Another gap to be filled at Spurs as Paratici quits after Italian appeal fails
LONDON: Tottenham are now looking to fill two senior vacancies and not one after Fabio Paratici, their managing director of football resigned in the wake of losing an appeal against a 30-month suspension from the game.
Paratici’s former club Juventus had a 15-point deducation quashed by an Italian sports court but it upheld bans on several directors, including Paratici and former president Andrea Agnelli. Pavel Nedved was one of six former board members whose appeals were accepted.
The original suspensions had been extended internationally by world governing body FIFA, making Paratici’s continuance at Tottenham untenable.
Tottenham were already looking for a new team manager after last month’s parting with Antonio Conte.
A club statement said: “Yesterday Fabio Paratici was unsuccessful with an appeal against his Italian Football Federation (FIGC) ban on certain football related activities.
“FIFA ruled to extend the ban worldwide and, whilst there continues to be a dispute as to the scope and extent of the ban, the current worldwide ban prevents Fabio from fulfilling his duties as our Managing Director of Football. Fabio has consequently taken the decision to resign from his position at the Club with immediate effect to focus on his legal position in respect of the FIGC and FIFA rulings.”
Paratici’s ban was issued for his part in a false accounting scandal involving Juventus, where he worked for 11 years, that led to the club’s board resigning en masse in November.
He would have been expected to play a key role in identifying and appointing Conte’s successor.
Cristian Stellini, the assistant to Conte, has taken charge of the team until the end of the season.
Chairman Daniel Levy said: “This has been a stressful time for Fabio and his family. We wanted to ensure that we allowed for due process to be followed. Fabio is a man who lives and breathes football — we wish him well.
“As outlined in our year end results, we started several months ago to restructure our football operations and last week announced the appointment of Scott Munn as Chief Football Officer to head up all the departments. We shall continue to strengthen our football functions over the coming months.”
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