Town chief executive Simon Clegg says the Blues haven’t forgotten that Serie A side Lazio still owe them a friendly from the 2003 deal which saw keeper Matteo Sereni move to the Rome club. Two friendlies were agreed in exchange for Sereni with Lazio eventually playing the first in 2006 when they ran out 2-0 winners.

Clegg says he has made attempts to get the second game played but so far with little success: “They do owe us a game. Over the last two seasons [I’ve contacted them] and I’ve not been overly happy with their response, so I’m now in the process of elevating it.

“Suffice to say, in the last two years I’ve been trying to engage with Lazio to get them to honour their agreement.”

The chief executive wouldn’t be drawn on the specifics of any action which might be taken: “There are a number of courses which are available to me and I don’t like to go public on these matters until such time as I feel that it’s appropriate to do so.

“I’m highly conscious of that commitment and believe that it needs to be and should be honoured. And if it isn’t honoured it needs to be dealt with in an appropriate financial fashion.”

In 2005, with Lazio proving difficult to pin down regarding the first friendly, Clegg’s predecessor Derek Bowden wrote to the FA to seek compensation from the Italian club in line with the potential earnings from a pre-season friendly.

Photo: Action Images

dynamicduo added 22:59 - Aug 10 they say clelephants never forget!
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CGH added 23:04 - Aug 10 It seems that Clegg is altogether a fair better person for the job this year than any other!
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blueblood66 added 23:06 - Aug 10 flogging a dead horse. move on
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RetroBlue added 23:09 - Aug 10 Who gives a flying f@@@ about this bloody meaningless friendly that will never happen. Why don't we just tell Clubs a flat NO , when they put in offers for our current best player of the season - Lee Martin!! ...or maybe Town are looking to save the probable £1m offered for him, to put in the bank along with that wonderful £8m already banked for our other little "gem". Becuase lets face it, It should be really easy to get in the urgently needed... Permanent GK, or RB , CB x2 and creative MF, plus a strike partner for Chopra.

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dynamicduo added 23:09 - Aug 10 coudn't we send them to court, if they refuse?
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BLUEBEAT added 23:11 - Aug 10 yeah, I agree blueblood66. Too much water under the bridge. Let it go. If the club can't be bothered to even push for a token payment for Fulop, why bother with a match 8 years overdue???
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robdaful added 23:13 - Aug 10 No point living in the past. Lets move on. Unless we are intitled to some compensation
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N4_Blue added 23:13 - Aug 10 Er, who cares about playing Lazio anyway - not exactly a flying club these days and they'll field their reserves anyway if they were forced into it. Can imagine the crowd wouldn't be much more than 8k anyway.
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legal_blue added 23:24 - Aug 10 He's right to pursue this. The way Sereni behaved was a disgrace, and Lazio were in on it, too. Remember, he claimed to have 'lost' his passport when it was clear he couldn't be bothered to come back to the UK for training. Not to mention the way he helped us throw away a 2-0 lead at Charlton because he didn't like the state of the pitch. If they don't want to play the friendly, pay up.

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TractorBoy added 23:47 - Aug 10 If we are entitled to some compensation then we are correct to go for it. Shows we are not push-overs!
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marc96 added 00:40 - Aug 11 Why did we give up a goal keeper in exchange for 2 friendlies? Sorry only 16 and don't remember about matteo sereni and was a bit curious as it seems an odd deal
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Tractorog added 00:52 - Aug 11 We sold our keeper to reduce our wage bill. A friendly with Lazio would probably get a few thousand tickets sold which is not bad money. It's good that Clegg is not a pushover though he does risk sounding a bit of an impotent whinger.
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londontractorboy added 00:55 - Aug 11 Tell them to poke it!...i remember Whymark scoring 4 against this lot then they just about crippled most of our team in the 2nd leg.......disgraceful club!...always have been,think they got banned from Euro games for 2 years and the biggest ever fine after their games against us.....hate Lazio and always will....Colin Harper and George Burley not too keen on them either i would bet!...

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TractorBeezer added 01:24 - Aug 11 Good for you Cleggy,...don't let them off the hook and screw us. From a practical standpoint a suitable financial settlement may be the preferred option.
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jeffisbent added 01:31 - Aug 11 Lazio were a big (if maybe a little corrupt) deal several years ago. But now, let's be honest, barely show up on the football radar. Think we should just write this one off and move on!
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Sospiri added 03:18 - Aug 11 If there's some money in it, pursue them. They'd end up paying the costs, so there's little risk
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ozzydog added 06:22 - Aug 11 Recently went to a lfc legends game in N.Cyprus, Johnny Wark scored and THE David Johnson who managed the team (Lots of Town fans there as well) signed the page in my copy of Men Who Made The Town which describes what those itie barstexds did to him. He signed David Johnson "12 Stiches". Many Town fans will remember what they did to him and where he had to have the stiches. Take the barstrxds for every penny we can.

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brogansnose added 06:50 - Aug 11 I can distinctly remember them being very unfreindly and they are well renowned for their fascist background as a club and fans.
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singingtheblues added 07:21 - Aug 11 good on you cleggy for not wanting to go public ... & keeping it to just a few websites ... oops
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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 07:25 - Aug 11 An agreement should be an agreement, even in the rariefied world of Italian football. If they don't want to play us (which I don't mind!) then we should have some financial compensation instead.
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big_gaz67 added 07:40 - Aug 11 Let's just forget the whole Sereni incident, 4.5 million for a keeper who didn't want to play cup games. All this was caused by a mixture of Wrighty preferrring to clean David Seaman's boots rather than play for us (forgotten by the fans who welcomed him back once and want him back again) and the brilliant business brain, Sheepshanks, who allowed the business to happen. Let's just sweep it under the carpet and do what we should do with all pre season games at home - forget about it!

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Guthrum added 12:06 - Aug 11 Those saying "forget it" - should we let Sunderland off any extra money or sell-on clause from the Wickham deal, too? It was part of the transfer and is worth money to our club. Lazio got a (supposedly) top-class keeper out of it. Good for Clegg in continuing the pursuit of them honouring their side of the transaction.
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apm_77 added 22:44 - Aug 14 If we charged £15 for Wolves, what on earth would we charge for Italian "giants" like Lazio?!
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