Passport Probe Must Go On, Says Ancelotti
Thursday 1st March 2001
Juventus coach Carlo Ancelotti said on Thursday that teams found guilty in the current passport scandal would have to be punished � despite calls from Lazio president Sergio Cragnotti to postpone the investigation until the end of the season.
Paolo Alessio Verni, the public prosecutor of Udine, has announced that 24 players at seven different clubs will be investigated for allegedly using fake passports.
Lazio's Argentine midfielder Juan Sebastian Veron, Cragnotti and the club's marketing director Felice Pulic are currently facing trial for allegedly fabricating the player's Italian passport.
Ancelotti said: "I know Lazio president Cragnotti has asked for everything to be forgotten and for new rules to be written, but I don't agree," Ancelotti said. "There is a law, and it must be followed. Those who make mistakes have to pay. We can change the laws, but not during a season."
Ancelotti added that the same applies for Fiorentina's attempts to name Roberto Mancini as their new coach despite Serie A rules stating that a coach cannot work for two clubs in the same season. Mancini worked as an assistant under Sven Goran Eriksson at Lazio earlier this season.
"There's also a rule for the Mancini-Fiorentina affair," Ancelotti said. "I have nothing against Mancini or Fiorentina. I think Fiorentina is a great team and if I hadn't signed a new contract [at Juventus] I would have liked to coach [Fiorentina president] Cecchi Gori's club.
"But we have to respect the law. Italian football doesn't need an exception to the law now."
Ancelotti also believes that the current coaching crisis at Fiorentina could have been avoided had Terim's decision not been made public.
"I can't understand why a coach can't train until the end of the season even if he is going to leave at the end.
"We are very professional, there's no problem, but when executives and supporters know a coach is going to leave, everything changes. In the Terim affair everyone is as guilty as everyone else."
