This season has been so painful for Milan fans that many
fans have skipped games or just stopped watching altogether. Some have chosen
to follow other clubs, but most are still holding out for a miracle. Many think
that the sale of a majority of the club or even the investment of a minority
shareholder will somehow be that miracle. But as
we discussed on the last podcast, changing ownership may not change
Milan’s fortunes at all. In fact, things could easily get worse. Unless we keep
our feet on the ground and our hearts and minds based in reality, we could be
fooled into waiting for a miracle that never comes.
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| The champagne football has gone, will Berlusconi be gone, too? |
Perhaps the Bee-lievers are clinging to the idea that when
Berlusconi bought the club 29 years ago, a massive cash injection saw him turn
the side from having been relegated twice in the previous five years and being
on the verge of bankruptcy to a Scudetto-winning side just two years later.
But that was then. When he bought the club, he had the likes
of Baresi & Maldini at the core of his defense. His massive cash outlay
bought him coach Arrigo Sacchi and the Dutch trio of van Basten, Gullit, and
Rijkaard, which combined with the consistency, leadership, and talent in
Milan’s back line, equaled success on the pitch. The cash injection stabilized
the business side, the new stars and coach meshed with the existing talent and
stability to generate success on the football side. And he continued to build
from that model.
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| Not even this kind of talent could save this Milan now |
But this is now. We don’t have that kind of talent,
leadership, or consistency at the club that existed then. We don’t have a core
group of players who have been through relegation and earning promotion twice
in three years. We don’t even have a core group of players, to be honest. We
can’t splash the cash that Berlusconi did then without getting into trouble
with FFP, nor can we keep up the kind of spending he did on players and wages
that he has. Ironically, it is that very practice that helped run the club into
the financial situation that we are in.
Nor can we attract the kind of stars that Berlusconi was
able to woo back then and for so many years. Not only due to the poor level of
football and state of affairs in Serie A, but the financial woes of the entire
nation. Particularly after this past three years of transfer nightmares, as
well as the resulting poor football and lack of Europe.
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| Do you Bee-lieve? |
Football has evolved since 1986, and Milan as a club has
not. Bringing in a foreign investor is not enough change to bring the club up
to speed with so many other clubs in other leagues who are currently
successful, attract big stars, and can spend big money because their success
allows them to. What is so crippling about FFP is that it is based on income
vs. expenses, so if your income drops drastically like Milan’s did without
Europe or any real investment from Berlusconi, it is hard to change your
station without infusing some cash. And when you do, you are no longer FFP
compliant.
But I am not just guessing in the dark, we have two blatant
examples of how foreign investment has failed to change the successes of two
clubs in Serie A already. Roma was bought by an American consortium, who have
done wonders with marketing and also purchasing great players and a bringing in
a good coach. Yet Roma’s place on the table has barely changed, they still
can’t compete with Juventus, languishing a full 15 points behind them. And they
had a core group of players, including legends like Totti and De Rossi, to
build their new team with.
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| Not even their leadership, skills, and consistency have been able to steer Roma to victory |
Inter are a team nearer in both proximity and comparison,
with Thohir buying a majority of their club from Moratti. He injected large
amounts of cash to bring in a new coach and some new players, yet they are
actually one point behind us in the table already. And that’s without the
ridiculous revolving door mercato policy that Milan have employed these past
three years.
Sure, I want a new owner. Because I’m so sick of what
Berlusconi hasn’t been doing for the club these past three or four years.
Change sounds really good right about now. But I am very wary of what new
ownership could do to the club. Because of the lack of leadership on the pitch
and the incredible number of changes within the squad, this team needs some consistency.
Only sticking with what we have now is not the answer, either, as everyone from
Cesare Maldini to Boban and more have pointed out that we don’t have a lot of
talent right now. And bringing Paolo Maldini back into the organization sounds
like a good idea, too. Until you realized that he knows football from the other
side of things and would have a steep learning curve before he could possibly
impact the club enough with his class and character.
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| He would be a sight for sore eyes, but he isn't a miracle worker |
Additionally, a foreign owner would need to learn the league
and all of its quirks, while waiting for success to come. But in today’s
football reality, success takes time. And money. When you look at Barca or
Bayern, they are clubs who invested in a youth project and stuck with it for
years. And years. And years before it finally paid off. Will Mr. Bee or
whomever purchases the club have that kind of patience? Will we? Because
successful football doesn’t happen miraculously. It takes hard work, time, and
patience. And we as fans really need to learn to accept that, new owner or no.
Because otherwise, we’ll get stuck with the Bee-lievers waiting for a miracle…
that never ever comes.
This post inspired by the music of
AC/DC’s “Back in Black” album
Our next match is
Udinese
vs. Milan
Saturday, April 25 • 18:00 CEST (12noon EDT)