Jail For Lotito?

By: cathal | March 5th, 2009

One of the big stories to emerge in recent days is the news that our president, Claudio Lotito is set to face two years in jail. Love him or hate him, the prospect of Claudio in jail is not beneficial to the club and should this happen, who knows what that means for Lazio.

First things first, will he actually go to jail? Probably not. Everyone knows how political calcio can be and with Berlusconi in the fold, club presidents can get away with quite a bit. The proof lies with Moggi, a man who has committed more “crimes” in football than anyone can remember has got away with virtually everything. There are no innocents in this game and I assume Claudio will get off with this offence after an appeal or two. In the unlikely event that he is convicted, he will run the club from his cell so don’t get too excited if you are a Lotito-hater; he will always find a way to manage this club. Claudio goes nowhere.

Sampdoria took a huge step towards the Coppa Italia final with a 3-0 drubbing of Inter last night. This scoreline may not be directly related to us but in a sense, it is. The winner of the Coppa or the runner-up in the competition can qualify for the UEFA Cup if they do not manage to secure a place automatically through the league. In other words, Samp are basically in the final now and that means only 5th and 6th in the league will receive a place in Europe. Currently, we are 7th in the table and it now looks to be a certainty that we won’t get into the UEFA Cup through the league. It’s a tough task to catch Genoa, Fiorentina or Rioma this late in the campaign. There’s no doubt we can do it but we shouldn’t expect to do it. Our best chance of securing a place in Europe is winning the Coppa now. That is easier said than done, despite beating Juve, I don’t think we are favourites to progress; that away goal counts for a lot and even if we do defeat them, beating a highly motivated, Cassano-inspired Samp team in the final could be difficult. Right now, I am hoping Inter miraculously turn round that deficit. What are the chances? Forza Lazio!