Italian Serie A 2012-2013

[Porthos]

Italian Serie A

Tomorow, August 25, 2012, the new 2012/2013 season starts. Poor Serie A. From a once dominant European competition in the 80s and 90s, it is now in precipitous decline and was recently overtaken by Bundesliga in UEFA rankings... There are many issues here, from (yet another) betting scandal (Juventus coach Antonio Conte was banned from attending games for 10 months, many players disqualified, Lecce relegated to third division) to crumbling infrastructure and stadia, from departing star-players to extreme financial hardship for many teams. Juventus seems to be by far the dominant power, Inter and AC Milan are definitely weaker this year, their owners trying to reign in spending drammatically. Possible surprises Napoli, Roma.

Here's how last year's competition ended:

Here's this year situation:

- Teams and stadia (3 teams from Serie B were Promoted: Pescara, Torino and Sampdoria):

- Locations:

The value of the teams (the value of player's cadre accorfing to transfermarkt) and the percentage of the foreign players:
Juventus 323.400.000 € 38.7%
Internazionale 252.850.000 € 78.8%
Milan 204.925.000 € 53.6%
Napoli 179.150.000 € 47.8%
Roma 155.950.000 € 64.3%
Fiorentina 126.750.000 € 70.4%
Lazio 123.550.000 € 60.6%
Udinese 97.800.000 € 77.4%
Genoa 83.225.000 € 60%
Palermo 76.450.000 € 67.7%
Parma 64.800.000 € 43.3%
Cagliari 64.225.000 € 46.2%
Atalanta 62.400.000 € 27.6%
Sampdoria 61.650.000 € 50%
Bologna 58.650.000 € 43.8%
Catania 54.475.000 € 56.3%
Torino 50.575.000 € 37.9%
Chievo 42.650.000 € 46.9%
Pescara 32.075.000 € 35.3%
Siena 28.575.000 € 24.2%

As far as nationalities are concerned, Serie A is now less than half Italian, i.e. 51.5% are foreigners and many "Italians" are really naturalized foreign citizens. Compared to other "big" leagues, it has the most foreign players after the English Premier League. Here's the data:
Payers Total - 600
Foreign Players - 311 51.5 %
Compared to foreign players in other top leagues:
England 62.9% (however this percentage includes players from Scotland, Wells, N. Ireland)
Germany 49.8%
France 40.7% (however, many "French" players are really Africans and Arabs)
Spain 34.5%

Foreign players by country (number of players and percentage of the total of foreign players, i.e. not percentage of all players):
Argentina 54 17,4%
Brazil 47 15,1%
Uruguay 25 8,0%
France 15 4,8%
Serbia 15 4,8%
Switzerl. 12 3.9%
Chile 11 3,5%
Colombia 10 3,2%
Spain 9 2,9%
Ghana 9 2,9%
Slovenia 9 2,9%
Sweden 8 2,6%
Romania 6 1,9%
Belgium 5 1,6%
Senegal 5 1,6%
Slovakia 5 1,6%
Nigeria 4 1,3%
Paraguay 4 1,3%
Peru 3 1,0%
Hungary 3 1,0%
Greece 3 1,0%
Austria 3 1,0%
Germany 3 1,0%
Albania 3 1,0%
Netherlands 3 1,0%
Poland 3 1,0%
Croatia 3 1,0%
Denmark 3 1,0%
Lithuania 2 0.6%
Czech 2 0.6%
Japan 2 0.6%
Morocco 2 0.6%
Montenegro 2 0.6%
Bosnia 2 0.6%
Macedonia 1 0.3%
Algeria 1 0.3%
Venezuela 1 0.3%
Kenya 1 0.3%
Guine 1 0.3%
Egypt 1 0.3%
Israel 1 0.3%
Tunisia 1 0.3%
USA 1 0.3%
Cote Ivoire 1 0.3%
Iceland 1 0.3%
Mali 1 0.3%
Sierra L. 1 0.3%
Finland 1 0.3%
Portugal 1 0.3%

On the racial front, there is a mix of good news / bad news. The good news is that Serie A is still an overwhelmingly White league. Most of the foreign players are White South Americans or Europeans. The racial breakdown (by my estimate) is Whites 85%, Blacks 11.3%, Arabs 1.3%, Mesitzos/Amerindians 1.5%, Asians 0.3%, Turks 0.3%, Jews 0.1%. Here are the non-white players by country of origin and team.

