Lega Serie A – General Discussion

[RomaShield27]

Italy League Chief Wants Serie A Cut to 18 Teams

Reuters.com

MILAN, Dec 14 (Reuters) - The number of teams in Serie A should be cut to 18 from 20 in order to safeguard Italian football, the head of the league has said.

Antonio Matarrese also wants the second division Serie B to be reduced to 20 teams from 22 to make sure the remaining clubs can survive amid battles for television revenues and falling attendances.

"It seems to me important that we start reasoning over a real and proper reform of football. We don't have a choice," Matarrese told a news conference late on Thursday after a meeting between the league and the clubs.

"We can argue for months on the division of resources. The truth is there are too many of us."

Some Serie B clubs have threatened to go on strike if they do not receive a fair television deal in current negotiations.

Thursday's meeting also discussed a proposal for losing teams to hold a guard of honour for the winner at the end of matches to foster a friendlier atmosphere on the pitch and in the stands.

However, the parties could not agree on whether to introduce the idea as a requirement and a decision was postponed.

(Writing by Mark Meadows; Editing by Clare Lovell )

[maro]

A good option this one, I think. It was strange when the league went up to 20 teams when the rest of Europe was complaining of player burn-out. I'd relegate the bottom three at the end of the season and then Rube and Lazio as well - Rube because then they might get a chance to win something again and they will, no doubt, make it the best Serie B ever again. And Lazio, well, actually, given that they're going to end up in the bottom three anyway it's all pretty irrelevant.

[RomaShield27]

Yes.

[Lombardiamia]

Or no?

[vtec]

bringing it back down to 18 teams would help the italian teams in the champions as well. interisti should support it too because it would make it almost impossible for any team to touch their points record from last year. i say relegate 3 promote 2 for the next two years.

[Lombardiamia]

bringing it back down to 18 teams would help the italian teams in the champions as well. interisti should support it too because it would make it almost impossible for any team to touch their points record from last year. i say relegate 3 promote 2 for the next two years.

It is already impossible to touch that record Vtec.
But I would take the new proposal of reducing back to what it was. ALtough I'm pretty sure there'd be a tough battle with the serie B clubs for such a rule to pass.

[RomaShield27]

I think we have to question Matarrese's reasons for wanting to cut the league to 18 teams. He says he wants to do it "in order to safeguard Italian football", meaning he see's this measure as a way of tackling two of the biggest problems that currently exist in Italian football today – falling attendances and the neverending battle over TV revenues. Less teams means less fixtures and so hopefully bigger attendances at the remaining games, and also means more money from TV revenue for these 18 teams.

There's no doubting that these reasons are major problems, particularly falling attendances, but I don't think reducing the league is the way to help solve it. If Matarrese believes that cutting the amount of teams and so (potentially) cutting the amount of 'smaller' fixtures is a way to combat attendances then the matter will only get worse.

Why should we cut the league to 18? Both La Liga and the Premiershit have 20 teams, and they're is more money in the top league for the smaller teams, as seen with the Premiershit (1st division teams earn upwards of £50m when they get promoted to the EPL). So reducing Serie A to 18 teams will only limit the chances of promotion for Serie B clubs. I would love to see the likes of Perugia and Bari and Lecce back in Serie A, but what chance will they have if there are less promotion slots, and against the richer Serie A teams who come down?

[Lombardiamia]

I've seen this guy play against us this summer. I think it was a friendly, and he truly seems to be a player with a massive future. At first I thought he was a veteran of the team, considering that he really looked like the team's leader, but then I heard the commentator (even he was impressed) say that he is just 18 years old. I'm pretty sure he will turn out big. After all, if Real Madrid were after him too, that in itself should already say something.
Excellent buy for Fiorentina, which is the club who is investing the most on promising youngsters. In a couple of years (I say 2-3 years max), Fiore will really become a force to be reckoned with.

Fiorentina: Beffato il Real Madrid, acquistato il giovane Jovetic


Prosegue la caccia della Fiorentina ai giovani talenti d'Europa. La società viola ha bruciato la concorrenza del Real Madrid, facendo suo il giovane Stevan Jovetic, 18 anni, montenegrino del Partizan Belgrado. E' considerato il nuovo Savicevic, arriverà a giugno.

(Gazzetta dello Sport)

[RomaShield27]

Palermo win Kjaer race

Skysports.com

Palermo have beaten the likes of Real Madrid and Liverfekkin'wankscum to the signing of Danish starlet Simon Kjaer.

The 18-year-old has agreed a pre-contract with the Sicilian outfit and he will officially link-up with them on July 1st.

Kjaer, who is currently playing in his homeland for FC Midtylland, was being chased by a host of top clubs from around the continent.

The young central defender was being tracked by Liverfekkin'wankscum, Real Madrid, Middlesbrough, Lille and Monaco - but Palermo have won the race to his coveted signature.

[RomaShield27]

Serie A war over starlet
Clubcall.com – 2008/02/21 10:53

Juventus, Inter Milan and Liverfekkin'wankscum will battle it out for the signature of teenage midfielder Ivan Rakitic. The Croatian has lit up the Bundesliga this season with Schalke, and has already courted a lot of interest since arriving from Swiss outfit FC Basel last summer.

And the 19-year-old admits he could move on to a bigger club in the summer.
"There has been contact with somebody and of course it is interesting," he said. "Inter are a big club you just can't say no to.

"The decision lies with Schalke and we'll have to see what develops, but at the moment I am fully focused on doing well where I am."

[vtec]

rakitic will definitely be a big player in the future

[marco]

http://www.calciomercato.com/index.php?c=21&a=73326

i'm sure amoruso is only one of many. moggi is a fucking cunt.

[RomaShield27]

Not related to Italian transfers, but check out this link about a detailed record of English clubs transfers and how much they have spent over the last season (and I think it may also include the season before in some cases) :

http://www.transfermarkt.de/de/aktuell/ ... index.html

Its in German but you'll have to manage. I believe the currency is in £. Its staggering, ManUre and Liver'scum spent over £80m last summer alone (although they both nearly generated almost half of that from player sales). But even the like of the smaller clubs: Portsmouth spending £52m; Sunderland spending £67m; Fulham spending £51m; Man City spending £76m, it goes on. Its fucking staggering and shocking, even, and would dwarf what Italian and even Spanish sides have spent. Of course, it is all a result of foreign investment, but there can be no doubt where the money lies in world football anymore, and it is worrying for the future of the game.

[RomaShield27]

From that link you can click onto a similar page with details of Italian club transfers, and it says that last summer Italian clubs spent €357m, compared to what all the EPL clubs spent: €882. That is way more than double. Here's a list of the total spent by all clubs last summer:

1) €882m – EPL
2) €569m – Primera Division
3) €357m – Serie A
4) €251m – Bundesliga
5) €246m – Ligue 1

[oily]

how about "earnings"

[RomaShield27]

How about "saying something which makes sense"

[oily]

so you're associating their recent success to their transfer kitty?

the question you have to ask is.. do the other leagues have the money to match the epl? if so, why arent they using it?

[vtec]

and in serie a, it has been basically just inter spending like mad. remove them, and the serie a total will be below 300 mil. and to make matters worse, much of the Premiershit transfers involved bringing in talent from other leagues, in serie a, not so much.

[oily]

look on the bright side.. the italian NT is solid

[vtec]

that's actually somewhat of a valid point, there seems to be a negative correlation between the strength of a country's league and the strength of its national team. well, only to a point, because the countries with the shittiest nts also have the shittiest leagues, but within the context of the big european countries at least this seems to hold.