Italy's players doing the talking not men in suits

MILAN, Oct 27: Palermo are joint leaders of Serie A, Siena and Atalanta are in the top six while Lazio and Fiorentina are in the relegation zone but it is not just the league table that is odd this season in Italy.

It has taken a while for it all to sink in but the after-effect of the 'calciopoli' scandal has resulted in a strange, sedated and very un-Italian Serie A season.

For a start there is no Juventus. Stripped of their last two titles and demoted to Serie B by the sports tribunal which investigated allegations of match-fixing, the Turin side's absence has had a massive knock-on effect across the league.

It is not just a decline in attendances -- the average Serie A crowd this season is a poor 19,500 -- without Juventus and in particular their former general manager Luciano Moggi no-one seems interested in the rows, accusations and arguments that have always been associated with Italian football.

Until this season, nearly every weekend of action was followed by days of bitter recriminations in the press and on television mostly focusing on refereeing decisions and claims of bias in favour of Juventus.

Now, not only are there no such arguments there isn't even a forum for them -- the infamous Monday night televised shouting match known as 'Biscardi's trial', featuring extensive replays of controversial refereeing decisions, was dropped by its host channel.

The show's presenter Aldo Biscardi, who was shown to have a cosy relationship with the now banned Moggi after details of tapped telephone conversations were revealed, has had to take his programme on to an obscure channel where he has just a fraction of the audience.

Other controversial and outspoken figures have had to take a back seat this season. Milan's Adriano Galliani was fiercely criticised for a conflict of interest given that he was also president of the Football League but he was forced out of that job during the scandal. NO CONTROVERSIES Fabio Capello, the former Roma and Juventus coach, was never afraid to stir things up but he is now in Spain with Real Madrid along with forward Antonio Cassano -- whose troubles at Roma filled many a column inch over the past few years.

The sports press have been so short of controversy this season that the daily Gazzetta dello Sport has resorted to a series of features on sex and footballers to spice up their coverage.

On the field there is an unusual absence of tension and pressure.

The traditional rivalry between Inter and Juventus has been put on ice for a season while the penalty points imposed on Lazio, Fiorentina and Milan have let some unfamiliar names get in the frame at the top of the table.

Palermo president Maurizio Zamparini, previously a regular guest on Biscardi's trial and never one to be afraid to get a row going, this week suggested his team's success was due to the change in attitudes of referees.

''Finally we have overcome the psychological conditioning of referees, so Atalanta can win at Palermo and Palermo at Milan. The referees are still making mistakes but only in good faith and no longer in just one direction,'' he said.

In the past such words would have surely led to a volley of criticism from Moggi but the new Juventus is reluctant to get involved in such debates and so Zamparini's words went ignored.

The other major change this season is an apparent reduced pressure on coaches.

Milan started the season with a penalty of minus 8 points and so expectations of domestic success have been lowered -- despite some disappointing results there has been little pressure on coach Carlo Ancelotti as fans had almost written off their team's chances this campaign.

Fiorentina and Lazio, also given points penalties, simply have survival as their only goal and many of the smaller teams are benefiting from the open nature of the competition.

The result is that everyone seems to be getting along fine and the focus is on the action on the field.

Amazingly, it seems, the footabllers are doing the talking -- not the argumentative men in suits whispering into mobile phones in the dark corners of the game.

REUTERS