August 20, 1980: Pescara Lazio 0-2, Coppa Italia
- Simon Basten
- 3 hours ago
- 13 min read
Good start
Lazio win at Pescara in the first official match of the season
Also on this day:
The season so far
The previous season had seen Lazio relegated due to the Totonero scandal.
Rumours that there was something wrong in Serie A had begun to circulate earlier in the year. At Cagliari Maurizio Montesi broke his leg and from the hospital spoke to the few journalists who went to see how he was. He was alone, none of the Lazio players had had the decency to drop by. He started talking of match fixing, agreements between clubs over results, and illegal betting.
In Italy one could not legally bet on the result of a single game or on the scores of a series of games. There was just the Totocalcio where one had to guess the result of 13 games. There was however an illegal betting system called Totonero run by illegal bookmakers similar to how legal bets were organised in the UK.
Match fixing had always been a problem in Italy and taken place since the early 1950s. Clubs and/or players would agree to share points during the season in a “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” system. But then the players started to bet on these games. It was easy money, they knew what the result would be so why not have a little wager.
Alvaro Trinca was the owner of a restaurant in the centre of Rome where Lazio and Roma players would often go and eat before games. Massimo Cruciani was a fruit seller and was very friendly with a number of players. Both would hear the players talk of match fixing and therefore started to bet and win large sums of money. They teamed up and devised a plan which was to offer money to the players to fix games as well as bet money for them.
Their plan failed miserably and they became hugely indebted with people with whom you do not want to be indebted with. Apparently, they first asked the clubs for money but not all wanted to pay, then they presented their case to the Italian Football Federation but that was not going to solve the debts, so they then tried by resting their case with the law. They were later both arrested and started talking to the magistrates.
On March 23 1980, the Italian police arrested a number of players of Lazio, Milan, Bologna, Avellino, Genoa and Perugia. The scandal had exploded and Lazio were right in the middle of it. Bruno Giordano, Lionello Manfredonia, Massimo Cacciatori and Pino Wilson were among the players arrested.
Once the season finished there was the Sport Justice court case regarding the match fixing. The Lazio players were allegedly involved in the match fixing of Milan Lazio that ended 2-1 for the hosts and Lazio Avellino which finished 1-1.
The first sentencing between May and June gave Cacciatori and Wilson a life ban, Giordano and Manfredonia an 18-month suspension, Maurizio Montesi four months and Lazio were fined 10 million lire. At the time fans thought that all in all this was acceptable.
Others had even worse sentences. Milan were relegated (there was a direct involvement of the club President), Avellino, Bologna and Perugia given a 5-point docking. Among the various players, Enrico Albertosi got a life ban and Paolo Rossi 3 years.
The Lazio fans looked at the appeal case with optimism. They were wrong. Lazio were relegated to Serie B for the game against Avellino, Giordano and Manfredonia got a three-and-a-half-year suspension, Cacciatori four years and Wilson three years. Paolo Rossi’s suspension was reduced to two years, Albertosi's to four.
Why were Lazio relegated? There was no legal reason since none of the club managers were involved. The only reason was the fact that first sentences were considered too lenient and the Sports Justice system wanted to set an example. Hence, Lazio, always everybody’s favourite scapegoat, were relegated because it had a large number of players involved. But others were involved far deeper and got off lightly or with no penalisation at all. Lazio were a sacrificial lamb to keep the media happy.
Were the players guilty? Who knows. Wilson has hardly ever spoken about it. In his official biography though, he admitted having reached an agreement with some Milan players regarding Milan-Lazio. The plan was to let them win in Milan and Lazio in Rome. The Biancocelesti did not have much of a chance in Milan and the points at the end of the season could have been useful in case of a battle to stay in Serie A. He had nothing to do with betting, as also shown in the case files and his name appeared only for the Milan match. But Montesi accused him of being the ring leader, probably because a name had to be given, so to save himself he chose the player that had less to lose.
These types of agreements had always happened in Italian football, this was no different from other similar agreements like in the last matches of the season when one team needed a point to stay in Serie A and the other maybe a point for a UEFA Cup qualification. The games would practically be non- starters. This is a violation of every Sports Code, and if the agreement is reached among clubs, if found guilty, these should be relegated or given point deductions. And if it is between players, these, if found guilty, should be suspended. If the players take money all that has to be done is to verify and check.
