Just another weekend in Serie A. Yet again, match-fixing has reared its ugly head resulting in Napoli suffering a two point penalty, consequently dropping them from third to fifth. The club say they do not agree with the decision in a statement, or the £57,000 fine, and an appeal is expected.
The issue involved ex-goalkeeper Matteo Gianello who attempted to fix the final match of the 2010 season between Napoli and Sampdoria. Napoli lost 1-0 and Sampdoria qualified for the Champions League qualifying rounds. Gianello has been banned for for 39 months.
What will hit Napoli the hardest is that current players Paolo Cannavaro and Gianluca Grava have been handed six month bans for apparently failing to report Gianello's mischievous dealings. The pair will now miss the remainder of the season.
The news comes off back-to-back defeats for title-chasing Napoli and sees them fall 10 points behind first-placed Juventus. Napoli's latest defeat came in a thrilling encounter at home to Bologna where Walter Mazzarri's men led going into the 85th minute. A flying bicycle kick from Panagiotis Kone drew Bologna level before Daniele Portanova, just returning from a ban for failing to report a match-fixing attempt himself, stole the three points three minutes later.
Let us now cross to the other dark cloud that circles over Serie A, full of misery and painstaking predictability like the British weather itself, of course it's the managerial merry-go-round.
"With sadness given the human bonds that have developed, Ciro Ferrara has been relieved of his position", in other words Sampdoria have given their head coach the boot. After back-to-back defeats Ciro Ferrara has been replaced by former Lazio and Palermo boss Delio Rossi; I add former, but lets face it most Serie A coaches have a list of clubs before their names.
Meanwhile rock bottom Siena have parted company with Serse Cosmi and thrown Beppe Lachini behind the wheel. The decision comes after Siena went down 4-1 to Fiorentina at the weekend, old boy Luca Toni helping himself to a brace. Add the two sackings together and that makes it the seventh managerial change of the season so far. Good effort but still a couple behind last season's tally by this point.
If the 4-1 scoreline was Cosmi's downfall then Ivo Pulga and Cristiano Bergodi had better look their step. Pulga oversaw Cagliari's 4-1 defeat away to Parma whilst Bergodi's Pescara unsurprisingly went down at the San Siro by, you guessed it, the same scoreline. To be fair it was 1-0 before the match had even begun, Nocerino tapping home in the first minute. Two own-goals, both clinically taken I must add, either side of a Pescara consolation sent Milan to their fourth consecutive victory. That only makes three? Oh I thought it was a given that El Shaarawy adds his name to the scoresheet, anyway he did ten minutes from time for his 14th league goal.
Contracts now, if you're bored with the Sneijder debacle then turn your attention to Turin where Juventus and Lucio, in the words of the club's statement, have ended their adventure in black and white; an adventure that started with a serious injury and continued with a place on the bench. The Brazilian defender has had his two-and-a-half million a season contract terminated, by mutual consent of course. He is expected to return to Germany, where he was a huge success with Bayern, with Wolfsburg waiting at the airport for an autograph. Sneijder? He's been given an extended break over the festive period, isn't that nice.
To end, please don't be fooled by Arsene Wenger's comments this week regarding Milan's Stephan El Shaarawy. The Arsenal manager responded to a question which led to no other answer than the Frenchman declaring his admiration for the new King of the San Siro. Even Silvio knows that after the destructive sales of Ibrahimovich and Thiago Silva, to sell El Shaarawy would be criminal. Rossoneri Vice-President Adriano Galliani has however reportedly flown out to Brazil to return both Alexandre Pato and Robinho whilst hoping to stuff Paulinho into his hand luggage.
Let the boredom ensue in Serie A. It's a shame we have to break for Christmas after this weekend.