Entire Juventus board resigns

[TheArsenal]

The entire Juventus board has resigned after days of press revelations over embarrassing telephone interceptions involving its top management.

Italy's Football Federation is probing Juve general manager Luciano Moggi over allegations of collusion in appointing referees for Juventus games.

The club plan to hold a shareholders meeting on 29 June to replace the outgoing board.

Juventus could clinch their second successive Serie A title on Sunday.

The president and vice-president of the Federation, Franco Carraro and Innocenzo Mazzini, have already resigned their positions in the wake of the publication of the taps.

Moggi is at the centre of the probes which are looking into the operation of the GEA management company headed by his son Alessandro, which controls the affairs of almost 200 players and coaches in Italy.

On Wednesday, judicial sources in Turin said that Juve CEO Antonio Giraudo was under investigation for false accounting relating to player transfer deals.

Giraudo and Moggi are both members of the Juventus board but it was not immediately clear how the resignation of the board would effect their full time positions with the club.

[King Ellis]

Think JP will still support them if they get relegated to Serie C?

[TMM]

Think JP will still support them if they get relegated to Serie C?

Nah, he'll jump ship to AC Milan or whoever take over Juventus' mantle as the best team.

I heard that if all goes badly and it's proven they're fixing matches and the like, they will be relegated to the lowest league in Italy, which is just gonna be hilarious. I utterly dispise Juventus (and it has nothing to do with Vieira), just something about the club pisses me off. The fans are sick bastards as well. I really hope they go bye-bye.

[IAceI]

It's Italian football, it's a joke anyways. 40 year old defenders? Nah - I'll pass.

[TheArsenal]

Think JP will still support them if they get relegated to Serie C?

Nah, he'll jump ship to AC Milan or whoever take over Juventus' mantle as the best team.

I heard that if all goes badly and it's proven they're fixing matches and the like, they will be relegated to the lowest league in Italy, which is just gonna be hilarious. I utterly dispise Juventus (and it has nothing to do with Vieira), just something about the club pisses me off. The fans are sick bastards as well. I really hope they go bye-bye.

[therockbox]

Bwahaha, I'd love to see them relegated as well. I hate the majority of Italian fans I've encountered, and Juve's are generally the worst.

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

They wont get relegated.

Don't have much of a view on this. If something wrong is going down then something obviously needs to be done, although it wasn't exactly long back that they were basically claiming the same stuff with Milan sometime last year. Shouldn't let this over shadow the Serie A title win that's about to arrive.

[Guest Small Red]

But the whole board didn't resign with Milan. It makes you look guilty when the whole board quits.

[TMM]

They wont get relegated.

Don't have much of a view on this. If something wrong is going down then something obviously needs to be done, although it wasn't exactly long back that they were basically claiming the same stuff with Milan sometime last year. Shouldn't let this over shadow the Serie A title win that's about to arrive.

Well it should over shadow it if you fixed half the games to win the thnig don't ya think?

[MDK]

It's Italian football, it's a joke anyways. 40 year old defenders? Nah - I'll pass.

What are you trying to say about lower league football? :@

[IAceI]

It's Italian football, it's a joke anyways. 40 year old defenders? Nah - I'll pass.

What are you trying to say about lower league football? :@

[EZE]

Dont diss Maldini ;-) He'll outlast all of these whippersnappers. COuple of hip operations, knee joint replacements, he'll go till he's 60.

[therockbox]

So the Italians have withdrawn their officials from the World Cup. It's unbelievable just how corrupt the game is.

[Liam]

It's Italian football, what else did people expect?

I'm sure there is some low level corruption in most leagues, but Italian football has always been dodgy, twould seem, and should be seen as the laughing stock that it inevitably is.

[Guest Kliq Masterson]

At least the worthless cunts that are Italian referees won't be at the world cup to award non-existant penalties and give red cards for dives.

I hope people now realize this means the Ivory Coast has no chance

[IAceI]

At least the worthless cunts that are Italian referees won't be at the world cup to award non-existant penalties and give red cards for dives.