Manfredonia stated in an interview that he paid a rather large price compared to what he actually did. So maybe when Wilson announced that they were going to lose the Milan game, he complied. He did not play the match against Avellino, so he can’t have been guilty for that.
Giordano proclaims his innocence to this day. In his official biography he claims that Trinca and Cruciani tried to blackmail President Umberto Lenzini who refused to pay. When the magistrates asked him if he had got some extra cash Giordano denied it, saying “check my bank statements”. This is probably what they did and as a consequence none of the players were found guilty in the legal court case.
Where does the truth lie? A few facts are almost certain. Milan- Lazio was fixed by the players. The club had nothing to do with it. The rest is just speculation. Lazio, some Lazio players and Lazio fans paid a very high price for the Italian Football Federation's need to find guilty parties, whether they were actually guilty or not. And unfortunately, it would not be the only time. Claudio Vinazzani’s friendship with a Neapolitan illegal bookie, who was fixing games, translated into a 9-point deduction for the 1986-87 season, despite Lazio not being involved. President Claudio Lotito’s requests for decent referees would cost Lazio a 30-point deduction in the 2005-06 season and 3 points for the following one in the Calciopoli farce. Stefano Mauri’s friendship with a player who fixed games cost him a six-month suspension and jail time, even if he was innocent.
Lazio had invested a lot for the 1980-81 season and even signed Rene Van de Kerkhof, the Dutch star, but he was not eligible to play in Serie B so the deal fell through.
Other players signed were Alberto Bigon and Stefano Chiodi from Milan (with Mauro Tassotti going the other way), goalkeepers Maurizio Moscatelli (Pistoiese), Aldo Nardin (Lecce) and Dario Marigo (Chieti), defenders Giorgio Mastropasqua and Arcadio Spinozzi (both from Bologna), midfielders Dario Sanguin (Vicenza) and Giuseppe Greco (Torino). Saying goodbye to Lazio, apart from Tassotti, were hero Vincenzo D’Amico (Torino), Antonio Lopez (Palermo) and Vincenzo Zucchini (Vicenza). Andrea Agostinelli and Roberto Badiani were sent on loan to Pistoiese, Stefano Ferretti to Empoli.
The manager was rising star Ilario Castagner who had led Perugia to a historic second place just a couple of seasons earlier.
Today was the first official game of the season and it was a Coppa Italia match. Lazio had been placed in Group 6 with Ascoli, Pescara, Varese and Verona.
The match: Wednesday, August 20, 1980, Stadio Adriatico, Pescara
An excellent game from Lazio, the first under Ilario Castagner and the first since the relegation. Back on the same pitch which had seen four players being arrested in March, the Biancocelesti played well despite facing not exactly top opposition.
The first goal arrived in the 42nd minute. Fernando Viola took a free kick and Arcadio Spinozzi with a massive whack beat Graziano Piagnerelli.
Ten minutes from time Renzo Garlaschelli doubled, taking advantage of a misunderstanding in the Pescara defence.
From then on Lazio moved back to defend the double advantage and Maurizio Moscatelli showed all his ability.
Excellent performances by the keeper, Dario Pighin, Viola and Giorgio Mastropasqua. A good start to the season.
Who played for Pescara
Piagnerelli, Chinellato, Santucci, Di Renzo, Prestanti, Romei, D’Eramo, D’Alessandro, Cinquetti (63' Livello), Nobili, Silva
Substitutes: Pirri, Tontodonati, Perinelli, Pucci
Manager: Agroppi
Who played for Lazio
Moscatelli, Spinozzi, Citterio, Perrone, Pighin, Simoni, Viola, Mastropasqua, Garlaschelli, Bigon, Greco
Manager: Castagner
Referee: Lanese
Goals: 42’ Spinozzi, 80’ Garlaschelli
What happened next
Lazio topped their group with three wins and a draw and went on to meet Bologna in March where they lost both legs 2-0.
In Serie B after 15 games Lazio were top of the table with a one-point lead over Milan and four over third place (the first three were promoted). A long way to go yet but there was optimism. The Biancocelesti had won 7 and drawn 8 and had not lost yet. Chiodi had started playing in the beginning of November and had scored three goals.
Then came Lazio vs Milan, first game of 1981. The Rossoneri easily won 2-0. The shock probably instilled a few doubts in the players' minds and the Biancocelesti started to lose ground.
Lazio managed to stay second until mid-April, then Cesena overtook them.
