Juve Threaten to Leave Turin After Stadium Row Erupts
TURIN, Italy, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Juventus are threatening to leave the city of Turin after the city council failed to back the club's plan to destroy the Delle Alpi stadium and build a new venue. For three years Serie A clubs Juventus and Torino have been threatening to leave the stadium, built only 10 years ago for the 1990 World Cup finals.
Critics, including fans of both teams, say the venue with the full size athletics track and huge concrete blocks is soulless and lacks atmosphere. The stadium, which has a 71,000 capacity cost over 180 billion lire to build -- more than double the original budget -- and has never won the affections of fans.
Juventus' latest plan was for the council to give the club a 100 year lease on the land in the Continassa area where the stadium is located. Juve said they then intended to flatten the Delle Alpi and build a new, more compact stadium on the current site along with a training centre and commercial facilties.
The mayor of Turin, Valentino Castellani, supports the proposal but a major political row has now erupted in the city. The Juve proposal was expected to receive the backing of the city council at a meeting earlier this week, but right wing opposition parties together with the communist Refoundation Party united to oppose the plan and a tied vote of 25-25 leaves the issue up in the air.
While the opposition called for the mayor to resign, Catellani has said he will take the issue to provincial and regional governments but rejected a call from the Green Party for a local referendum on the issue. A spokesman for Juventus told Reuters the club was now considering a move out of the city, possibly to the town of Borgaro, just three kilometres from the Delle Alpi but outside of Turin.
"The next step is either they give us Continassa or we go somewhere else," he said, "We have already played games outside of Turin". Juventus have held Intertoto and UEFA cup matches at venues across Italy in recent years, such as Palermo. The club has a strong support base across the whole of Italy.
The spokesman said the club were already considering moving their upcoming UEFA Cup tie against Greek side Olympiakos on November 25 at Milan's San Siro stadium. Turin's other club Torino have also said they want to leave the Delle Alpi. A foundation has been formed to finance the redevelopment of the Filadelfia stadium, Torino's home before they began groundsharing with Juventus.
But while Torino would have no problems gaining permission to redevelop an exisiting site, the costs of the project are an obstacle for the cash-strapped club. "They can build but they don't have the money," said the Juventus spokesman, " We have the money but we don't have permission to build".
