JUVE BOARD RESIGNS

Last updated : 12 May 2006 By Ed
From The Guardian

The entire board of directors at the Italian champions Juventus resigned yesterday following days of revelations over embarrassing telephone interceptions involving its top management.

The Italian football federation is investigating the content of tapped telephone conversations between Juve's general manager Luciano Moggi and a federation official responsible for selecting referees, in which they discuss appointments for games involving Juventus, who need a point in this weekend's final match to clinch another Serie A title.

"The board has tendered its resignation," Juventus said in a brief statement last night. The club's share price fell by 10% yesterday. The case has rapidly snowballed, with public prosecutors in Turin, Rome and Naples reportedly investigating alleged widespread malpractice involving referees and several Serie A clubs.

The tapped conversations featuring Moggi and a number of important figures in the game are evidence of what most football fans have suspected for many years. Jokes about Moggi's exaggerated power with referees and in the transfer market were common before the telephone transcripts were splashed across Italian newspapers.