7 August 2006

Van der Meyde's Drink Spiked

Everton winger Andy van der Meyde, who recently denied he was an alcoholic, was taken to hospital from him home in the early hours of the morning complaining of sickness after returning from a night out, which is against club rules. Van der Meyde's partner claims his drink was spiked.

A Merseyside Police spokeswoman said :

"Police were called at 2:40 am (to van der Meyde's home) by a woman saying her
partner had had his drink spiked. He was taken to Arrowe Park hospital.
Inquiries have been made at bars in Liverpool city centre and closed-circuit
television footage is being examined."

An Everton spokesman said :

"I can confirm that Andy van der Meyde spent the night in Arrowe Park hospital
after being admitted on Monday morning suffering from illness. His progress is
currently being monitored by hospital staff. The club will be making no further
comment on the incident until after Merseyside Police has concluded its ongoing
investigation into the circumstances surrounding Andy's admission into
hospital."


6 August 2006

Calciopoli Investigator Blasts Sentences

Francesco Borrelli, the chief investigator in the Calciopoli trial, has criticised the CAF's (Federal Court of Appeal) decision to reduce the sentences of the four
clubs involved in the Calciopoli scandal :

"We had noticed there was a strange climate around football with tacit agreements that made compromises likely. You could certainly say this was a 'generous' verdict and a decision of this kind is not good for football, let alone our international reputation. I think that to move forward we should've been harsher on these sides rather than reduce the sentences."

"I think that Sandulli's (The President of the CAF) lecture was out of place and
he could've avoided that comment. Nobody has ever said the sporting justice
system includes guilt by association. We pointed out that it was wrong to talk
of a Mafia-like organisation but rather view it as a wide-ranging negative sensibility. Within the football world, people could count on this attitude to achieve illegal ends. It was a corrupt environment."


4 August 2006

Court of Appeal Defends Calciopoli Reductions

The President of the CAF (Federal Court of Appeal), Pietro Santulli, has
defended the reductions in sentence given to the four clubs involved in the
Calciopoli trail :

"Moggi was responsible for serious episodes of sporting fraud, both over time,
in particular the 2004-2005 season, and his behaviour which was aimed at
creating a structure that would alter the competition through conditioning of
refereeing decisions. As his illicit design was eventually successful, he damaged the public's faith in the fairness of sporting competition. To metaphorically speaking survive in Serie A, it was necessary to bow down to Moggi's will. The behaviour of Moggi and Antonio Giraudo cannot be compared to the other directors (Andrea Della
Valle and Sandro Mencucci of Fiorentina), whose actions had nowhere near the same causal effect. The Juventus representatives had the full and concrete intention of falsifying the table by conditioning referees, whose decisions were influenced by Moggi and Giraudo."

On Lazio (initially relegated to Serie B now back in Serie A) :

"No referees were named in the inquiry or punished for their part in the three games that President Claudio Lotito spoke about with refereeing designator Paolo Bergamo. Therefore it is illogical to consider this a sporting fraud."

On Milan's refereeing liaison Leonardo Meani :

"He may well be a low ranking official in the club but he did clearly overstep
his boundaries in a bid to favour his side."

"The Juventus directors were certainly highly poisonous in their systematic and
organised stability. This means their position in this trial is incomparable to
the others."


1 August 2006

Linekar To Divorce

Legendary England striker and World Class anchor of BBC football, Gary Linekar,
is to separate form his wife Michelle after 20 years of marriage on the grounds
of "unreasonable behaviour".

It's rumoured Linekar, who has developed great charisma in recent years
following appearances on Adult quiz show 'Have I Got News For You' has had a
series of affairs. Linekar will move out of his mansion in West London where his wife and four sons will remain.