Massimo Moratti insists the Calciopoli roundtable talks are “not to judge on the past, but to forget and move on. We won’t give Juventus any gifts.”
Massimo Moratti insists the Calciopoli roundtable talks are “not to judge on the past, but to forget and move on. We won’t give Juventus any gifts.”
The talks have been called for December 14 by the CONI (Italian Olympic Committee) with Inter, Juve, Milan, Fiorentina and Lazio discussing the fall-out from the Calciopoli scandal, consequent legal battles and the contentious 2005-06 Scudetto.
“The past is in the past and has already been judged by others, while those who need to judge are still carrying on their work. The ‘peace talks’ are not for this,” insisted Inter President Moratti.
“You can talk about the 2005-06 campaign like people do in a bar, but those are not tables where one decides if somebody had good or bad fortune, a certain attitude or behaviour.
“This roundtable is only of use to say ‘alright, let’s forget we’ve forgotten everything and move on.’ This is what I want to say, above all.
“It will be a meeting between us Presidents who are directly responsible for football teams. As far as I am concerned, the scope for the talks should be constructive. We all know each other, so it’s important to build through friendship and collaboration new projects for Italian football, which allow us to have better objectives than arguing every day.”
Juventus have taken legal action to have the 2005-06 Scudetto stripped from Inter and returned to Turin.
“I know it’s near Christmas, but I’m certainly not going to give Juventus this gift,” laughed Moratti.
A few months ago Fiorentina patron Andrea Della Valle also called for roundtable talks, but Moratti feels the CONI’s involvement changes the situation.
“I snubbed the meeting back then, but now I accept because I trust the scope of the talks has changed. At the time the invite was to a table where I was on trial, even if I was innocent.
“I think this table does not have the same approach, especially as it was absurd and would still be absurd now.
“The wiretaps involving Inter? The public prosecutor in Naples already replied by stating how unimportant they were.”
New wiretaps from 2005-06 emerged in the civil trial into Calciopoli, as they were ignored and in many cases not even transcribed in the police investigation.
Former Juventus director general Luciano Moggi used these calls to ‘prove’ his behaviour was widespread in Serie A and not part of a small cabal of clubs influencing referees.
This thesis was rejected, as Moggi was found guilty of sporting fraud, although the FIGC Disciplinary Commission also ruled that Inter were guilty and would’ve been stripped of the 2005-06 title had it not gone beyond the statute of limitations.