Out of a total of 600 players, non-Whites are:

Blacks: 68 (11.3%)

Udinese: 11 blacks
Maicosuel - Brasil/Udinese
Jean-Alain Fanchone - France/Udinese
Allan - Brasil/Udinese
Mohamadou Sissoko - France/Udinese
Pablo Armero - Colombia/Udinese
Luis Muriel - Colombia/Udinese
Emmanuel Badu - Ghana/Udinese
Christian Obodo - Nigeria/Udinese
Odion Ighalo - Nigeria/Udinese
Allan - Brasil/Udinese
Williams - Brasil/Udinese

Milan: 9 blacks
Robinho - Brasil/Milan
Jonathan - Brasil/Milan
Cristian Zapata - Colombia/Milan
Kevin-Prince Boateng - Ghana/Milan
Sulley Muntari - Ghana/Milan
Urby Emanuelson - Netherlands/Milan
Kévin Constant - Guinea/Milan
Bakaye Traoré - Mali/Milan
Rodney Strasser - Sierra Leone/Milan

Inter: 8 blacks
Alvaro Pereira - Uruguay/Inter
Fredy Guarín - Colombia/Inter
Gaby Mudingayi - Belgium/Inter
Ibrahima Mbaye - Senegal/Inter
Joel Obi - Nigeria/Inter
McDonald Mariga - Kenya/Inter
Juan - Brasil/Inter
Alfred Duncan - Italy/Inter

Lazio: 6 blacks
Abdoulay Konko - France/Lazio
Modibo Diakité - France/Lazio
Luis Pedro Cavanda - Belgium/Lazio
Ogenyi Onazi - Nigeria/Lazio
Andre Diaz - Brasil/Lazio
Hernanes - Brasil/Lazio


Torino: 4 blacks
Abou Diop - Senegal/Torino
Angelo Ogbonna - Italy/Torino
Lys Gomis - Italy/Torino
AlfredGomis - Italy/Torino

Parma: 4 blacks
Jonathan Biabiany - France/Parma
Dorlan Pabón - Colombia/Parma
Afriyie Acquah - Ghana/Parma
Fabiano Santacroce - Italy/Parma

Fiorentina: 4 blacks
Juan Cuadrado - Colombia/Fiorentina
Nii Nortey Ashong - Ghana/Fiorentina
Kenneth Zohore - Denmark/Fiorentina
Romulo - Italy/Fiorentina


Juventus: 3 blacks
Paul Pogba - France/Juventus
Richmond Boakye - Ghana/Juventus
Kwadwo Asamoah - Ghana/Juventus

Chievo: 3 blacks
Marcos De Paula - Brasil/Chievo
Isaac Cofie - Ghana/Chievo
Boukary Dramé - Senegal/Chievo

Catania: 3 blacks
Amidu Salifu - Ghana/Catania
Souleymane Doukara - Senegal/Catania
Alex Rolin - Uruguay/Catania

Pescara: 3 blacks
David Mbodj Mbaye - Senegal/Pescara
Juan Quintero - Colombia/Pescara
Jonathas - Brasil/Pescara

Atalanta: 3 blacks
Adriano Ferreira Pinto - Brasil/Atalanta
Moussa Koné - Cote d'Ivoire/Atalanta

Siena: 2 blacks
Angelo - Brasil/Siena
Reginaldo - Brasil/Siena

Napoli: 1 black
Camilo Zúniga - Colombia/Napoli

Cagliari: 1 black
Víctor Ibarbo - Colombia/Cagliari

Sampdoria: 1 black
Pedro Obiang - Spain/Sampdoria

Palermo: 1 black
Abel Fernandez - Uruguay/Palermo

Genoa: 1 black
Anselmo - Brasil/Genoa

Bologna: 1 black
Roger Carvalho - Brasil/Bologna

Turks: 2 (0.3%)
Gökhan Inler - Switzerland/Napoli
Mervan Celik - Sweden/Pescara

Arabs: 8 (1.3%)
Ishak Belfodil - France/Parma
Yohan Benalouane - Tunisia/Parma
Mounir El Hamdaoui - Morocco/Fiorentina
Ahmed Hegazy - Egypt/Fiorentina
Mehdi Benatia - Morocco/Udinese
Djamel Mesbah - Algeria/Milan
Stephan El Sharawi - Italy/Milan
Saphir Taider - France/Bologna