In mid-May with five games to the end of the season Lazio were third, two points clear of Genoa. Then, enter referee Alberto Michelotti. In the home game against Sampdoria, there was a corner for Lazio. Mastropasqua crossed, Gianluca De Ponti tried to head the ball but blatantly handballed it. A clear penalty right under the eyes of the linesman. But Michelotti had no intention of listening to him and the linesman no intention of changing the ref’s mind. Lazio lost that game and Genoa won. Milan first on 46 points, Cesena 42, Lazio and Genoa 41. In the next game Cesena won, Lazio and Genoa drew. With three games to the end came the mother of all games at the Olimpico: Lazio-Cesena. The Biancocelesti needed to win and they did, so with two games to go all three teams were tied on 44 points. Final home game Lazio-Vicenza.
The Biancocelesti were very nervous and played terribly. Claudio Vagheggi scored for the Vicentini in the 55th minute, Paolo Pochesci equalised a quarter of an hour later. In the 87th minute, penalty for Lazio. Biancocelesti supporters invaded the pitch in celebration. It took forever to take the spot kick but everybody was sure that Lazio had basically won, Chiodi had never missed a penalty, not even in training. He did this time. Genoa and Cesena had won, promotion was lost.
The players with most appearances this season were Citterio and Viola with 43 games and the top scorer was Bigon with 10 goals
Let’s talk about Arcadio Spinozzi
Arcadio Spinozzi played for Lazio from 1980 to 1986. He is certainly a legend, maybe not so much as quality was concerned, but because he epitomises the classic ruthless Italian man-to-man marker. And he sure did it well.
Spinozzi was born in Mosciano Sant’Angelo near Teramo on October 3, 1953. He began his career in the Sambenedettese youth teams and debuted in 1971-72 in Serie C. He then went on to play for Angolana in Serie D in the 1972-73. After a difficult personal period which lasted three years, he came back in the 1975-76 season and had a couple of successful years in Serie B before his debut with Verona in Serie A, on October 23 1977, against Genoa.
He was a very promising defender and many clubs had set eyes on him including Inter who looked as if they would be his new destination at the end of the 1978-79 season after Verona were relegated. Instead he signed for Bologna where he stayed a year before arriving in Rome to play for Lazio in the summer of 1980
He was unlucky. Spinozzi’s time with the Biancocelesti coincided with the worst decade in Lazio's history. Three days after his arrival, Lazio were relegated to Serie B for the Totonero scandal.
His first year at Lazio however started well. The Biancocelesti had one of the best teams in Serie B and were favourites for promotion. But there were problems. Internal battles between Luciano Moggi, at the time General Director, and Antonio Sbardella, former referee who had been one the most important figures at the club in the 1970s. All this created havoc at club level. There was no money, the players were not being paid, but the people managing the club used the media to put all the blame on the players when things were not going well. The psychological pressure of having to perform despite the chaos at managerial level took its toll and the team started to collapse. They managed a comeback towards the end of the season, but a missed penalty by Stefano Chiodi in the last home match against Vicenza meant that Lazio had to stay at least another year in Serie B. Spinozzi himself played quite a lot that season but it was a huge disappointment.
In the end it took Lazio three years to get back to Serie A thanks to the fact that, due to a two year amnesty following Italy's 1982 World Cup triumph, Bruno Giordano and Lionello Manfredonia were allowed back to play after having been suspended for the Totonero scandal. Spinozzi played less than usual due to injuries and a difficult relationship with manager Roberto Clagluna.
The return of Giorgio Chinaglia who bought the club in 1983, then gave renewed hope for the future. After a very difficult first year where Lazio avoided relegation in the last match, things precipitated with the arrival of a new manager, Juan Carlos Lorenzo, after a few games of the following season.
Lorenzo had been Lazio manager when Chinaglia joined and he was very fond of him. However, Lorenzo was past his prime as far as coaching style was concerned. His third stint with Lazio was almost farcical. In his book, in collaboration with journalist Stefano Greco, Spinozzi lists a number of his “exploits”. Daniele Filisetti was forced to lose five kilos in a week because Lorenzo wanted him to be of the same weight as Trevor Francis who he had to mark in the next game. Filisetti fainted after the end of the first half. He was very superstitious to the point of insanity. He got the players to train running after chickens. Once he told Giordano that when there was a free kick, he was supposed to go to the men in the wall and insult them. The plan was to get them agitated so that the wall would open and increase the chances of scoring. He also ordered Giordano to never shoot from outside the box again. There were many more. Spinozzi had the habit of keeping a diary so the book was an extensive list of the crazy things Lorenzo did. As a consequence Lazio were relegated despite having a squad with Michael Laudrup, Bruno Giordano, Lionello Manfredonia, João Batista and Vincenzo D’Amico. Spinozzi hardly played at all that year despite having been a regular in the previous season. Problems with the manager and injuries limited his games to only 9.
