Bitter Zeman Accuses Moggi of Conspiracy
Tuesday 14th November 2000
Axed manager Zdenek Zeman did not leave Napoli without delivering a parting blow at his former employers, accusing the Naples club of conspiring with Juventus' Luciano Moggi to hasten his departure.
Zeman was bitter as he bade farewell to the club that had employed him for a mere two months before dispensing with his services.
The former Roma boss suggested that his most hated rival, Juventus' general manager Luciano Moggi, was in some way involved in a conspiracy to oust him.
"I don't know whether or not Moggi is involved," he said. "But president Corbelli certainly had an external consultant of some sort."
Zeman has had numerous run-ins with the Juventus executive over recent years, with the outspoken Czech publicly claiming that the Turin club used drugs to build up their players and were also involved in bribing referees.
With Mondonico securing a surprisingly swift release from his contract at Juve neighbours Torino, Zeman feels that Moggi has been using his Turin connections to put one over on him.
Zeman then went on to accuse Napoli of lacking the professionalism befitting a Serie A club. "If Napoli want to play in Serie A with Soccavo as their training ground, then they are going to have problems," he said. "Sometimes we do not even have enough footballs for training."
On Tuesday morning Zeman went to Soccavo one last time to say goodbye to the players and remove his personal effects but, in time-honoured tradition, he could not resist the temptation to speak his mind in front of the press.
"I am disappointed because I believed in this," he said. "We could have achieved a great deal together. But there is no time now as the club have decided to make a change."
"I came with great enthusiasm and a great desire to work hard, but the team needed more time to grow accustomed to Serie A again.
"I faced many difficulties that didn't allow me and the players to do what we wanted to and achieve what we could have achieved."
"They blame me for the exclusion from the Italian Cup, but they forget that we travelled to Geneva without five players, as it was an away game."
"I am talking about about Vidigal, Quiroga, Saber and Jankulovski - not to mention the Bellucci affair. He was the player in the best form and we could not employ him. I do not think that these are the fault of the coach."
And before leaving for good, Zeman had one final swipe at Napoli
management - in the form of sports director, Luigi Pavarese. According to the outgoing coach, his replacement is far from highly-regarded at the club.
"He (Pavarese) has been telling me for four months that (Emiliano) Mondonico is the worst coach in Italy," he said.
Pavarese promptly denied Zeman's accusations, claiming that that the Czech coach was merely striking out in the heat of the moment.
"I have never said that Mondonico is a bad coach," said Napoli's sport director. "Zeman said it because he was angry. It is obvious. Emiliano Mondonico is like a brother to me. I could never say a thing like that about a brother."
Pavarese also refuted the allegations purporting to the Luciano Moggi conspiracy thoery. It was suggested that a dinner had taken place between the Juventus and Napoli representatives but Pavarese also denied this claim.
"I do not know anything about it," he said. "Two years ago there was a meeting among us but, on that occasion, I was the peacemaker between Moggi and Mondonico."