Mesitzos/Amerindians: 9 (1.5%)
Daniel Martínez - Paraguay/Genoa
Rinaldo Cruzado - Peru/Genoa
Carlos Labrín - Chile/Palermo
Arturo Vidal - Chile/Juventus
Rafael Romo - Venezuela/Udinese
Edinson Cavani - Uruguay/Napoli
Marquinhos - Brasil/Roma
Matuzalem - Brasil/Lazio
Marcelo Estegarribia - Italy/Sampdoria

Asians: 2 (0.3%)
Takayuki Morimoto - Japan/Catania
Yuto Nagatomo - Japan/Inter

Jews: 1 (0.1%)
Eran Zahavi - Israel/Palermo


The bad news is that even serie A is darkening. We can see teams like Juventus (which in the past had minimal number of black players) acquiring 3 Africans, and even a traditionally right-wing/nationalistic team like Lazio having 6, which is astonishing. AC Milan is as colored as ever and Inter traditionally cosmopolitan with Italians being a tyny minority. Probably the most disgusting team is Udinese (the "Italian Beveren") which is really a reselling agency for players from the Third World than a real team. They have 11 Blacks, 1 Arab and 1 Amerindian, which is astonishing from a provincial team. Sending their scouts to the four corners of the World, buying (mostly) colored players on the cheap and using Serie A as a shop-window for the big teams has been their main business model for years now.

Serie A lost some star players this transfer season (Ibrahimovic from AC Milan, Lavezzi from Napoli etc.) and there were no "big" newcomers. The largest incoming transfer appearently being that of Alvaro Pereira from Porto to Inter Milan for 11M Euros, not a very large sum in top European football. This continues the trend that sees this league being less and less attractive for top players (which may not be a bad thing in my opinion, see my post "Against modern football").

And last, but not least, some things to watch:
- Will Juventus be dominant again?
- How will the exchange Cassano-Pazzini between AC Milan and Inter Milan play out?
- See how some coaches will do - Stramaccioni at Inter, the Czech Zeman at Roma, the Bosnian/Croat Petkovic at Lazio...
- See how low AC Milan and/or Inter can fall
- See if there is a team that can challenge the "big 3" (my choices for possible surprises - Roma and Napoli)
- See if some new star players emerge (my choice, Insigne from Napoli)
- See how some oldtimers hold their own (Totti, Zanetti)
- See who is going to be the dissapointment of the season (my choices - Fiorentina and Lazio who spent a lot on colored players)

For those (like myself) who follow Serie A - enjoy!

 

[frederic38]

great infos porthos, it's great to have a serie A thread
these infos complete arend's racial breakdowns perfectly: http://www.castefootball.us/forums/...tios-2012-2013?p=253643&viewfull=1#post253643

because the league is pretty white (but in the process of getting blacker as you said) but there are also too many argentines
while having the best argentines and uruguayans in the italian league like batistuta, crespo, recoba, helped italy to be more competitive, having some clubs with more than 50% strangers hurts italy

ac milan is in the process of becoming a french "ligue 1" club, it's dying, very sad
we joke about it a lot in france but we are actually sad

who is going to play in ac milan's defense? do you have any idea?

i'm rooting for as roma, juventus
and against internazionale (for what they did to forlan)

 

[frederic38]

AC milan losing 1-0 against sampdoria at home...who would have thought?

ac milan started the match with 4 non-whites, including 2 blacks and an arab
then 2 blacks came in

 

[Porthos]

I watched the Milan game and they definitely need a strong central defender. They played Bonera and Yepes as central defenders and the goal came from a corner exactly in that area. Here's the picture of the goal, with Boateng (N. 10) making only a token attempt to jump, and Bonera (25) being cought completely out of place by the goal scorer (Costa, N. 3 in white). Whenever you get this king of goals from set pieces, it's clear there is something wrong with the defence:

