[troutman]

Originally Posted by Thunderball

I've read parts of that book... I've also read some very compelling Italian articles which echo the same thing. I'm not disputing it. However, I will dispute the notion that its Italy alone. Like I said, its very much a Janus mentality in Italy. However, all one has to do is look at Italy's neighbors, and you'll see similar types of corruption without that second facet that ruthlessly punishes it and cuts off its own nose to spite its face in the process. For example, it is widely known in Spain that Real Madrid cooks the books, influences referees and engages in questionable tactics... rather than punish them on suspicion as was the case in Calciopoli, they choose to overlook it rather than draw attention to their own issues and decimate their league. Italy knowingly crippled its own premier league (attendance dropped 25% that year, Juve was in B, AC, Lazio and Fiorentina were penalized to the point that they couldn't be competitive for the championship) on Article 1 violations (suspicion of unsportsmanlike conduct), rather than allow the aura of cheating to continue. Many people assumed that Juventus, AC Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina were all guilty of actually fixing matches, but this is not what they were charged with. Juventus in particular was penalized for having the ability to coerce refs, the "Moggi system," despite the fact there was no evidence this was actually used. There was only one game in the 2004-2005 season with evidence of ref tampering, and it was a fairly meaningless game, I think it was Siena-Udinese. That ref was fired.

Germany recently had a referee scandal, and had some of the most imfamous cases of clear-cut scandal and match fixing (see: Arminia Bielefeld). If Mr. Foot wants an idea for a good sequel book, he should check out the Bundesliga... its a nightmare of financial problems and dodgy characters. England also has seen its share of scandal, but much of theirs is also ignored and not prosecuted like Italy has. Even FIFA has its share of scandals.

Good takes.

I was just being sassy.

Good luck in the quarter finals.