the newspaper claimed to already know the punishments that will be dished out.

"The verdict will be this: Juventus, Fiorentina and Lazio will be relegated to Serie B," claimed the Gazzetta confidently. "AC Milan will stay in Serie A but will not be allowed to take part in the Champions League."

Without disclosing its source, the newspaper went on to insist it even knew the point deductions that each club would receive. Juventus, it said, will begin their Serie B campaign on minus 20 points, while Fiorentina will be penalised 10 and Lazio six or seven. Milan, meanwhile, will be docked 10 to 15 points.
After the verdict is formally announced tonight, the teams will have three days to appeal to a federal court of arbitration; a final decision must be reached by July 24.

The confirmation that three of the clubs are to be relegated is likely to spark a feeding frenzy as Europe's biggest teams close in to snatch talents such as Fabio Cannavaro, Gianluca Zambrotta and Gianluigi Buffon from Juventus and last season's Serie A top-scorer, Luca Toni, from Fiorentina.

As reported by the Guardian Newspaper.

Now for the feeding frenzy! Chelsea should look like the Italian Serie A all-star team in a few months.

I'm hoping United pick up a few players. Since Van Nistelrooy is on his way to Bayern (apparently), it would be nice if we could get maybe Luca Tony, Ibrahimovic or Trezeguet. Since he hates Ruud so much and now that the door his hit Van the man's backside, Pat Viera might be interested in coming to the team he really wants to play for! Wishful thinking!

[zenga]

Ive heard Buffin to Aresnal. Toni to Inter, Canavarro to Real, Zambrotta to Barca, Gattuso to United.

Maybe now Inter can win something!

[outkast]

Capella (juve coach) has already moved to Real. I rumoured is Buffon is close to follow??

Forza Milan and im excited to see them still in the Serie A. Although no champions league will be tough. Im a huge Gattuso fan, and I hope he stays at Milan, but i have to admit it be crazy to see him at Old Trafford.

With 15 points taken off for next season, a top 5 finish would be nice to see and not overly unattainable.

Poor Juve, and Poor Luch (sorry man)

[Keeper]

Originally Posted by zenga

Ive heard Buffin to Aresnal.

I'd be really surprised at this considering Lehmann is already there.

[ZENYO]

speachless

[zenga]

Same with Buffon going to Real, Cassilas is there. Anyways I would rather have the WC winning gk than the third place GK.

I heard 12 million which is a bargin for him.

[Captain Shamrock]

Originally Posted by ZENYO

speachless

Why? The teams cheated and deserved to be dropped. In fact, they were lucky not to be dropped to a lower division. Unfortunately it wasn't the first time it has happened in Italy. And of course Germany had their issues over the last few seasons too.


Sad part of the game........

[Luch]

Originally Posted by outkast

Poor Juve, and Poor Luch (sorry man)

Well la Viola have been through worse. We'll see where things stand after appeals.

[djones]

Guilty Punished

Juventus Relegated to Serie B. Must start next season with a 30-point deficit. Stripped of last two league titles

Fiorentina Relegated to Serie B with a 12-point deficit

Lazio Relegated to Serie B with seven-point deficit

Milan Begin next season in Serie A with a 15-point deficit. Docked 44 points from last season's total

Luciano Moggi ex-Juventus general manager banned for five years

Andrea Della Valle president of Juventus banned for four years

Claudio Lotito Lazio president, banned for three years

Adriano Galliani Milan's vice-president, one-year ban

Italy's Champions League entrants Internazionale, Roma, Chievo and Palermo

Uefa Cup entrants Livorno, Parma and Empoli

It's official! Shame - shame!

[Captain Shamrock]

Originally Posted by djones

It's official! Shame - shame!

Well at least that helps Celtic's minimal chance of getting out of the group stages.


Wow. Thanks for coming out.




a 30 pt. deficit.......they could be there for a while.

[Superstriker]

And who said the Italians weren't cheaters....hmmm

I'm sure it's only a matter of time til they take the WC away too...same thing goin on i'm sure....

13 players were from those 4 cheater teams...and once a cheater always a cheater...

What an embarassement ......

[ZENYO]

Originally Posted by alikira

Why? The teams cheated and deserved to be dropped. In fact, they were lucky not to be dropped to a lower division. Unfortunately it wasn't the first time it has happened in Italy. And of course Germany had their issues over the last few seasons too.


Sad part of the game........

That's what I'm speachless about... Not the punishment but the crime... It's just horrible that they would go that low for a couple of extra wins. Idiots... I agree, I think they deserve a lot worse.

I think it's a sad part of sports...

[imtapley]

Originally Posted by Luch

Well la Viola have been through worse. We'll see where things stand after appeals.

Rome 25/07/2006

Juventus in the B series with 17 penalty points, cancellation of the 2004-2005 league season title and the non-assignment of the 2005-2006 title, three-day disqualification of the field; Milan in the A series with 8 penalty points, access to the preliminary phase of Champions League and one-day disqualification of the field; Lazio in the A series with 11 penalty points and disqualification of two days of the field; Fiorentina in the A series with 19 penalty points and three-day disqualification of the field.
This is what the Federal Court decided after the second degree trial, the last trial responding to the sports justice, with regards to the four clubs that, in the first degree, the Caf had already issued sentences following the investigations carried out by the Head of the Investigations office, Francesco Saverio Borrelli and his collaborators. The Peridnet of the Federal Court, Piero Sandulli, communicated the sentence late in the evening, after the closing of the Council Chamber
Five years inhibition confirmed for the general manager of Juventus, Luciano Moggi and for the managing Director, Giraudo, with preclusion proposal.

[Kevin Hector]

Italians cheating nah, IMO they got off easier then a surrey girl a the Del motel.

[rangerforever]

That's the Dell Hotel actually.



Surreyforever

[Zaurrini]

Juve will appeal...the only reason the other two teams (fiorentina and lazio) got to stay in Serie A are because the other two teams coming up from Serie B wont be able to afford it . By the end of this, you WILL see Juve in Serie A.

[Dapotayto]

Originally Posted by Zaurrini

Juve will appeal...the only reason the other two teams (fiorentina and lazio) got to stay in Serie A are because the other two teams coming up from Serie B wont be able to afford it . By the end of this, you WILL see Juve in Serie A.

Maybe they shouldn't have started parcelling off their team then. Cannavaro, Emerson, Thuram and Zambrotta are already gone! I can't believe they would expect to stay up and still sell off Cannavaro and Zambrotta.