They also have Mexes (which I think was injured) and the new Spanish guy Didac Villa for that position but he is also injured. Milan definitely looked very weak both in the central defense area as well as in attack where both the megaflop Robinho as well as the El Sharawy (both favorites of the coach) looked completely lost. Too bad Maxi Lopez did not stay, he definitely should have had a place in this year's Milan. Pazzini came in the last 15-20 minutes, but barely received a pass or two.
Maxi played for Sampdoria the last 15-20 minutes. He did OK, but played too little to be commented.
AC Milan is o weak they will have to buy someone in the last days of the transfer window or may struggle to even qualify in Europa League next year. It got so bad some of the subscribers even asked for a refund once they sold their key players. Already there are rumors Kaka is coming back from Real Madrid, but I'm not sure how much he can contribute at this point. The other Brasilian, Pato is constantly injured.
On the positive note, Milan played a pretty good Mattia De Schiglio on the right fullback position. He will probably be a substitute for Abate, but definitely a White player to keep an eye on. Finally a player from the youth team who took the place of the black flop Taiwo. Sampdoria's left fullback (who scored a goal) Andrea Costa was the player of the match.
Very impressive performances by both Juventus as well as Inter (with Sneijder offering a top performance, as he always does when he comes from the left side) and Napoli. Roma started with a home draw against Catania. The "African" Udinese lost their first game against Fiorentina.

Results:
Milan - Sampdoria 0:1
Pescara - Inter 0:3
Palermo - Napoli 0:3
Fiorentina - Udinese 2:1
Siena - Torino 0:0
Roma - Catania 2:2
Atalanta - Lazio 0:1
Genoa - Cagliari 2:0
Chievo - Bologna 2:0
Juventus - Parma 2:0

Inter	1	1	0	0	3	3
Napoli	1	1	0	0	3	3
Chievo	1	1	0	0	2	3
Genoa	1	1	0	0	2	3
Juventus	1	1	0	0	2	3
Fiorentina	1	1	0	0	1	3
Lazio	1	1	0	0	1	3
Sampdoria	1	1	0	0	1	2
Catania	1	0	1	0	0	1
AS Roma	1	0	1	0	0	1
Torino	1	0	1	0	0	0
Udinese	1	0	0	1	-1	0
Milan	1	0	0	1	-1	0
Bologna	1	0	0	1	-2	0
Cagliari	1	0	0	1	-2	0
Parma	1	0	0	1	-2	0
Palermo	1	0	0	1	-3	0
US Pescara	1	0	0	1	-3	0
Atalanta	1	0	0	1	-1	-2
Siena	1	0	1	0	0	-5

From the standings you can see some teams were penalized for the betting scandal last year.
Next round the match to play will be Inter - Roma.

 

[Matra2]

Good to see Torino back in Serie A. That was the team I followed when I first started watching Serie A. Unfortunately, a lot of the years I've had access to Serie A coverage were seasons when Torino were in Serie B so I usually supported Lazio and Milan instead. (I've never lived in a country where we got Serie B on TV). I definitely won't be cheering for the Rossoneri with their star player Robinho(!) this season.

Here's Torino's squad for 2012-13:

http://www.torinofc.it/index.php?option=com_joomleague&func=showPlayers&p=73&tid=705&Itemid=187

 

[frederic38]

mexes is rumored to have fitness problems
back then i thought that mexes wasn't good enough for milan, but now...

they also have acerbi who could play i guess? i never saw him play
and ofcourse there's bruno uvini who dreams about playing for ac milan

very bad decision to sell maxi lopez, he was not given any chance to succeed at milan, every time he played he did well but he almost never played

i won't even mention the latest transfert rumors for ac milan because they are so pathetic

both the megaflop Robinho as well as the El Sharawy (both favorites of the coach) looked completely lost.

i don't know if the coach is the one to blame, i don't know him enough
el shaarawy could be the player intended to draw attention from the arab countries, in this case he would have no other choice but having him as a regular starter ( http://www.castefootball.us/forums/...in-real-madrid?p=251983&viewfull=1#post251983 )
as for robinho, he's a very expansive player so that's probably why he will always be a titular as long as he stays in ac milan
the real question is: why is he still at ac milan?
i saw that allegri insulted robinho for his bad match, not sure about it though

Here's Torino's squad for 2012-13:

they seem to have a partnership with senegal
2 gomis brothers as goalkeepers hwell:
but good team overall, only ogbonna will play i guess

 

[frederic38]

another black player for lazio, ciani:

he's a central defender/clown
his club (bordeaux) played with 3 whites and 8 blacks in their last match, it didn't look even remotely like football
this guy made french fans laugh a lot, now it's time to show his talent to a new audience i guess

 

[Matra2]

2 gomis brothers as goalkeepers

I noticed that but the Belgian Gillet will be their No1. I doubt either brother will get much action unless Gillet is hurt.