The next season was also pretty disastrous. Never in contention for promotion, the team suffered from the chaos in the club. Chinaglia was forced to back down as President and the new owner, Franco Chimenti, could not sustain the financial commitment alone. In the end, Lazio, on the verge of bankruptcy, changed hands and the Calleri Brothers, Giorgio and Gian Marco, together with entrepreneur Renato Bocchi, took over the club. Lazio managed to avoid a shock relegation also thanks to Spinozzi.
Spina's injuries continued and he could not give a valid contribution. At the end of his contract he left and signed for Reggina in Serie C1 were he played his last professional year. At Lazio he played 36 games in Serie A, 73 in Serie B and 9 in Coppa Italia with one goal.
He became a manager and coached the Udinese primavera team from 1992 to 1995. He also worked for Juventus as a talent scout. In 1999 he was assistant to Vujadin Boskov at Perugia and even had an experience in Ghana.
Among the many things that have happened to Spinozzi in his life two things stand out more than others.
On April 15, 1978, the entire Verona team was forced to travel via train to Rome for the game against Roma after their flight had been cancelled due to bad weather. They were all in the first carriage, but had moved to the centre of the train for lunch. That saved their lives. There was a ravine, the train derailed and a few seconds later a second train crashed into it. There were 42 dead and 72 injured people. The restaurant car was one of the ones that suffered less damage so Spinozzi and the Verona team managed to escape the disaster. Just because they had booked the first lunch shift.
The second event was comically tragic. On the eve of the first derby when Lazio returned to Serie A, an anonymous letter arrived at the press agency Ansa implying a direct involvement of Spinozzi in the disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi.
Emanuela Orlandi was a 15-year-old girl who disappeared on June 22 1983. She was the daughter of a Vatican City employee. She has never been found. There have been constant rumours over the years of the involvement of secret services, international terrorist groups, links to the attempted murder of Pope John Paul II, organised crime. Nobody knows what happened to her.
“Why don’t you interrogate the Lazio football player Spinozzi? He knew Emanuela, he gave her to us and supplied the first hideout”. This anonymous note was sent from Bari. It was obviously a hoax, but there were three more notes sent in the next three weeks. This fact created enormous pressure on the player but also on the team, the families and the club. Why? What was the point? And who sent the notes?
Whoever sent the notes had a deep knowledge of Lazio since in the successive letters two minor figures of the club were also mentioned. At the time there was no internet so info came mainly via the media and if you were not mentioned in the papers there was no way you’d be known. Unless you had previously worked for Lazio.
In recent years Spinozzi has fought big battles against the football system, denouncing Gea World, the group that up to 2013 acted as agent for many players. Gea is managed by Luciano Moggi’s son, Alessandro. Moggi's father was general director of Juventus from 1994 to 2006, until the Calciopoli refereeing scandal exploded. Calciopoli was a vast refereeing lobby scandal. Spinozzi, who had never had a good relationship with Moggi right from his time at Lazio, accused Gea of criminal conspiracy but in the end nothing happened because the crimes ended up being statute barred.
Spinozzi has written two books. His first “Le facce del Pallone” denounced what was happening in Italian football at the time, years before the Calciopoli scandal erupted. The second “Vite da Lazio” on his Lazio experience. The book is at times comical and at times tragically sad for a supporter like me who was only a kid in the 80s and had no idea of what was happening behind the scenes.
The Lazio fans will always be very fond of Spinozzi and they have shown their affection many times over the years.
Lazio Career
Season | Total appearances (goals) | Serie A | Serie B | Coppa Italia |
1980-81 | 35 (1) | - | 31 | 4 (1) |
1981-82 | 29 | - | 29 | - |
1982-83 | 14 | - | 14 | - |
1983-84 | 32 | 27 | - | 5 |
1984-85 | 9 | 9 | - | - |
1985-86 | 13 | - | 13 | - |
Total | 132 (1) | 36 | 87 | 9 (1) |
Sources
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