Author Topic: Serie A  (Read 312447 times)

Offline Dave McCoy

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Re: Serie A
« Reply #2440 on: May 4, 2021, 04:24:26 pm »
Stolen from twitter as maybe it's just me but I find this hilarious:

This caused me, as an irredeemable dork, to look up whether there had ever been a Portuguese Pope. John XXI reigned for 8 months from September 1276-May 1277, was rumored to be a necromancer, and built a special apartment where he could be alone, that collapsed and killed him.

Offline Bergersrightwingviews

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Re: Serie A
« Reply #2441 on: May 4, 2021, 04:37:52 pm »
Mourinho just signed for Roma according to Fabrizio Romano. Surprising but it may work well for him as expectations are lower (Top 4) and he can build from there.

Are Roma flush with cash? If not, hard to see how Mourinho helps them close the gap on the Milan clubs, Juve and Napoli.
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Offline sinnermichael

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Re: Serie A
« Reply #2442 on: May 4, 2021, 04:40:37 pm »
Bet Chris Smalling is delighted.

Offline Drinks Sangria

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Re: Serie A
« Reply #2443 on: May 4, 2021, 04:43:04 pm »
Are Roma flush with cash? If not, hard to see how Mourinho helps them close the gap on the Milan clubs, Juve and Napoli.
They're a sell to buy club. They're owned by billionaire American Dan Friedkin but they can't really shop in the same markets as those teams above. Their plan was to operate a kind of Sevilla/Porto model when Pallotta owned them, and try to balance bringing in prospects cheaply, developing and selling at a fat profit whilst still performing well domestically and in Europe. It did not go particularly well on the actual performance side of things, though they did bring in players like Salah, Lamela and Alisson in during this period and sell for good profits.

They bought Monchi in from Sevilla, a true transfer guru to this end, even paying a €5m buyout clause for him (relatively unheard of to pay for a Sporting Director) but the project never had the successes of Sevilla (Roma fans a lot less content with chasing the regular pack domestically and not making a mark on the Champions League). Despite some decent signings. He didn't see out his contract and was back at Sevilla within 3 seasons, where he's managed to rekindle the old magic.

For context, Monchi made €250m profit on player sales in his first stint at Sevilla, but he spent more in two seasons at Roma than in 5 previously with Sevilla, buying more expensive players to start with. It seems like he's brilliant at spotting mostly unheard of players and recognising they can become stars, but he was less effective at buying established players and overseeing them become world superstars. Every season he was at Roma, they did worse than the season before, fuelled by selling their best players and not replacing them adequately. He also strangely got a hard-on for the Eredivisie whilst at Roma, something he'd never really looked at while at Sevilla, so he wasn't shopping in areas he had expertise in. Schick, Pastore, Defrel, Karsdorp, Under and Santon were all underwhelming signings.

So, having answered a question you didn't ask, no they don't spend great amounts compared to the teams you suggested, no they're not flush even though their majority owner is personally wealthy  ;D It's kinda like John Henry, he's worth personally around £3bn but doesn't use his own cash on the club.
« Last Edit: May 4, 2021, 04:51:13 pm by Drinks Sangria »
“Seeing these smiling faces is the greatest pleasure. They have been magnificent all season. They have been our 12th man. I have always said our fans are the best in England. Now I know they are the best in Europe too.” Rafa Benitez

Offline Fromola

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Re: Serie A
« Reply #2444 on: May 4, 2021, 04:47:13 pm »
They've only ever won 12 trophies, 3 Serie A and 9 Copa's. Really low number for a big club.

In 30 years they've only won 2 Copa Italias and a Serie A title.

However, they've finished runners up 9 times since they last won the league in 2001. They're such a nearly club and renowned bottlers.

I actually think it's an interesting appointment though. It looks like Roma will finish 7th which will put them in that Conference thing, which is a good chance to win Roma a first European trophy.

The quality of Serie A is currently really poor as well.
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Offline skipper757

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Re: Serie A
« Reply #2445 on: May 4, 2021, 05:05:53 pm »
They've come close a lot, but just haven't been able to get over the line (or had some years of competing against great teams).

They finished 2nd to Inter 4 years out of 5, including 82-80 and 85-82 point margins.

They had an 85 and 87 point season this decade but had to contend against Juventus' 102 and 91 point compaigns.

Some good seasons in there the last 15 years, but never managed to get that one season to be top dogs.
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Offline Fromola

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Re: Serie A
« Reply #2446 on: May 4, 2021, 05:12:52 pm »
They've come close a lot, but just haven't been able to get over the line (or had some years of competing against great teams).

