Imagine Calciopoli never happened, would Italian football still have had it's sharp decline?

Self-explanatory. Is Calciopoli the cause of Serie A's decline or merely a force that augmented it?

I posted this a while back:

https://goallegacy.forumotion.com/t3471-agree-or-disagree-italian-football-is-dead-luciano-moggi

But yes, I think it was the cause of it. Moretti clearly had his own selfish motives and I am thrilled it worked out for him. His motives have had a large expense on Italian football.

Of course... Juventus would still be on top, the clubs would be growing. Though clubs like Napoli would not be as good though, and Inter wouldn't of been winning each year.

Italian clubs would still not have their own stadiums, the rise of billionaires buying EPL clubs would still have happened and I don't think Serie A would have been in a very strong financial position to fight off that increased competition, fan-related problems would still happen just as frequently. To say without Calciopoli Serie A would still be at their glory days seems naive to me.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:Italian clubs would still not have their own stadiums, the rise of billionaires buying EPL clubs would still have happened and I don't think Serie A would have been in a very strong financial position to fight off that increased competition, fan-related problems would still happen just as frequently. To say without Calciopoli Serie A would still be at their glory days seems naive to me.

What if the billionaires bought Italian clubs because they had a better league ? What if Italian clubs had more money from television rights to build their own stadiums ? Etc.

Nice points from Alfred and Nichola...

Can't really be sure of what would have happens so we have only the present to go by. However serie a was at the pinnacle and its reputation was tarnished bc of the scandal...so it could have been that sa tv programming could have been more a lucrative business venture had its rep never been tarnished.

I still think though that the EPL would have risen to prominence, but perhaps not in the overwhelming fashion in which it did

Calciopoli caused a decline, obviously. But, everyone knew that Juventus was cheating so it had to happen. So many games were won by Juventus through referee decisions, it could not go on.

Serie A is coming back and as teams build stadiums, Serie A will grow more than leagues that already have club owned stadiums.

We have the advantage that many South American players want to play in Serie A because it is played in Italy. Maybe they have relatives in Italy or their parents or grand parents have relatives in Italy. South Americans are happier in Italy especially Argentines, Uruguayans and Brazilians, so we get players that the EPL would have to pay more for. La Liga has a similar advantage, but there are only two teams in La Liga of any consequence.

Maybe the decline wouldnt have been that bad but it was gonna happen sooner or later. Calciopoli only destroyed Juvi but Milan went into a decline (par winning the CL) eventhough they only had an 8 point penalty because Berlusconi got bored of his toy. Old heavy weights like Parma and Lazio disapeared off the map a few years before calciopoli because of finacial problems, and the league as a whole was falling behind the well marketed EPL.

The decline was bound to happen, but maybe a stronger Juvi would've smoothed things a little bit

Not such a big stepdown definitely. Juventus is still the most active team on market with far more cash than others, new stadium and most profitable club. Add up their star team from 2005/6, and they would ve been competing each year for CL with Barca, more consistently unlike others

LOL Wiggles I respect you as a poster, but there is no on-field evidence to prove Juventus was cheating, you and I both know that.

swiss cell phone lines for the referees

zizzle wrote:swiss cell phone lines for the referees

Telecom employees arrested and charged for tampering and tape-editing in relation to 2006 Calciopoli phonecalls. Good call. No pun intended.

JuvenelCuore wrote:

zizzle wrote:swiss cell phone lines for the referees

Telecom employees arrested and charged for tampering and tape-editing in relation to 2006 Calciopoli phonecalls. Good call. No pun intended.

berlusconi shagging a 17 years old and getting away with it

i but there is no on-field evidence to prove Juventus was cheating

With teams with owners as powerful as the Agnelli's and Berlusconi, do you really think that they would have been punished if there wasn't any evidence?