I just asked a question. easy tiger!

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Being a former defender doesn't necessarily mean one would make a better coach IMO... I'd love to see Billy as our coach one day too. above all his qualities, he's a charismatic figure, but that's IMO the only positive he has over Leonardo. remember his adventure with that Serie B team whose name I don't remember at the moment didn't go very well.

Leonardo is set to attend coaching course this month so let's not make a big thing out of this license thing!

Oh you must judge him beforehand! he's Brazilian meaning he's automatically a ****** defender

Couple of notes on Serie A stuff.

I think Genoa definitely got the better of the deal - sure, Milito is a good striker, but he is rather injury prone. Genoa get Acquafresca (who I rate highly) and Crespo and at last report half of Quaresma.

Quagliarella is going to Napoli.

Diego had his medical in Torino so he's definitely going Gobbi. As for them, the big speculation is really over who the new coach will be. I think the current speculation is leaning toward Ciro Ferrara keeping the job, but it's a bit of a moving target. The other main candidate is Antonio Conte, currently coach of Bari. Both he and Ferrara are former Gobbi legends.

According to Channel 4, none other than Angelo Peruzzi could be Ferrara's right-hand man next season if Ferrara stays on as coach.

http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/jun04e.html

You were saying?

I really am scared for the team next season, without Kaka'.. I'm predicting fighting for CL football, not the title.

Hey guys & girls im trying to find that link ( Italian wants to buy Milan) i think its from Goal.com but i can't find it , never got to read it fully can someone link it to me plz

Talk about looking for the easy way out. What a riot.

If Ibra weren't such a persistent choker in Europe, those problems probably would've already solved themselves. I can't remember the last time the Ballon d'Or was won on just league play alone.

Sheva - 2004/2005

AMEN!

Humble thing to say, though it won't change much.

It's a free market and humans are not exactly the moral kind.

Juve sell Mellberg Friday 19 June, 2009

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Olof Mellberg will be playing for Olympiakos next season as Juventus have agreed a £2m transfer fee with the Greeks.

The Swede only spent 12 months in Turin following his move from Aston Villa. Despite an overall good season, the Bianconeri decided to cash in on him for several reasons.

Mellberg is 32-year-old and would have been relegated to the bench next season considering that Juve have signed Fabio Cannavaro. Also this transfer allows the Old Lady to make a clear profit since the Swede joined them for free last term.

The defender made 27 appearances in Bianconero colours, scoring two goals, and earning himself the appreciation of the fans, who will be sad to see him leaving the Olimpico.

Another player on his way out of the club is Tiago Mendes although Juve claim he is still part of their plans. Reports suggested Alessio Secco had offered Tiago’s services to Atletico Madrid but a note from the club denies such rumours.

“These rumours are absolutely false,” stated Juventus.

“The Portuguese midfielder is part of our project and will be a member of our team next season. He is not on the market.”


channel 4



Now that's what I call a career nosedive.
My sympathies to dst aswell, who will have to put up with another Swede in his native country.

My only sympathy towards the Greeks is that they'll all look so un-awesome in comparison to the Viking legend.

should not have left villa lols

He shouldn't have, but he wanted to play in the Champions League so I don't blame him really. He'll be back in one way or another.

maybe with mellberg, villa could have gotten 4th and put the stingy voyeur in uefa cup He seems fit for that competition with his stingyness.

Juve to play part-timers

Juventus are to play England's Northern league outfit West Auckland in a rerun of the first World Cup. The part-timers of the Durham mining town will play the Bianconeri in Turin on August 1 in a pre-season friendly. In 1912 the second version of the Sir Thomas Lipton trophy, widely acknowledged as the forerunner to the Jules Rimet trophy, was played in Turin itself, as West Auckland hammered Juventus 6-1 in the final. “The FA is delighted to support West Auckland's return to Turin,” said FA Chairman Lord Triesman. “It's so important they are able to celebrate the 100th anniversary of their famous match with Juventus. This is a wonderful story and it's only right that they will be in Italy to commemorate the remarkable achievement of winning the Sir Thomas Lipton trophy.” Other pre-season friendlies for West Auckland include trips to Crook, Willington, Darlington RA and Coxhoe.

So the gobbi played a friendly versus Vicenza today (game ended in a 1-1 draw). Unfortunately for them, they played most of the game with 10 guys after Amauri got sent off for punching a Vicenza player early in the first half.

New gobbi coach Ciro Ferrara (who Fishdoll rather likes) was Not Pleased.

Look who's here!

Amauri is an ******* never liked him and I'm glad Juve beat us to him last summer. He suites the Gobbi well, but had he joined Inter it would have been the fairytale marraige

Fishdoll awwwwwww! Hello to Essie and +1 cookie to him!

The Menarini family have sold Bologna FC to Albanian oil tycoon Rezart Taci.

Are these the first foreign owners in Italian league football?

I think they are, Jack.

And it looks as if AS Bari (who were only just promoted to Serie A) are about to be sold to a Milanese consortium (much to the relief of the CRA who hate the current owners). Deal should be closed in a couple of days.

Fishdoll adds proudly that he now has his Very Own Bari scarf, kindly sent to him by the CRA chapter in Bari.

LOL! the fun is just about to start. Wonderful, now silvio its your turn. Lets call the sheiks.

FYI, the fixture lists for next season will be announced on Wednesday (in two days from today). For those who get it, the whole thing will be broadcast live on RAI 2.