They finished 2nd to Inter 4 years out of 5, including 82-80 and 85-82 point margins.

They had an 85 and 87 point season this decade but had to contend against Juventus' 102 and 91 point compaigns.

Some good seasons in there the last 15 years, but never managed to get that one season to be top dogs.

The biggest fuck up was 09/10, which actually let in Mourinho's Inter to win the title on the last day in their treble season.

Roma only needed to win their last two games and lost at home to Sampdoria at home in their penultimate match.
Could have done with Grujic and even Chirivella to tide us over this season

Offline Drinks Sangria

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Re: Serie A
« Reply #2447 on: May 4, 2021, 05:16:05 pm »
The last time Roma won the league was during the great passport scandal, where it was uncovered that Roma, amongst many others, were securing documents of questionable authenticity to prove that South Americans were of Italian ancestry, because at the time, there was still a limit to non-EU players in the sides.

At the time, you could have a max of 5 non-EU in the squad and 3 on the matchday squad. Roma's squad of that time had 10, although some had the familial links that meant they circumvented the rules. Some of this was legit, some very much not. I think there would have been more widespread punishments had virtually every side not been doing it. It's been forgotten somewhat in the years since because Calciopoli was a much bigger scandal.

Roma always usually had Samuel, Cafu, Emerson and Batistuta on the pitch though during that season. Udinese was a hot bed, they were found to have questionable documents for 14 of their squad, mostly Brazilians with fake Portuguese passports. Dida was a big name player involved - there was also a lot of dodginess about Veron's naturalisation as an Italian citizen. Punishments were handed to individual players rather than teams, which in hindsight seems very odd.
« Last Edit: May 4, 2021, 05:20:16 pm by Drinks Sangria »
“Seeing these smiling faces is the greatest pleasure. They have been magnificent all season. They have been our 12th man. I have always said our fans are the best in England. Now I know they are the best in Europe too.” Rafa Benitez

Offline Garrus

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Re: Serie A
« Reply #2448 on: May 4, 2021, 05:19:40 pm »
Bet Chris Smalling is delighted.
Mkhitaryan too.

Offline Fromola

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Re: Serie A
« Reply #2449 on: May 4, 2021, 05:30:14 pm »
The last time Roma won the league was during the great passport scandal, where it was uncovered that Roma, amongst many others, were securing documents of questionable authenticity to prove that South Americans were of Italian ancestry, because at the time, there was still a limit to non-EU players in the sides.

At the time, you could have a max of 5 non-EU in the squad and 3 on the matchday squad. Roma's squad of that time had 10, although some had the familial links that meant they circumvented the rules. Some of this was legit, some very much not. I think there would have been more widespread punishments had virtually every side not been doing it. It's been forgotten somewhat in the years since because Calciopoli was a much bigger scandal.

Roma always usually had Samuel, Cafu, Emerson and Batistuta on the pitch though during that season. Udinese was a hot bed, they were found to have questionable documents for 14 of their squad, mostly Brazilians with fake Portuguese passports. Dida was a big name player involved - there was also a lot of dodginess about Veron's naturalisation as an Italian citizen. Punishments were handed to individual players rather than teams, which in hindsight seems very odd.

That was a really strong Roma team in what was still the strongest league in the world at the time. Us going there and beating them in the UEFA Cup that season was the game that really got our mojo back in Europe, after the 90's humiliations to the likes of Genoa, Brondby and Strasbourg.
Could have done with Grujic and even Chirivella to tide us over this season

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Re: Serie A
« Reply #2450 on: May 4, 2021, 05:48:44 pm »
Yeah, was it 2000-01 when they win the title? I saw them at Anfield that season and even though they rested a lot of their big guns they were very impressive to watch in the flesh.

Also saw them the following season when they did play their big guns and we battered them. Allez!

Can’t believe that stat that they’ve finished runners up 9 times since they last won it, that’s almost every other season.

Offline Dave McCoy

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Re: Serie A
« Reply #2451 on: May 4, 2021, 06:29:20 pm »
Roma reported a loss of €204m in the 2019/20 season, have €318m financial debt, €191m transfer debt and required €210m capital from their owners in the last two years.  Jose got a 3 year contract.  Credit Jorge Mendes for keeping Jose's income coming but there's no way Roma are winning anything unless the owner just doesn't care about losing a lot of money.

Offline CalgarianRed

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Re: Serie A
« Reply #2452 on: May 4, 2021, 06:47:47 pm »
Roma reported a loss of €204m in the 2019/20 season, have €318m financial debt, €191m transfer debt and required €210m capital from their owners in the last two years.  Jose got a 3 year contract.  Credit Jorge Mendes for keeping Jose's income coming but there's no way Roma are winning anything unless the owner just doesn't care about losing a lot of money.

