Enthusiasm for Premiership

Edward Muscat (Too Quick To Judge, June 17) did not take it well when I stated that the Serie A is a second-class championship compared to the English one.

Mr Muscat declared that Roman Abramovich killed the enthusiasm that once prevailed in the English Premier League. Well it may be true that stripping the title away from Chelsea will be a mammoth task for the title contenders but in one thing I am sure - the enthusiasm of the English game is still there.

I do not know what Mr Muscat understands by enthusiasm. This year Chelsea ("who killed the enthusiasm of Premier League") won only the league. They failed to retain the League Cup which they won last year and also failed to win the FA Cup. Also in the latter they were eliminated by Liverpool in the semi-finals in one of the most thrilling games ever played. One must also remember that when Liverpool won the UEFA Champions League (three goals down to Milan until half-time) in the semi-finals they eliminated Chelsea.

For Chelsea to retain the crown next season it will be more difficult as clubs such as Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal are improving year by year. So I cannot understand how one can affirm that Chelsea has killed off the enthusiasm of the English game. On the contrary I would say that the Premier League was never as exciting as now.

As for the ills of Italian football, Mr Muscat declared that many were influenced by the Berlusconi-controlled media lashing out with judgments before confirmation. I was never a Berlusconi sympathiser so I can assure Mr Muscat that I watched the case being reported by several TV stations especially foreign ones.

As for the De Sanctis case, if the author of the letter had followed thoroughly the details of the scandal he would have realised that De Sanctis favoured Juve indirectly. A clear example of this was an Udinese match when De Sanctis booked two of the side's best players so in the match that followed against Juve these two players would not be able to play. To add insult on injury, one of Udinese's players was sent off as with a yellow card he would have played against Juve. To comment further would be futile.