Here's Channel 4's explanation of how the Serie A fixtures will be organized:



A couple of other things they didn't mention include:

* Derbies will NOT be played midweek
* For clubs that share stadiums (ie, in Milan, Genoa, and Rome), the team that opened with a home game last year will open with an away game (so we know Milan will start away)
* There's going to be no 'break in' period for big fixtures -- so there could be a derby or something like Milan-Juve in round 1
* Teams won't repeat the first fixture of the last two years in the first fixture of this year (so we know it won't be Fiorentina-Milan or Genoa-Milan in round 1)
* You won't face the same team on the same matchday as last year (so it wont' be Bologna-Milan on round 1)

(getting this off tickers on a couple of different sites, will edit and update when more info is available

Matchday1:
Inter-Bari, Juve-Chievo, Genoa-Roma, Palermo-Napoli, Siena-Milan, Udinese-Parma, Bologna-Fiorentina, Catania-Sampdoria

Matchday2: (partial) Milan-Inter, Roma-Juventus

Matchday 8: (partial) Milan-Roma, Genoa-Inter, Juventus-Fiorentina.

Matchday 15: (partial) Juventus-Inter, Roma-Lazio.

Mathdcay 19: (partial) Juventus-Milan

EDIT:

Here's Milan's full schedule:

1' giornata - 23 Agosto: SIENA-MILAN
2' giornata - 30 Agosto: MILAN-INTER
Domenica 6 Settembre - 1' Sosta Qualificazioni Mondiali 2010
3' giornata - 13 Settembre: LIVORNO-MILAN
15-16 Settembre - 1' Turno Fase a Gruppi Champions League 2009/2010
4' giornata - 20 Settembre: MILAN-BOLOGNA
5' giornata - 23 Settembre (1' turno infrasettimanale): UDINESE-MILAN
6' giornata - 27 Settembre: MILAN-BARI
29-30 Settembre - 2' Turno Fase a Gruppi Champions League 2009/2010
7' giornata - 4 Ottobre: ATALANTA-MILAN
Domenica 11 Ottobre - 2' Sosta Qualificazioni Mondiali 2010
8' giornata - 18 Ottobre: MILAN-ROMA
20-21 Ottobre - 3' Turno Fase a Gruppi Champions League 2009/2010
9' giornata - 25 Ottobre: CHIEVO-MILAN
10' giornata - 28 Ottobre (2' turno infrasettimanale): NAPOLI-MILAN
11' giornata - 1 Novembre: MILAN-PARMA
3-4 Novembre - 4' Turno Fase a Gruppi Champions League 2009/2010
12' giornata - 8 Novembre: LAZIO-MILAN
Domenica 15 Novembre - 3' Sosta Qualificazioni Mondiali 2010
13' giornata - 22 Novembre: MILAN-CAGLIARI
24-25 Novembre - 5' Turno Fase a Gruppi Champions League 2009/2010
14' giornata - 29 Novembre: CATANIA-MILAN
15' giornata - 6 Dicembre: MILAN-SAMPDORIA
8-9 Dicembre - 6' Turno Fase a Gruppi Champions League 2009/2010
16' giornata - 13 Dicembre: MILAN-PALERMO
17' giornata - 20 Dicembre: FIORENTINA-MILAN
Domenica 27 Dicembre e Domenica 3 Gennaio - Pausa Natalizia
18' giornata - 6 Gennaio 2010 (3' turno infrasettimanale): MILAN-GENOA
19' giornata - 10 Gennaio 2010: JUVENTUS-MILAN

EDIT: And heres a link to the lega calcio pretty graphic version. link

2nd match day derby intersting

Wow strange matchday for the derby

Yeah getting owned in august sounds wonderful can't wait

derby being so early mite not have that much of an effect on the title race the second one mite (only if somehow we will be in the race)

Horrible timing really when you think about it.
We look horrible at present - especially judging on our most recent meeting in US.

Okay, but then you might say - It could be a different story if we sign a few good players before the season starts.
I'm also thinking it could take them a while to settle in, anyway, we'll see.
I'm not saying we definitely will not will the derby because it is early, I'm just saying I think it would have played more into our favor had it been a later matchday.

Oh well can't change it - Time to get ready for battle early now.

I can't wait. It's interesting playing Juventus in the very last match day, that's probably going to be a title-decider for Juve at least.

big thanks Tennie!

I hope to God the last game of the season is meaningless for us, not exactly a team you want to play if it's important.

+1

I think to win the title a team needs to win against smaller sides not necessarily against the top 3 Inters and Juves.

Exactly, that title decider loss against Juve a couple of seasons ago still hurts...

Mainly, for sure that's where it's decided most of the time. I think we'll do well against the smaller sides this season but we'll probably not win any of the four games against Juventus and Inter. Though anything can happen in those matches.

+1 - Twas Brutal

I never understood that "if you want to win the title you have to win against the small teams" thing. To me, it's like someone says...to keep a clean sheet you have to put a goalkeeper on goal. I mean..yes...normally. Because Serie A is constituted of mostly "smaller" teams it is logicall that the one that beats them wins or is in advatage.

Its because everyone obsesses over the big games against Juve, Inter and Roma when in reality you don't win the league because you get those 18 points.

I know its obvious but a lot base things around the big matches, as if losing against Inter will do anything to your title hopes if you're winning against the smaller teams. Most of the big games are more about bragging right more then anything else

I think it's just that the big games will always be tough, so dropping points in these is not exactly unexpected. Losing points against small teams is unexpected though and they really will ruin your season.

If we won every game, but then lost to Juve and Inter home and away, we'd still win the league.

Basically what han & Kurt said - because they are more 'smaller' teams than 'big' teams.
Hence more points can be accrued against 'smaller' teams than 'bigger' ones.

Exactly, that title decider loss against Juve a couple of seasons ago still hurts...



against moggi yeah i agree

Of course we should not forget the psychologicall momentum a derby match provides for future games. But yes, we agree.