The expectations will be low. I think he can get them top 4 as they are not far off from the likes of Milan and Napoli (they ran out of gas now but were in the running for top 4 a few weeks ago). Inter/Juve are likely nailed on for next season but other 2 spots are open. If he gets them top 4 next season it will be a success.

He will also get the most out of aging players like Dzeko, Mkhitaryan, Pedro and Smalling and potentially sign more PL rejects. His appointment definitely makes the Serie A more interesting next season.   
« Last Edit: May 4, 2021, 06:49:21 pm by CalgarianRed »
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Offline Dave McCoy

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Re: Serie A
« Reply #2453 on: May 4, 2021, 06:58:43 pm »
The expectations will be low. I think he can get them top 4 as they are not far off from the likes of Milan and Napoli (they ran out of gas now but were in the running for top 4 a few weeks ago). Inter/Juve are likely nailed on for next season but other 2 spots are open. If he gets them top 4 next season it will be a success.

He will also get the most out of aging players like Dzeko, Mkhitaryan, Pedro and Smalling and potentially sign more PL rejects. His appointment definitely makes the Serie A more interesting next season.

You understand that Mourinho coached Mkhi and Smalling before and hated them?  Personally I think it will be a disaster but it will be hilarious to watch.  First up, who's going to be the new whipping boy?  Most recent were Shaw and Dele so there's not a type per se.  Don't know the Roma squad well enough to make a first guess.

Offline Bergersrightwingviews

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Re: Serie A
« Reply #2454 on: May 4, 2021, 07:35:26 pm »


Thanks. Really interesting. What an odd club.

Sounds like an awful fit for Mourinho to be honest.
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Offline johnj147

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Re: Serie A
« Reply #2455 on: May 4, 2021, 07:49:33 pm »
Thanks. Really interesting. What an odd club.

Sounds like an awful fit for Mourinho to be honest.
hope he gets his ass kicked..by the fans

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Re: Serie A
« Reply #2456 on: May 4, 2021, 09:44:09 pm »
Mkhitaryan too.

Serie-A really has become the place where old Premier League has-beens go to die. Mourinho should fit in well.
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Offline Garrus

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Re: Serie A
« Reply #2457 on: May 5, 2021, 04:08:41 am »
Serie-A really has become the place where old Premier League has-beens go to die. Mourinho should fit in well.
It is a very weird squad. Their starting front 3 are all ex PL on big wages and 32, 33 and 35 years old.

Midfield is ok, with a couple of good players and one seriously talented youngster who is coming back from 2 ACL injuries. Defence isn't great and the 2 GKs they have are poor.

It's going to require serious investment to even become a top 4 side, Mourinho's never seen a rebuilding job like this in his career. The only positive for him is that this seems like a big swing for Roma, so he should have time.

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Re: Serie A
« Reply #2458 on: May 5, 2021, 06:18:14 am »
We're surely going to get a "Rome was not built in a day" quote from him after every big loss next season.
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Re: Serie A
« Reply #2459 on: May 5, 2021, 11:31:53 am »
From twitter ...

@_FCIM
Mourinho is gonna call himself a bigger Roma legend than Totti after winning the UEFA Conference League next season against Ferencvaros in the final
2:40 PM · May 4, 2021

 :lmao :wellin
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Offline aw1991

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Re: Serie A
« Reply #2460 on: May 5, 2021, 11:39:32 am »
From twitter ...

@_FCIM
Mourinho is gonna call himself a bigger Roma legend than Totti after winning the UEFA Conference League next season against Ferencvaros in the final
2:40 PM · May 4, 2021

 :lmao :wellin
Thought it was the official Inter account for a minute ;D

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Re: Serie A
« Reply #2461 on: May 8, 2021, 08:09:12 pm »
Osimhen now has 8 goals in his last 9 matches for Napoli, one to keep an eye for sure.

Offline CalgarianRed

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Re: Serie A
« Reply #2462 on: May 8, 2021, 09:16:18 pm »
Osimhen now has 8 goals in his last 9 matches for Napoli, one to keep an eye for sure.

He has exploded after looking out of his depth initially. Napoli have played a good season all things considered.
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Offline Drinks Sangria

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Re: Serie A
« Reply #2463 on: May 8, 2021, 11:15:11 pm »
Osimhen indeed starting to look the part.

Napoli paid €70m for him, essentially off the strength of one campaign with Lille, so any future move would have to be mega money and he needs to do a lot more to suggest he’d be worth it.

