It has been announced about two weeks ago that Couto and Parma decided to renew their contract for one more season. At 37 years old (soon to be 38), Fernando Couto shows that he feels ready to undertake another challenge in his long an brilliant career.
Since Couto was accused of doping in 2001 the italian authorities were to decide on a sentence, since sports doping is considered a civil crime in Italy. Today, they finally reached a decision: Couto was fined 4000 euros and given four years' probation. Now that the case is finally over, I wish Couto is able to put it all behind his back.
Following Stefano Pioli's dismissal, Claudio Ranieri has been named Parma's new manager. He now faces the responsibility of leading Parma out of the relegation zone.
Good news for all Fernando Couto fans out there: Parma's sporting director Gabriele Zamagna told the press that Couto is back training with the first team. According to Zamagna, he and Parma board member Roberto Cappelli had a conversation with Couto and the case is now closed. "He apologised. He will now have to pay a fine, but he is once again at the coach's disposal", he stated.
As it was mentioned in the previous post, Fernando Couto is yet to make his debut in Serie A 2006/07. After recovering from the serious injury he suffered in a friendly match last Summer, the coach Stefano Pioli decided to call him up for the match against Atalanta on October 29th, but the day before the match Couto was written off the list and sent to train with Parma's junior team util the board decides otherwise. According to spoting director Gabriele Zamagna, this decision is due to a brief conversation he had with Fernando Couto, in which he noticed that the player "didn't have the motivation and attitude we look for in our players, the willingness to be at the coach's disposal before such an important match for all of us". Zamagna said that they spoke in a "calm tone of voice, without any screaming" and assured that Couto didn't contest the coach's decision to call him up. Without giving out any more details, he stated that the player didn't abide by the club's regulations and so he will be punished in what is seen as "an example for all".
The news and match reports from 2005/06 have now been added to the ones from 2002/03, 2003/04 and 2004/05 in
this zip file.
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Fernanda Roxo
Dezembro de 2002 |