I hope people now realize this means the Ivory Coast has no chance

Edited May 14, 2006 by IAceI

[TheArsenal]

Found this on the BBC website....

Should Juventus win their 29th Championship this weekend, they will lift the trophy under a cloud of suspicion.

This week the entire board at the club resigned following the publication of taped telephone conversations between the senior Juventus board members, Luciano Moggi and Antonio Giraudo, and high-ranking Italian football federation (FIGC) officials.

The conversations, part of an inquiry by Turin prosecutors, were recorded during the 2004-2005 season. They appear to show that Mr Moggi was seeking to influence which referees were being sent to officiate at Juventus games.

On several occasions he called Pierluiggi Pairetto, the joint head of the Italian refereeing federation and vice-chairman of Uefa's referees' commission, asking for an official to be changed.

According to one transcript, he was particularly annoyed when the German referee, Herbert Frandel, was chosen to take charge of a Champions League qualifying game between Juve and the Swedish club Djurgarden. Mr Frandel's offence was to disallow a Juve goal.

Mr Moggi later called Mr Pairetto berating him for his choice of referee.

"He messed things up for us," said Mr Moggi. "For Stockholm [the return leg], I am counting on you."

Federation chief quits

An even more shocking conversation takes place between Mr Pairetto and Paolo Dondarini, the referee selected to officiate Juventus's Serie A match against Sampdoria that season.

"You know what you have to do," Mr Pairetto says.

"Make sure you see everything. Even that which isn't there."

The investigators found no legal basis to proceed against anyone on criminal grounds but they urged the Italian FA to conduct their own inquiry.

The president of the federation, Franco Carraro, was given the transcripts of the telephone conversations in February but failed to take any action.

Mr Carraro quit his post on Monday.

Shares dive

On Friday morning, police searched the federation's offices in Rome as well the offices of the referees association. It was part of their ongoing inquiries, they said.

Juventus need just one point this weekend to lift the Championship trophy but sources close to the club say they are now terrified they could be relegated as a result of the subsequent inquiry.

Shares in Juventus dived on Friday for the second consecutive day. They have lost some 15% of their value since Wednesday's close.

As well as the inquiry into the telephone conversations, Mr Moggi is also being investigated by magistrates in Naples and Rome in two separate inquiries into illegal gambling and the operation of a management company owned by his son, Alessandro.

The GEA management firm has over 200 players and coaches on its books.

Rome magistrates have also put the company under investigation for "illegal competition with use of threats and violence".

'Clean sweep' call

But this investigation goes far beyond Juventus and those connected to the Turin club.

At least 17 Serie A games from last season are being investigated by the federation.

Four of the games involving Juventus were overseen by senior Italian referee Massimo de Santis.

Mr de Santis is one of two Italian referees down for this summer's World Cup.

Mr De Santis met prosecutors in Naples on Wednesday - prosecutors confirmed on Friday he was one of those under investigation.

Senior football managers in Italy have since called for a clean sweep of the football association.

Inter Milan coach Roberto Mancini said: "I won't stay in Italy if the winners of the championship have already been decided before we take the field.

"It wouldn't take much to change things - we need proper rules and honest people. Otherwise we should suspend the championship.

"That way the honest clubs won't throw away their money."

[ONO]

Italian football IS a joke. Like so many people have stated, it's been corrupt for a good-while now. Seriously, how can Fifa let this stand? For so bloody long? If this was in England, you can be sure Fifa would be shitting all over the FA. Look at how quick Fifa replied about the Spurs - food poisoning incident, yet this is allowed to stand? =/ I mean, yeah, it's like Italian football is Fifa's golden-league so to speak. Meh, the only thing that's interesting about Italian football is the downfall of Lazio.

[Dan]

Relegate the cunts.

The send Nedved, Zlatan and co. to English clubs so I can enjoy watching them

[TheArsenal]

Wll surprise, surprise..... Juventus won their second league title in a row after beating Reggina 2-0.

AC Milan's chairman had to say:

We demand they give us back the two league titles that are our due. We're tired of suffering injustice."