This morning, talkSport pundit Simon Jordan discussed the potential implications for Spurs of Fabio Paratici’s role in Juventus’ financial misconduct, which has seen the Italian giants plunged into turmoil with the deduction of 15 points and several of their directors being hit with bans from operating in Italian football.
One of those directors is Spurs’ managing director of football Paratici, who faces a 30-month ban from Italian football, with the Italian authorities appealing to FIFA to translate this ban to include Paratici’s activity in England.
If FIFA does decide to standardise his ban across all footballing activity, this would inevitably result in a ban for Paratici from duties in England altogether, which would probably see the Italian’s role with Spurs reduced to the square root of nothing and leave the club in an obvious predicament.
Speaking about the likelihood of this scenario, former Crystal Palace chairman Jordan addressed what it is that Juventus were found guilty of, and how Paratici fit into the whole mess:
“I’m not entirely sure [Paratici] is doing the greatest of jobs at Tottenham, but notwithstanding that, it is a mess that Juventus have got themselves into”, said Jordan.
“We were speaking to Gabriel Marcotti [of ESPN] to ascertain what exactly it was that was going on Juventus, and what they were really being accused of, and it’s about the idea of misrepresenting player values and cutting wages, when they hadn’t really. to get themselves around certain implications of financial challenges that they might have had to meet and reach financial fair play.
“It’s strange because the guys that were prosecuting Juventus were rallying for a 9-point penalty, and Juventus were given a 15-point penalty, so they’re actually rallying against the sanction that they’ve been put under.
“Now this is not the first time we’ve seen controversy in Italian football around financial irregularities.
“If Paratici is caught in that, then Tottenham are going to be in a difficult position. It’s interesting to see why they would think that there is a necessity to see why the jurisdiction [of Paratici’s charges] to extend to here…but you would that think that there should be a standardisation of how people conduct themselves.
“If you’re involved in financial irregularities of a significant nature, then surely to God you should be compromised from all acts of football?”
Host Jim White then raised the question of whether Spurs should get punished for Juventus irregularities, to which Jordan responded:
“I understand Tottenham’s argument, but football either governs itself properly, or it doesn’t. I’m not suggesting that [Paratici is guilty] – but you can’t suggest that you’re part of some sort of conspiracy or irregularity and that you can just hop across leagues and benefit on the basis of that. That can’t also be the case.”
What do you think Spurs fans? Has Paratici done a good job at Spurs? Should Spurs bite back at the Italians for sticking their nose in the business of English football? Irrespective of Paratici’s guilt or innocence, should football standardise its mode of governance and ensure that crimes in one country carry over into another?
Have your say on the Vital Spurs fan forum here, and watch talkSport’s video of this morning’s discussion with Simon Jordan below: