Just when it would appear that Italian football was starting to emerge from the shadows of the Calciopoli scandal, the game has been dragged back down into the mire. The effect that this will have on the Euro 2012 squad is as yet unknown but the fact that Domenico Cristico withdrew after having his room at the team camp searched and Leonardo Bonucci has been included despite being investigated suggests the players will struggle to block it out.
What started with a car accident for a Cremonese (Serie B) player has quickly escalated into a situation that threatens to overshadow the Italian game in the same way as the 2006 scandal. In the accident the player suffered, it was discovered that he and several other members of the squad had been drugged with sleeping tablets. When further investigated it was found to be a member of their own team, Marco Paolini who had severe gambling debts that had drugged them in order to influence games at his club.
An amazing admission by the Bari captain that he scored an own goal on purpose that kept their neighbours from being relegated was uncovered during another investigation. It was also alleged that the leaders of the home fans had also gambled on the club losing to keep their rivals safe.
If the fans of these sides are now becoming involved in the 'match fixing' this would surely spell greater concern to the Italian game as a whole?
With the legendary Lazio forward Guiseppe Signori implicated along with Atalanta captain Cristiano Doni, the fans are resigned to the turmoil rather than outraged. When Juventus were demoted to Serie B after the 2006 scandal they were stripped of two titles, when they won the league this season they included these titles in the number they had won so far. This was effectively sticking two fingers up at an Italian FA that appears to have no control at all over the league clubs.
With the Monday raid on the Italian training camp and the withdrawal of Cristico from Euro contention, it now appears the Italian police are starting to hunt down the big names in this developing story. The Lazio skipper, Stefano Mauri was pictured in handcuffs and the police made the point of making the raids high profile to show the seriousness of the situation.
The case will no doubt go through the criminal courts for years but the Italian FA is fast tracking punishments in order to have any necessary punishments in place for next season. That is if next season happens with the Italian Prime Minister, Mario Monti, suggesting that the game be suspended for 2/3 years in order to clean up the game. Whilst this was more a question rather than a full blown idea, it's a statement of the size of the issue facing the game right now.
In the current scandal it is possible that Owners, Managers, Players and Fans that have been complicit in match fixing. Games towards the end of the season have long been known to be played under 'unwritten' rules that if you have nothing to play for and your opponent does then you help them along.
Every game needs to be treated as a competitive game in the long term to help restore trust to a league that was viewed as the best in the world during the 80s/90s.
If this requires the league to be suspended and players moving abroad in order to implement a 'deep clean' of the game in Italy, then we may be about to see unprecedented actions in order to save football in Italy.
Can the Italian game sink much lower than fans, players and clubs allegedly colluding to fix outcomes of games?
I can't see much worse than this as a fan, dark days lie ahead once again for the Azzuri
Italian football... never quite reaching the light at the end of the tunnel.