No one, though, is holding their breath.The crux of the problem is that eight of the smaller Serie A clubs are still without pay-per-view television deals for the season. Bigger clubs, such as Juventus, have signed a £34.5m contract, but the smaller clubs have had to join forces to negotiate. The eight rebels without a deal have rejected an offer of £3.3m per club They want £6.4m. The highlights package of £28.8m offered by RAI, the state broadcaster, has also been turned down.The dispute has become so serious that the Italian government has been forced to intervene. They ordered the FIGC, the Italian Football Association, to hold a meeting tomorrow to resolve the problem.Something tells you that this football-mad country will not be crazy enough to kill the game it loves. In fact, Marchetti even believes that Italy will emerge from their current crisis stronger than ever.”History shows that everything works in cycles,” he says. “Italian football had a bright period at the start of the Nineties, now it is not so good But don’t worry, it will get better again soon.”.

Real Madrid last night beat the European transfer deadline to complete the signing of the Brazil striker Ronaldo from Internazionale. Negotiations stuttered and seemed to have stopped but then suddenly the deal was back on. Last night Real eventually secured the twice former World Player of the Year after a final bid proved acceptable. Ronaldo joined the Serie A club five seasons ago from Barcelona for £18m but his spell at San Siro was disrupted by injuries, notably to his knee.The deal had appeared to hinge on Real selling Fernando Morientes, but the Spanish international rejected a move to Tottenham Hotspur and last night turned down Barcelona after Real and their fierce rivals had agreed a fee. So now Real have Raul, Ronaldo and Fernando Morientes to line up in attack.Inter immediately replaced Ronaldo with the Argentinian striker Hernan Crespo, who joined them from Lazio. The 27-year-old Crespo will be paired in attack with the Italy striker Christian Vieri.

Crespo scored 13 goals last season for Lazio, where he has played since being transferred from Parma in 2000.Another major deal struck in Italy saw the defender Alessandro Nesta make a £19m move from Lazio to Milan.Deportivo La Coru?who had been linked with Ronaldo, ended their quest for a striker by signing Mallorca’s 24-year-old Spanish international, Albert Luque, for a fee of around £9.5m.Domestically, aside from Tottenham buying Robbie Keane, Leeds strengthened their back four by signing the versatile Swedish international Teddy Lucic on loan from AIK Solna for the rest of the season. Bolton’s manager, Sam Allardyce, was delighted to sign Ivan Campo from Real, also on a one-year loan. “We’ve had disappointments over the last few weeks and, when you finally clinch one, it doesn’t half cheer you up,” he said.At White Hart Lane, after Spurs paraded the 22-year-old Keane, the club’s director of football, David Pleat, combated criticism of their transfer dealings by Bolton, Chelsea and Real Madrid. The Chelsea chairman, Ken Bates, claimed that Spurs made an unacceptable bid for Eidur Gudjohnsen, while Allardyce twice alleged Spurs had unsettled Michael Ricketts.

Then Real Madrid suggested the White Hart Lane club had reneged on an offer for Morientes.”Ricketts was offered to us by agents acting on behalf of Bolton, and we were simply not interested,” Pleat said. “We did make an enquiry for Gudjohnsen but never made an offer. With Morientes it is now quite clear that Madrid were using our interest in the player to obtain the best possible deal from their rivals.”Clubs across Europe – with the exception of Nationwide League sides, who are exempted this season on financial grounds – cannot now trade players until the transfer window reopens in January.. Devotees of that film classic The Great Escape will doubtless recall Werner, the likeable sergeant befriended by James Garner, who voiced the fear of all German soldiers: being sent to the Russian front. While not quite as cold as Siberia – at least, not in September – the place has the potential to freeze his short-lived Scotland era in its tracks.