 

[Porthos]

Torino are the archrivals of Juventus. It's also the team of the city of Turin (until recently there were many more Torino fans in Turin than juventus fans, however, Juve had many more fans across Italy, especially in the south). I once liked torino as a counter to Juventus which was the team of the Italian establishment (especially the Agnelli family, the owners of the Fiat car manufacturer) and they have a decent team in the 70s. However, Torino dropped from sight for many years, and today Torino is a shadow of its former self, while I can appreciate Juve as a club that always was reluctant to include too many coloreds in their team. And yes, Gillet is the titular goalkeeper, and a great one at that! Let's hope he doesn't get injured.

Lazio, as mentioned, was traditionally the right-wing nationalistic team (it is rumored that Mussolini himself was a Lazio supporter). Their ultras (the "Irriducibili") are well known for their right wing politics and their dislike of colored players and immigration in general. See, for example this:
[video=youtube;lacuDK-5FC0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lacuDK-5FC0[/video]

It is inconceivable the ownership of such a club decided to have not 1, not 2, not 3 but 7 blacks in their roster!

 

[frederic38]

Lazio, as mentioned, was traditionally the right-wing nationalistic team (it is rumored that Mussolini himself was a Lazio supporter). Their ultras (the "Irriducibili") are well known for their right wing politics and their dislike of colored players and immigration in general.

while it seems totally true that lazio has the most racist fans, i heard that historically the fascit team was as roma, the rivals
AS roma was technically founded by the fascists, that's why
that's what shamefull lazio suporters usually say to as roma fans when the topic of fascism is brought up
but it's possible that both clubs were very close to fascism


lazio when they had crespo was my 2nd favorite club, after real madrid

in italy there are a lot of racist suporters:

these are AS roma fans

in france there are a lot of right wings suporters too, especially in paris saint germain and lyon
but you don't see that kind of flags
in spain sometimes i see these kind of flags too

 

[Matra2]

AS Roma is seen as a team of the Left even though in recent decades as Italy has moved rightwards politically AS Roma now has lots of right wing 'ultra' fan associations. One of the reasons suggested for the anti-Semitism of Lazio supporters is that the Jewish community of Rome traditionally supports AS Roma. I know of a few Italian TV celebrities who are Roma fans and all of them are supporters of the Left. I think Francesco Totti supported the Socialists in an election a few years ago. I'd imagine a lot of their supporters are also government employees who are usually left wing. However, the Wikipedia article on the Rome Derby (Derby della Capitale) says it's a mistake to think Roma fans are left wing.

 

[Porthos]

In the past, Roma was predominantly a left wing team (as opposed to the right-wing Lazio). However in the last 10-15 years Roma fans turned definitely to the right with the creation of several right-wing supporter organizations (Tradizione-Destinazione, Boys)... much to the annoyance of the Lazio fans who saw this as an encroachment on their political turf. There is still a remnant of an old 70s-style left-wing Roma supporter group called "The Fedayins"...
The Italian police follows the fan scene very closely and releases reports on the fan scene. The last one released - a bit dated, from 2003 - researched the fans from 128 teams in Serie A, Serie B, C1 and C2 (now C1 and C2 are called Lega Pro, as leagues are not called with intuitive names anymore). From these 128 teams, 27 were considered right-wing, 15 left-wing, the others neutral/apolitical (see http://www.asromaultras.org/rapporto0203_connotazione_politica.pdf in Italian). From 2003 with the immigration situation worsened significantlly, and I would say the fan scene there definitely moved to the right. Left wing teams were usually from the traditionally "red" regions like Toscana, Emilia, Liguria, Umbria (Toscana and Emilia were the "blackest" regions under Fascism, but turned completely communist after WWII... these were the strongholds of the Italian communist party, which used to be very strong until the early 90s). The right wing teams mostly come from Rome and the surrounding areas, the North-East, the South. Here's a list of the political preferences (in my opinion) for some teams from the top leagues, this as far as I remember from several years ago and from snippets of info I have found on the web... This is the politics of the organized supporter groups. Most ordinary fans are apolitical.

