Colour Me Impressed

Within hours of the Azurri qualifying for the Second Phase of the World Cup with a comfortable 2 - 0 victory over the Czech Republic, that condemned the vanquished to an unexpectedly early exit, the Italian FA have announced charges against thirty subjects - twenty six people and four clubs - in response to investigations into irregularities over the appointment of match officials and match fixing. The four clubs involved, Juventus, AC Milan, SS Lazio and Fiorentina, face a range of punishments including fines, points deductions and relegations. Three of the four had qualified for next seasons Champions League whilst Lazio were in the UEFA Cup. The biggest target appears to be Juventus, winners of the Scudetto, and Milan, perennial challengers for the Champions League. Should they be found guilty at their trials next week, the Italian media is speculating that Juve will find themselves playing Serie C1 football next year, Milan in Serie B whilst Fiorentina and Lazio would receive fines and points deductions, adversely impacting their finishing positions in the 2005 / 06 season to ensure that they miss out on European football in the coming season. None of the twenty six people charged are players yet over half of the Italian World Cup squad would be impacted, more still from the squads of other participating nations. It remains to be seen if this has any effect on players such as Dida, Imbrahimovich and Kaka. Whilst they may not feel the consequences now, should any guilty verdicts be returned, it would seem that a large number of top quality players will come onto the market, perhaps instigating a shift of power in the European Club competitions even further away from the Italians, more towards the Spanish and English clubs. Make no mistake, Chelsea will not be the only club who suddenly find themselves with deep pockets if Buffon, Kaka et al came onto the market.

Another interesting aspect arises from UEFA's point of view. Should Juve, Milan and Fiorentina be dismissed from the Champions League, do they automatically "promote" replacement teams from within Serie A? If that is the case, Christmas has come early for the "victims". Internazionale would be bumped up from Qualifying Rounds into the Group Phases where the would be joined by Roma, who would move from the UEFA Cup. Chievo and Palermo would make up the Italian quartet in the Competition. UEFA Cup places would then go to Livorno, Parma and Empoli. However, given their idiosyncratic manner, it is possible that UEFA may decide not to increase the Italian quota back to its level of four but decide to leave Internazionale as the sole representatives, in which case, Arsenal, Liverpool and Valencia (the three highest ranked seeds - let's face it, UEFA will want to ensure their main moneyspinners are in the Groups if they lose the Italian contribution so there would not be a free draw for the the vacant slots) would all suddenly be believing Santa Claus does exist and is a fat, balding Swiss man called Sepp. Next week will no doubt muddy the waters further with appeals being lodged against verdicts and / or punishments but the start of the football season could be in disarray before it has even begun.

Talking of which, the fixtures for 2006 / 07 have been announced, subject to Sky's intervention in two weeks time. Arsenal kick-off at the moment with their qualifying round match in the Champions League being the bread in the Premiership sandwich, a home fixture against Aston Villa being the filling. Rumours abounded that the club had requested an opening day home fixture, no doubt the Portugeezer will be filling our pages tomorrow about how the list has been rigged once more to suit Arsenal. It is not a bad set of fixtures for the club, which when considering Chelsea's run-in, gives them a reasonable chance of catching them with a home victory in the penultimate game of the season. That assumes two things of course; (a) that we actually are in touch with them at the start of April 2007 and, (b) we win on May 5th when they visit Ashburton Grove in the last home game of the season.

On the subject of the whinges by the Setubal Smirk, Arsenal may well feel that his complaints have unduly influenced the fixture lists around the Champions League matchdays. Should they qualify, Arsenal play at home before each game but away in the next fixture. Manchester United and Chelsea are both at home after each fixture. Hmmm, conspiracy theories will no doubt abound. Curiously enough, my paranoia went into overdrive when you notice that Manchester United entertain Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City in fixtures directly after Champions League Matchdays....although I hasten to add that Arsenal actually stay within a thirty mile radius of London on four of the six fixtures following the Matchdays, visits to Charlton, West Ham, The Kremlin and Reading all feature. The other is a trip to the happy hunting ground of The Reebok.

The World Cup continues apace with Italy, Ghana, Brazil, Australia, Argentina, Holland, Portugal and Mexico all joining the Golden Girls in the next phase since I last posted. Since England play Ecuador, it is a fairly reasonable assumption that they will get through to the Quarter Finals where they will need to be on their toes to defeat either Portugal or Holland. Whilst I am not overly impressed by the Portuguese, they will pose the Dutch considerable problems. England on the other hand have to snap out of their sonabulism in the second half of their matches. It is as if Eriksson is dropping sleeping pills into their half time Lucozade. Either that or simply boring them to tears. What does raise concern though is that McClaren is in the dressing room as well and is failing to inspire the troops which bodes ill for his reign in charge. That neither of them is capable of stopping the repeat of these perfomances in important matches speaks volumes. Unless they find a cure for the comedy defending, England's stay in Germany will be over in the next seven days. Not that they will be alone as it would appear that following tonight's match between Croatia and Australia, Graham Poll will be on a play home soon having cautioned Simunic three times before sending him off. FIFA tend not to look too kindly on that sort of thing as well as, in my opinion, he had a fairly crap game, missing two penalties although in fairness, he did well to spot the Croatians offence that led to the Sheilaroos first equaliser.

One interesting comment I read is that Michael Owen is looking forward to seeing Sven on the 9th of July. So at least we know at whose house the England Team are having their World Cup Final Barbie then.

Todays Tunes are from a BBC Session by Supergrass.

Pumping Up Your Stereo

Mansize Rooster

Caught By The Fuzz