Questions for Inter fans

[Judge Dread]

Interesting, there appears to be many (negative) similarities between Porto and Juventus, although I am sure that the situation in Italy is a lot worse. Calciopoli was just the tip of the iceberg, they have been cheating long before then and are still doing it to this day.

Even as far as back as the 1960's, the president of Juve was also the president of the Italian football organisation. In 1961, we were beating Juve at their own ground and would have won the scudetto, but their fans invaded the pitch and caused the game to be abandoned. Instead of letting the result stand, or even awarding us the victory, the Italian federation decided that the match should be replayed. It was a huge scandal and Inter fielded a team of youth players as protest, therefore losing the game 9-1 (our heaviest ever defeat) and the championship.

During the nineties, it became widespread knowledge that Juventus players were using banned substances to significantly enhance their physical structure, and no-one did anything about it. Only Zeman (then manager of Roma) stood up and said something. He was immediately silenced and virtually exiled from Italian football for many years. Indeed, proof of the doping eventually went to court some years later as it turned out but there is a ridiculous law in Italy called "prescrizione", which means that you cannot be punished for something (even if found guilty) after a certain amount of time has passed.

Since Calciopoli, Juventus have learned from their mistakes and operating on larger scale, but are now much more careful than before. Objectively speaking, they probably deserved to win many of their titles anyway, but this is not enough for them. They want to control Italian football, the federation and the media. Half the clubs in Serie A field reserves against them in return for various transfer operations and/or rewarded with safety from relegation. The referees' association is sponsored by a subsidiary of the Fiat corporation and you never see decisions against them, unless it is a match of no importance (usually at the end of the season, just to balance things out a bit).

Even their main rivals Roma and Napoli are happy to let them win, because they are assured Champions League places on a regular basis. Mourinho left us in 2010 because he knew this would happen.

 

[Judge Dread]

The club that has been involved in the mot shady shit here is Porto. They've had the same President, Pinto da Costa, since 1982 or so. Some of his associates and former Porto players refer to him as "the pope" or equate him to a Godfather like figure. Also, he was once the president of the league and FC Porto at the same time. In the 90s Porto had their refs on their side and even paid them trips to Brazil and offered them prostitutes. In 2003-2004 a scandal broke here with Porto being involved in match fixing and the wiretaps are even on tv and even can be found on youtube. They got some points deducted years later(2008), and the only reason they didn't get banned from UEFA competitions or faced relegation here in Portugal was because they used the "you can't wiretap us without informing us first like that!"... and that worked. Even if they were discussing prostitutes for the refs and such through phone calls. If you ever wondered why Portugal is weaker than other EU countries... well stuff like this doesn't help.

That's ludicrous! Surely, informing them of the wiretrap first would defeat the purpose. And they got away with it too (relatively speaking).

I thought this kind of thing only happened in Italy

 

[Eiskönig]

That's ludicrous! Surely, informing them of the wiretrap first would defeat the purpose. And they got away with it too (relatively speaking).

I thought this kind of thing only happened in Italy

Well, at least in Italy big clubs have been punished with relegation before. Here I believe only Boavista were punished for corruption, and that's because they're a smaller club.

This is probably more of a Southern European thing than a problem with Italy in particular. Corruption is quite a problem in many of the Mediterranean/Southern countries and also in others, despite some Northerners believing their countries are clean and efficient.

Many people say Olympiacos are a very shady club in Greece(dunno, since I've never read about it, but their dominance looks suspicious). In Spain the officiating is so bad that you gotta wonder if it's possible for them to really be that bad, and we can't forget how powerful RM and Barcelona are. Spanish teams tend to get lots of referee decisions for them in Europe...

In France you had Marseille in the 90s.

Then there's cases like Fenerbahçe being punished for corruption in Turkey. Sadly, football is a very dirty world, and has gotten even dirtier since it became a huge business in the last 3 decades.

 

[Judge Dread]

Well, at least in Italy big clubs have been punished with relegation before. Here I believe only Boavista were punished for corruption, and that's because they're a smaller club.

This is probably more of a Southern European thing than a problem with Italy in particular. Corruption is quite a problem in many of the Mediterranean/Southern countries and also in others, despite some Northerners believing their countries are clean and efficient.

Many people say Olympiacos are a very shady club in Greece(dunno, since I've never read about it, but their dominance looks suspicious). In Spain the officiating is so bad that you gotta wonder if it's possible for them to really be that bad, and we can't forget how powerful RM and Barcelona are. Spanish teams tend to get lots of referee decisions for them in Europe...

In France you had Marseille in the 90s.

Then there's cases like Fenerbahçe being punished for corruption in Turkey. Sadly, football is a very dirty world, and has gotten even dirtier since it became a huge business in the last 3 decades.

I think you are right, I know that the football world is dirty and especially in southern Europe. But in Italy it is particularly bad and the system is rotten right to the core. If you are not a part of this system (like us) you find that decisions on and off the field always go against you. It becomes very difficult to win matches, especially important ones, and to do business with other clubs.

 

[IceAgeKing]

I think you are right, I know that the football world is dirty and especially in southern Europe. But in Italy it is particularly bad and the system is rotten right to the core. If you are not a part of this system (like us) you find that decisions on and off the field always go against you. It becomes very difficult to win matches, especially important ones, and to do business with other clubs.

Indeed... Italian football is very rotten, and it has been for years.

 

[Judge Dread]

Indeed... Italian football is very rotten, and it has been for years.

...and it will be for many years to come, unless something drastic happens