Atalanta: Used to be left-wing, but recently a lot of "Lega Nord" right wing separatist movement supporters
Bologna: Traditionally left wing
Cagliari: apolitical/neutral
Chievo Verona: apolitical/neutral
Fiorentina: Traditionally left wing
Inter: traditionally right wing (Viking Ultras, Boys) or extreme right-wing
Juventus: Right-wing (Drughi, Viking) with some extreme right-wing fringes (Fighters, Irriducibili)
Lazio: Extreme right-wing (Irriducibili, Banda Noantri etc.)
Livorno: Extreme left-wing (Fronte di Resistenza Ultras, Brigate autonome)
Milan: apolitical/neutral to left-wing (Fossa dei leoni, Commandos, Brigate Rossonere)
Palermo: Right-wing (Brigate Rosanero e Warriors Ultras Palermo, Legione-FDG, Skins)
Parma: apolitical/neutral
Roma: Right-wing (Boys,Tradizione Distinzione)
Sampdoria: apolitical/neutral
Siena: apolitical/neutral
Udinese: Used to be right-wing
Genoa: Traditionally left-wing (Vecchi Orsi)
Torino: Used to be mostly left-wing, now neutral/apolitical/mixed
Pescara: apolitical/neutral/mixed
Napoli: Mostly right-wing
Catania: Mostly right-wing (Boys, Falange d'assalto, Ultras ghetto, Irriducibili)


Some sides in lower leagues (Serie B and lower):
Ascoli: Traditionally very right-wing (Gioventu BN, Settembre bianconero)
Bari: Traditionally right-wing (Arditi, Ultras)
Brescia: right-wing, "Lega Nord"
Catanzaro: Traditionally right-wing
Cesena: apolitical/neutral
Empoli: left-wing (Rangers,Desperados,Blu Boys)
Modena: Mostly left-wing
Perugia: apolitical/neutral
Piacenza: Right-wing
Salernitana: right-wing (Viking Salernitana)
Ternana: Extreme left-wing (Fronte di Resistenza Ultras)
Treviso: right-wing
Verona: Extreme right-wing, one of the most racist (Birgate Gialloblu, Gioventù scaligera, Verona Front, Banda
Loma), some years ago they hung a black puppet during a game when the management wanted to buy a black player who was then not bought
Varese: Extreme right-wing (Blood & Honour), recently left the game after "their" black player scored, the player is in the process of being sold

 

[Porthos]

Milan looking for "reinforcements" in France: 17 years old forward Mbaye Niang from Caen will almost certainly join, Montpellier defender Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa may also join.
http://www.calciomercato.com/news/a...ka-won-t-join-juventus-keen-on-two-fio-876244

Mbaye Niang, possible Milan reinforcement:

 

[frederic38]

Milan looking for "reinforcements" in France: 17 years old forward Mbaye Niang from Caen will almost certainly join, Montpellier defender Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa may also join.
http://www.calciomercato.com/news/a...ka-won-t-join-juventus-keen-on-two-fio-876244

the transfert is almost done
do you remember the first time you saw him? it was here:

http://www.castefootball.us/forums/...lack-attackers?p=246717&viewfull=1#post246717

he is featured at 0.40 in the caen video

here is the new ac milan striker:

http://www.castefootball.us/forums/...lack-attackers?p=256285&viewfull=1#post256285

 

[Matra2]

Verona: Extreme right-wing, one of the most racist (Birgate Gialloblu, Gioventù scaligera, Verona Front, Banda
Loma), some years ago they hung a black puppet during a game when the management wanted to buy a black player who was then not bought

Yes, that would be Hellas Verona. About ten years ago British author Tim Parks wrote a book about a season he spent following this Verona team to every match with their ultra fans:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Season-Verona-Illusions-National-Character/dp/0099422670

One of the things he mentioned was that despite their politics Hellas Verona and Fiorentina fans got along well because they had mutual team enemies so I don't know how much the politics matter.

