Atalanta hit with 6-point penalty

Newly-promoted Atalanta's hopes of retaining their Serie A status suffered a blow Tuesday when the club was handed a six-point penalty for their part in a betting scandal. The club's veteran captain Cristiano Doni has also been banned for three-and-half years, effectively ending the 38-year-old's career. Former Italy and Lazio striker Guiseppe Signori, the best known figure caught up in the Calcioscommesse betting scandal, was banned from any football-related activity for five years by the Italian Football Federation's Disciplinary Committee. Another Atalanta player, Thomas Manfredini, received a three-year ban. All parties may yet face criminal charges for their part in trying to fix matches to manipulate bets. Atalanta said they would be appealing. "We expect to get a reduction in the number of points on appeal, we have high hopes," said the club's lawyer Luigi Chiappero. The prosecutor had originally recommended a seven-point penalty but that was reduced slightly. And Chiappero told SkySport that he expects both players to receive lighter sentences following an appeal. "In Manfredini's case all they have is a joke told over a telephone," he said. "The only thing to say (about Doni) is that there isn't even a phone call (implicating him) and this also has to be taken into consideration." One of Signori's lawyers, Ugo Vittori, poured scorn on the evidence. "In 50 pages there were only six lines relating to our client and they are inconclusive and baseless, they don't make any specific references," he said. Serie B side Ascoli suffered a six-point deduction for the coming season while former Cremonese and Benevento goalkeeper Marco Paoloni, one of the principle characters in the affair, was banned for five years. In the third division, Ravenna were kicked out of the league system altogether while Alessandria have been relegated. Benevento were deducted nine points, Cremonese six, Piacenza four, Reggiana two while Spezia and Taranta were penalised a point each. Two amateur sides were also deducted points - Pino di Matteo (eight points) and Cus Chieti (one point). Two Serie B and two third division teams got away with just fines. Eighteen teams and 26 people, including players, former players, presidents and directors were in the dock over the scandal which came to light at the end of last season following an investigation by the Prosecutor of Cremona in November 2010. The only other Serie A side implicated were Chievo but they accepted a plea bargain last week and were hit with an 80,000-euro fine.