Now, to almost fly in the face of what I just said, the brilliant Vlahovic bagged 2 again today as Fiorentina surprised me and many others by beating Lazio 2-0 and essentially securing their Serie A status for another year. They need some serious reinforcement in the summer though with the funds Vlahovic and likely Milenkovic bring in.
« Last Edit: May 8, 2021, 11:17:32 pm by Drinks Sangria »
“Seeing these smiling faces is the greatest pleasure. They have been magnificent all season. They have been our 12th man. I have always said our fans are the best in England. Now I know they are the best in Europe too.” Rafa Benitez

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Re: Serie A
« Reply #2464 on: May 9, 2021, 12:28:51 am »
Osimhen indeed starting to look the part.

Napoli paid €70m for him, essentially off the strength of one campaign with Lille, so any future move would have to be mega money and he needs to do a lot more to suggest he’d be worth it.

Now, to almost fly in the face of what I just said, the brilliant Vlahovic bagged 2 again today as Fiorentina surprised me and many others by beating Lazio 2-0 and essentially securing their Serie A status for another year. They need some serious reinforcement in the summer though with the funds Vlahovic and likely Milenkovic bring in.

When Lukaku could be available (due to Covid) for less than 80, to suggest Osimhen should be more than that is laughable - yes he is in the middle of a purple patch, but so is Kelechi Ihenacho, and I don't see anybody claiming he could be a mega buck move.

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Re: Serie A
« Reply #2465 on: May 9, 2021, 03:42:52 pm »
Another brace for Vlahovic, would love to see the reds test Fiorentina's resolve with a bid. Fair enough if they refuse to sell if not for an over the odds price but he's going to score a shitload going forward
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Offline CalgarianRed

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Re: Serie A
« Reply #2466 on: May 9, 2021, 05:44:25 pm »
Milan Juventus later today. Whoever loses would face an uphill battle for top 4 with Atalanta and Napoli winning.

Milan Atalanta on final day of the season could be interesting.

Credit to Atalanta, I thought they would fall apart this season but they keep going. Gasperini has done an amazing job. 
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Re: Serie A
« Reply #2467 on: May 9, 2021, 08:11:34 pm »
Another brace for Vlahovic, would love to see the reds test Fiorentina's resolve with a bid. Fair enough if they refuse to sell if not for an over the odds price but he's going to score a shitload going forward
Two years left on his deal and doesn’t want to pen another so they will sell this summer. Milan the most heavily linked Italian side, though he’d make sense as a more potent Morata replacement at Juve or Lukaku replacement should he leave Inter and they be allowed to reinvest the fee. Love to see him here mind.

Milan have started the better out of this one.
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Offline sinnermichael

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Re: Serie A
« Reply #2468 on: May 9, 2021, 09:33:02 pm »
Pirlo is massively out of his depth. Allegri will be back there next season.

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Re: Serie A
« Reply #2469 on: May 9, 2021, 09:35:24 pm »
Pirlo is massively out of his depth. Allegri will be back there next season.

Ronaldo was shockingly bad in this game. He is in decline despite his goals and its hindering Juve both in terms of playing style and his huge wages.

They should sell him and Morata and build around Dybala and Chiesa.
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Re: Serie A
« Reply #2470 on: May 9, 2021, 09:45:12 pm »
Ronaldo was shockingly bad in this game. He is in decline despite his goals and its hindering Juve both in terms of playing style and his huge wages.

They should sell him and Morata and build around Dybala and Chiesa.
They should, but they’ve been trying for two years to flog Dybala in an attempt to reduce the wage bill.

Ronaldo is oddly now a hindrance to a top level team with a fluid attack, unless you’re going to let him play centre forward and purely want a penalty box poacher.

Milan 3 up now. Diaz’s was a cracker.
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Re: Serie A
« Reply #2471 on: May 9, 2021, 09:47:56 pm »
Milan leapfrog Napoli into 3rd, level on points with Atalanta.

Interesting last few games ahead. Would love to see Juve miss out on CL qualification altogether. Pirlo would still be a Milan legend  ;D
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Offline StevoHimself

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Re: Serie A
« Reply #2472 on: May 9, 2021, 10:28:36 pm »
You'd almost think hiring a "manager" with little to no experience and based purely on their marketability as ex-players isn't necessarily the way forward. Everybody wants their very own Guardiola.

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Re: Serie A
« Reply #2473 on: May 9, 2021, 11:50:58 pm »
Ronaldo morphed into a penalty box poacher back at Madrid.  No idea what Juve were even thinking in the first place aside from that it's "Ronaldo".

