14 DAY TRIAL // The Italian prosecutors gave their verdict in the Calciopoli scandal about a week ago. And the sanctions were pretty drastic. I'm sure you've already heard a lot of people talk about it and I, too, posted a lot of articles on this issue. And the clubs - as expected - appealed on the Italian Football Federation's decision. What will happen next, we don't know. Allow me to take a wild guess, though.
As things are looking right now, I think the Italian prosecutors have no other alternative but to lighten the sanctions. As far as I'm concerned, this whole verdict hysteria that began after last Friday's decision was nothing but a pretty well-done plan. The Federation shows everybody that their judges are merciless, so they give out some pretty ridiculous verdicts. After the appeal, the commission will give the true rightful decision on the case. This way, they'll look good before both FIFA and UEFA, and the clubs will be happy for not going through worse sanctions.
Still, that is not my argument for today. I would only want to state that what happened with the 4 clubs is unbelievable. Why should the players pay for what their officials did in the past? Did any of the players know that they were going to be helped by certain referees? If yes, they should have been punished. During the whole investigation, plenty of footballers were questioned about their involvement in the scandal. Yet, nobody was found guilty. Still, they are the ones who pay. And, along with them, the supporters.
I find it very difficult to believe that the Italian officials that were suspended after this terrible scandal will suffer a great deal after hearing the verdict. All of them are going to be banned from the world of football for a number of years; some of them for one year, other for 3 or 4. Mainly, they received the same punishment as the players did. Yet, I remind you, the players didn't do anything.
Believe me when I say this: the sports directors or presidents of the clubs involved in the scandal don't give a s..t about the fact that they will not be allowed to have functions inside the Italian football. Most of them are either doctors, attorneys of financial consultants. Going out of football is no more than being robbed of a 100 euros bill while taking the bus downtown. As for the players, though, this is their life. Despite the fact that they knew nothing about their officials' business, they will pay with their job. World champions like Buffon and Del Piero will dig their own grave in the last 3 years because of what Moggi or Giraudo did.
How can a sportive tribunal judge the players like this? They, out of all judges, should now the difference between the innocent players and the guilty officials. They know how it is to work hard for a trophy for most of your career and then throw it all away just because a mistake that wasn't even yours. When the head of a big media conglomerate is caught doing illegal things, it is not the whole employees who suffer, but only the guilty fella'.
I don't know if you agree with me or not. The only thing I really wanted to stress out is that people should pay according to their mistakes. Once found guilty, Moggi and the whole army of officials & referees should pay a much higher price. Still, as Juventus players were not proven guilty in any way, they shouldn't have to pay either: not that hard anyway! How can you sit and watch Moggi laughing his heart out on national TV and stating that he doesn't care about the Calciopoli verdict, while the Turin fans are going through real pain in the process? After all, we forgot that football is made of footballers and fans, and only then it comes down to money.
If we don't respect the players, then football didn't really go in the best direction possible.