Beyond The Pitch - Gabriele Marcotti

Anto is joined by Gabriele Marcotti who writes and contributes to some of the top media outlets covering The Beautiful Game to evaluate this recent Michael Essien injury and whether it may kick into gear what Chelsea has in mind about its transfer business this summer and if it pushes Luca Modric to the front of queue. We also examine this period of tranquility at Chelsea early in the preseason as pragmatism seems the order of the day at the moment. We also examine what the recent communication between UEFA and Manchester City may mean in the bigger picture over Financial Fair Play adherence for the club even with its newest sponsorship arrangement. Then we turn the bulk of our attention to the recent information that has now emerged in Italy from the wiretaps that were not considered in the original Calciopoli trials and new allegations by the FIGC investigator who has declared that Inter seems to have been found in breach of Article 6 in retrospect. We take a look back at the original charges, place Moggi and Juventus back into light as it was seen from the related evidence to determine what the core of the issue was and frame it against the recent disclosures by the FIGC and how these are being interpreted by Andrea Agnelli for the purpose of reclaiming the vacated titles themselves. We also cover the divide and conquer game that club presidents employ when scandal erupts in Italy and try to untangle some of the hypocrisies leveled by the clubs and the supporters themselves. We also get into the concept of influencing match officials across a variety of leagues and the World Cup itself where referee organizations are lobbied by any number of clubs, national teams and federations to their own gain. None of it is match fixing by standard, but it is indeed an attempt to influence the matches themselves. We close on the matters of Copa America favorites Brazil and Argentina and how they may both be underperforming, but that there are a number of different symptoms to the same disease including expectations, team selections and poor form for a variety of reasons which we explore in some detail.

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