Milan might have been left wing in the past but today the team's mostly working class followers vote for the right.

 

[Porthos]

Yes, that would be Hellas Verona. About ten years ago British author Tim Parks wrote a book about a season he spent following this Verona team to every match with their ultra fans:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Season-Verona-Illusions-National-Character/dp/0099422670

One of the things he mentioned was that despite their politics Hellas Verona and Fiorentina fans got along well because they had mutual team enemies so I don't know how much the politics matter.

Milan might have been left wing in the past but today the team's mostly working class followers vote for the right.

I know this author from his book "Italian Neighbours", he's a good writer. I was looking for a book to read and will definitely take a look.
Verona won Serie A in 1985 to the astonishment of all, with a very "economical" squad. They fielded the German Briegel (a very physical ex decathlon competitor), the Dane Elkjaer, the ex-Juve reject forward Galderisi and some other good players, great year for them. However - it was downhill from there. They went through the play-offs for serie A promotion this year but lost to Varese, if I'm not wrong (Varese then lost to Sampdoria). They have a large and passionate fan-base, as opposed to Chievo Verona which has very few fans and is a somehow "artificial" team owned by a food-industry magnate for his own entertainment. Hope Verona makes it to serie A next year.

You're right that Milan traditionally was the team of the working class in Milan (Inter was the team of the bourgeoisie). However after being acquired by Berlusconi, the fan base is mixed, and the working class (or whatever is left of it) indeed increasingly votes for right-wing parties, in Italy as well as in other parts of Europe with the (completely naive) expectation that parties like the Conservatives in the UK or Forza Italia/PDL in Italy or UMP in France will change anything.

 

[frederic38]

uvini to napoli? i don't understand italian but it seems that he will play for napoli: http://www.calcionapoli24.it/?action=read&idnotizia=77545
meanwhile ac milan want yanga mbiwa
remember that uvini said that he only wanted to play in italy, and that he would have prefered to play in ac milan since his grandfather was from milan

 

[Rebajlo]

Porthos -

Great work, mate !

All of my favourite clubs (Atalanta, Torino, and Fiorentina) happen to be in the top flight this season...

I noticed that You count Albanians like Torino's Migjen Basha (who came on in the second half of the season opener against Siena) as Whites. Well, I guess that it's a matter of appearance versus culture but not to worry, everyone's "interpretation" is a bit different... :icon_wink:

Anyway, an excellent Serie A summary! :thumb:

 

[Porthos]

Some last minute transfers in Serie A:

Milan bought Bojan Krkic (the Barca reject that didn't do much last year in Roma), and Nigel De Jong (yet another black defensive middlefielder - replacement for Van Bommel?
Napoli brought Bruno Uvini (Frederic is fond of this player, I'm curious to see him play)
Genoa brought Marco Boriello (he did decent in Roma, but was sidelined in Juve and Milan, he might do good in a smaller team)
Fiorentina brought Luca Toni (the 35 years oldtimer from WC 2006 memory... let's go Luca, old guys rule)
Udinese acquired Ranegie (another Black "Swede"...)
Juventus acquired Niklas Bendtner (this is a very interesting acquisition, he did great at the Euro 2012 scoring goals for Denmark agains the Netherlands and Germany, quality player in my opinion, could do good in a team with great passers like Pirlo or Marchisio...)
Bologna acquired Alberto Gilardino (another ex. national team player, will he revive his career in Bologna?)

Next round played tomorrow and on Sunday will have some interesting games:

- Bologna - Milan - will Milan show some signs of life? I don't think so, but...
- Udinese - Juve - I predict an easy Juve victory against the Black-heavy home team
- Inter - Roma - the derby, a surprise Roma victory is not out of question

Rebajlo - thanks for the compliments. By the way - rumour has it that Alex Del Piero will end his career playing for Sydney...