Offline CalgarianRed

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Re: Serie A
« Reply #2474 on: May 10, 2021, 12:22:29 am »
Ronaldo morphed into a penalty box poacher back at Madrid.  No idea what Juve were even thinking in the first place aside from that it's "Ronaldo".

Problem for him and Juve is that they want him to do a lot of work outside the box as well. He simply can't do that anymore and does not have a player of the caliber of Benzema to help him or the midfield of Kroos and Modric.

The likes of Bentancur, Rabiot, McKennie (currently, he will become a good player eventually), Morata are not good enough for a club looking to win titles. If they were going to go all in on Ronaldo, they should have spent a bit more and got the support cast as well rather than signing freebies.   
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Re: Serie A
« Reply #2475 on: May 10, 2021, 01:44:37 am »
Ronaldo will be back at United in a season or two to fill their annual "ageing striker in decline" quota. See Falcao, Ibrahimovic, Cavani etc for details.
« Last Edit: May 10, 2021, 01:46:27 am by Caligula? »

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Re: Serie A
« Reply #2476 on: May 10, 2021, 09:56:53 am »
You'd almost think hiring a "manager" with little to no experience and based purely on their marketability as ex-players isn't necessarily the way forward. Everybody wants their very own Guardiola.
Indeed. The difference is, that Guardiola had quite a bit of coaching experience before he even took over Barca B, never mind the first team. He'd a year as a player coach at Brescia in Italy (where he had the chance to coach greatness in Roberto Baggio), then another year as a player coach at Roma, before a season in Qatar as an Assistant Manager, then a year playing and coaching in Mexico. An unorthodox path for sure, but that meant when he returned to the La Masia fold, he had coached at 4 different clubs, with 4 very different ability levels - European competition standard down to probably poor semi-pro level if that in Qatar - across 3 continents and under 4 different managers. Whilst you could cast aspersions on the quality of the players, it showed that Guardiola was wanting to learn, develop, test his methods and understand different types of footballers.

Pirlo had a few months with the Primavera and all of a sudden was made first team coach. It's mad, like you say - people want their own Guardiola but ignore the bedding that helped make Guardiola who he is. Lampard, Rooney etc - it's all the same. Good or even massive jobs with no CV to back it up.
“Seeing these smiling faces is the greatest pleasure. They have been magnificent all season. They have been our 12th man. I have always said our fans are the best in England. Now I know they are the best in Europe too.” Rafa Benitez

Offline davidlpool1982

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Re: Serie A
« Reply #2477 on: May 10, 2021, 10:16:18 pm »
Doubt it will come to this but the president of Serie A has threatened to kick Juve out the championship next season if they don't leave the Super League. Combine that with maybe no Champions League either through their league position or UEFA if they punish them next week as expected and the Old Lady have some fires to out out. Be funny as fuck like.

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Re: Serie A
« Reply #2478 on: May 11, 2021, 10:04:34 am »
Doubt it will come to this but the president of Serie A has threatened to kick Juve out the championship next season if they don't leave the Super League. Combine that with maybe no Champions League either through their league position or UEFA if they punish them next week as expected and the Old Lady have some fires to out out. Be funny as fuck like.
Yeah it's hard to not feel a bit of schadenfreude towards them, for sure. I follow Fiorentina and there's a lot of animosity there (much stemming from the sale of Roberto Baggio) so I do enjoy a bit of Juve flailing.

Serie A can't afford to kick Juventus out of the league. Serie A distributes 50% of their broadcasting revenue between the 20 teams. 30% though goes to historical performance (Juve getting the lion's share), 20% 'profile' (size of club and amount of TV views, so again Juve get the most of this, despite their dismal stadium attendances). This was a restructuring of the deal in 2018 done to appease Juve as prior to that they got less of a share. If Serie A were willing to restructure the way the revenue trickles down in order to appease Juve and shut down the chance of them leaving for a Super League 3 years ago, I doubt they'd find it palatable to kick them out now; Juve are the true cash cow of the TV revenues.

I think given UEFA and FIFA's hard talk against the breakaway clubs, Serie A has taken the opportunity to try and grab back a little power and look intimidating. Juve won't be phased and will certainly be involved in the league next season.
“Seeing these smiling faces is the greatest pleasure. They have been magnificent all season. They have been our 12th man. I have always said our fans are the best in England. Now I know they are the best in Europe too.” Rafa Benitez

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Re: Serie A
« Reply #2479 on: May 11, 2021, 10:28:01 am »

Serie A can't afford to kick Juventus out of the league.

Obviously not the same thing, but it's been done before!
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