Last night, Udinese, the last Italian survivors in
Europe, exited the UEFA Cup at the quarter final stage, losing 6-4
on aggregate to Werder Bremen after a thrilling 3-3 draw at the
Stadio Friuli. For the second successive season, it has been a
truly catastrophic campaign for the peninsula. Not a single club
made it past the last 16 in the Champions League, while the
now-departed Udinese were the only representatives to reach the
last eight of the UEFA Cup.
The English Premier League’s dominance is so overwhelming, with
three teams saturating the Champions League semis for a third year
in a row, that something must be done if there is to be a return to
the days from the 1990s when nine Champions League finals in 10
years, and 10 UEFA Cup finals in 11, featured Italian teams.
Here are 10 reasons for Italian woes…
1)
Money,
Money, Money. It is a well known fact that Serie A,
just like every league in the world, cannot compete financially
with the Premier League. England can offer double in transfer fees
and wages, and so the top players will naturally move there.
Italian clubs need serious
investment from rich businessmen. This does not mean selling
out to foreigners, as once you lose your identity, then there is
not the same satisfaction in winning. But if teams like Roma want
to succeed, then the Sensi family must trade this summer to those
who can take the club forward.
2) Calciopoli. The infamous scandal from the summer of 2006
pushed Italy back at least five years. The image of Serie A was
badly damaged, and this had obvious financial implications. Many
top players would think twice before moving to a league that was
painted as corrupt, and it was always going to be a long process to
regain trust. Refereeing controversies have not helped. Worst of
all, Italy’s most successful club, Juventus, were relegated to
Serie B, lost four world champions, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and had
to rebuild its foundations.
3) Silvio Berlusconi. Milan are Italy’s most successful club in Europe,
with seven European Cup crowns. If there is one team Serie A can
usually rely on to save its behind, it is the Rossoneri. When
Berlusconi took over Milan in 1986, he poured millions into the
club, and this fed their success. However, in recent years, despite
$9.4 billion worth of personal assets, as estimated by
Forbes in 2008, the
72-year-old seems unprepared to spend any real money on Milan.
Whether this is due to his unpopularity as Italian Prime Minister,
the financial insecurity of the country, or other political
reasons, is up for debate, but the simple fact remains that if
Berlusconi does not
invest in
Milan, then there will be no more Champions League crowns for a
while.
4) Alessio Secco. "With that money available, I would have won the
Scudetto and Champions League twice in a row," roared Luciano Moggi
only this morning. Secco is an infamous figure among Juventus fans,
and it is anyone’s guess as to how he still holds his current
position after such a disastrous three years in charge. A
recent
Calcio Debate illustrated how Secco has made just one signing
since 2006 that has strengthened the Juve first team. Incredibly he
will be given the chance to waste even more money this summer. The
transfer policy of other big clubs has been poor recently. Milan
wrongly signed Ronaldinho, while Inter and Roma wasted big money on
flops like Ricardo Quaresma, Mancini and Julio Baptista.
5) Defence. Remember the days not so long ago when Italian
backlines were impossible to break down? Juventus had centre back
combinations of Scirea-Gentile, Ferrara-Montero, and
Thuram-Cannavaro, Milan had Baresi-Costacurta, Maldini-Desailly,
and Nesta-Stam, Inter boasted Bergomi-Ferri, not to mention all the
brilliant full backs such as Cabrini, Brehme, Cafu, Zambrotta and
Tassotti. Today, the Juventus back four includes Grygera, Mellberg
and Molinaro, while Milan field the likes of Senderos, Favalli and
a 40-year-old Maldini. Italian teams always built their success
from the back, and they will win nothing unless Juve and Milan in
particular sign some world class defenders this summer.
6) Italy’s Strength Spread Too
Thinly. Take a look at Man
Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal, and ask yourself how many
players from the other 16 teams in the Premier League would be good
enough to make any of their starting XIs. You could probably count
the number on one hand. In Italy, though, there are an incredible
number of outstanding talents at UEFA Cup, mid-table and even
relegation-outfits, who would not only play, but be stars for
Inter, Milan or Juventus. Genoa have Criscito, Bocchetti, Motta,
and Milito, Napoli - Lavezzi, Gargano, Hamsik, Santacroce and
Maggio, Lazio – Zarate, Pandev, and Foggia, Udinese – Di Natale,
Inler, Asamoah and Quagliarella, Sampdoria – Cassano and Palombo,
Palermo – Kjaer, Cavani, Miccoli, Atalanta – Floccari, Doni, Torino
have Rosina. You could go on and on. How strong would the Italian
Big Four be if these players were all playing for them?
7) Stadiums. The country might be home to some tremendous
footballing cathedrals such as San Siro and the Luigi Ferraris, but
the Artemio Franchi in Siena, for example, would not look out of
place in the Romanian third division. Sadly, this is not an unusual
situation. Add to this a heavy-handed approach to matchday policing
and the fact that the last widespread renovation of stadia took
place for the 1990 World Cup and it's clear that both the attitude
towards spectating, as well as the arenas themselves, need an
immediate and massive change. Furthermore, there is the issue of
how empty grounds are. When English teams play in Europe, they are
packed full, the crowd - so close to the pitch - act as a twelfth
man. In Italy, you can just about hear a pin drop five miles away
in Row Z. SKY Italia,
offering every game interactively live on TV, even on Sunday
afternoons, are partly to blame for this. Why go to a game when you
can watch it from your sofa?
8) UEFA influence. Say what you like about Italian teams, but could
the referees these last two seasons have been any more against them
if they had tried? Marco Materazzi and Giorgio Chiellini’s unjust
red cards were big factors in the elimination of Inter last season,
and Juventus this term. Roma would have defeated Arsenal had Marco
Motta been awarded a blatant penalty at the Stadio Olimpico. Even
last night, Werder Bremen’s Diego was gifted a spot-kick by the
referee for a non-existent offence. He missed, but it was further
proof that Italy’s lack of influence in UEFA is hurting them.
9) Cycles. Spain dominated the 1950s, Italy the early-to-mid
1960s, Germany much of the 1970s, England the late 70s and early
1980s, Italy the 1990s, Spain the turn of the millennium, and now
once again it is England’s turn. One league cannot always rule,
there will be shifts in power. Having said this, given England’s
spending power, it is difficult to envisage when the Premier
League’s dominance will end unless something dramatic takes
place.
10) Bad marketing. The English Premier League became the best league
in the world thanks to a brilliant marketing campaign.
SKY began by labelling the
Premier League as “the most exciting league in the world”, and this
gradually evolved into “the best league in the world” - slogans
repeated at every opportunity. Eventually everyone believed this,
and this simple sale technique has seen the Premier League
conquer
markets all around the world, most noticeably in Asia and
Africa, where the money pours in. The English media will use clever
(if somewhat underhand) tactics of covering up any bad aspects of
their league, while blowing up the ills of competitors, and what
you end up with is the perfect product. Italy, on the other hand, could not sell a banana
to a monkey. 
<!--h3>Carlo Garganese</h3-->