 

[Porthos]

Interesting results in this Serie A round.
Juventus destroyed the heavily Black Udinese in Udine (4:1) with two goals scored by Giovinco, one of my favourite players in Serie A (nicknamed "Atomic Ant" because of his small stature and great energy) and confirmed it is in great shape.
Roma won over Inter in Milan with a great performace of the ageing Francesco Totti who made two assists.
Milan won 3:1 over Bologna in Bologna with a hat-trick from Pazzini (whi couldn't score in Inter). This was actually a pretty difficult victory with the game open until the last 12 minutes and Milan benefitting from a ridiculous penalty.
Only two goals were scored from non-Whites - I.Bedofil (Arab/French) from Parma and E.Cavani (Amerindian/Uruguay) for Napoli.
Results/table:

Torino-Pescara 3:0
Udiniese-Juventus 1:4
Bologna-Milan 1:3
Inter-Roma 1:3
Sampdoria-Siena 2:1
Cagliari-Atalanta 1:1
Napoli-Fiorentina 2:1
Lazio-Palermo 3:0
Parma-Chievo 2:0
Catania-Genoa 3:2

Table

1	Juventus	2	2	0	0	6	6	1
2	Napoli	2	2	0	0	6	5	1
3	Lazio	2	2	0	0	6	4	0
4	Sampdoria	2	2	0	0	5	3	1
5	AS Roma	2	1	1	0	4	5	3
6	Catania	2	1	1	0	4	5	4
7	Torino	2	1	1	0	3	3	0
8	Genoa	2	1	0	1	3	4	3
9	Inter Milan	2	1	0	1	3	4	3
10	AC Milan	2	1	0	1	3	3	2
11	Fiorentina	2	1	0	1	3	3	3
12	Chievo Verona	2	1	0	1	3	2	2
13	Parma	2	1	0	1	3	2	2
14	Cagliari	2	0	1	1	1	1	3
15	Udinese	2	0	0	2	0	2	6
16	Bologna	2	0	0	2	0	1	5
17	Palermo	2	0	0	2	0	0	6
18	Pescara	2	0	0	2	0	0	6
19	Atalanta	2	0	1	1	-1	1	2
20	Siena	2	0	1	1	-5	1	2

 

[frederic38]

and maxi lopez's team won again!
they should be leading serie A

here is maxi lopez's goal: http://youtu.be/Mh1xgc_nGRA?t=1m39s
there was also a wrongfully disallowed goal scored by maxi lopez

he wasn't good enough to succeed at ac milan? what a joke!

[video=youtube_share;wCpVqOXucZY]http://youtu.be/wCpVqOXucZY[/video]

 

[Porthos]

Some last minute transfers in Serie A:
...
Juventus acquired Niklas Bendtner (this is a very interesting acquisition, he did great at the Euro 2012 scoring goals for Denmark agains the
...
By the way - rumour has it that Alex Del Piero will end his career playing for Sydney...

Bendter declared "too fat" for Juve http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2198888/Nicklas-Bendtner-fat-say-Juventus.html It's amazing how fit and lean the players have to be today. When the great Ferenc Puskas signed for Real Madrid in 1958, he was reportedly 15+ kilograms overweight. It is rumored that he maintained his "bonvivant" lifestyle (eating, drinking, ladies) throughout his stay. It didn't matter! He played a prominent role in Real winning La Liga and the champion's league (then called "European Cup") multiple times in the late 50s / early 60s... he scored 242 goals in 262 games for them. How's that for "fat"? Totally different story in today's robotic football where every player has a GPS chip implanted the shoes and must run no less than 10-12 km per game. I'm digressing - it's a topic for the "modern football" thread.

Alex Del Piero in deed signs for Sydney FC http://www.theaustralian.com.au/spo...ey-ticket-record/story-fn63e0vj-1226466814829 I think good news for football in Australia, a player I always greatly admired.

 

[frederic38]

i wonder if bendtner would have been considerd overweight during the 2012 euro champs, or if he really put on weight during the vacations

 

[Porthos]

i wonder if bendtner would have been considerd overweight during the 2012 euro champs, or if he really put on weight during the vacations

It seems he was given time by Arsene Wenger to find a new team and was not practicing with Arsenal:
"The Denmark striker was given permission by Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger to miss a large portion of summer training in order to find himself a new club following his year on loan at Sunderland.But the lack of pre-season conditioning has caught up with Bendtner, 24, with Juve coaches saying he is carrying too much weight to play in Serie A."

 

[Matra2]

Milan losing 1-0 at home to Atalanta. Milan look slightly whiter than the last time I saw them - where's Robinho? - but the quality isn't there. This looks like it will be a bad season for the Rossoneri.