Nothing’s Changed

“Stop me, oh, oh-oh, stop me
Stop me if you think
That you've heard this one before

Nothing's changed
I still love you, oh, I still love you
Only slightly, only slightly less
Than I used to, my love”

--The Smiths

Why it takes a 4-0 brutalization at home from Napoli for people to start talking about what’s wrong with the club, I don’t know. I’ve been doing it for years. And after years of being condemned by Berlusconi’s fellow Bunga Bunga mates (in their dreams) and Galliani’s yellow-tie minions, they are all finally wising up to what has been written here for years: there is a serious problem with management at Milan that is impacting the entire club, top to bottom. And nothing’s changed.

A picture is worth a thousand words... or paying another player's €4m salary for this one to sit on the bench

Rather than frustrate myself and waste my time trying to come up with a new way to say what I have been saying for years, I decided to make a partial list of some of the things I’ve written about management over the years. Read one, read them all... most of them seem just as poignant today as they did when I wrote them.

The Two Faces of Berlusconi (November 14, 2011)

Keeping Ibra (June 8, 2012)

Riddle Me This (July 16, 2012)

The Berlusconi Files (August 1, 2012)

The Summer of Doom (August 21, 2012)

The Grinch Who Stole Milan (December 28, 2012)

The House that Berlusconi Built (January 15, 2013)

I Wish I Could Quit You (June 12, 2013)

Silvio Berlusconi: A Man of Personal Convictions (June 25, 2013)

The Wage Bill Rises (August 17, 2013)

Duplicity (August 30, 2013)

Milan Mercato: Reinforcement or Reanimation? (Tuesday, September 3, 2013)

BUY ALL TEH PLAYRZ (January 24, 2014)

Not Just Another Anti-Management Rant (February 3, 2014)

Where Do We Go From Here? (March 13, 2014)

The View from the Top (March 31, 2014)

Falling Behind (May 25, 2014)

Mercato Rant no. 653 (August 26, 2014)

Hell Hath No Fury (September 1, 2014)

The Transition (December 27, 2014)

The Big Lie (February 9, 2015)

Galliani Maths™ (May 5, 2015)

Playing Hard to Get (May 19, 2015)

Year Zero… version four (June 3, 2015)

Warning Signs (June 11, 2015)

Yellow Tie (June 20, 2015)

Now then, if you still think that after four coaches in the past two years and 56 players in and 70 players out of the club in the past three years that Honda’s words yesterday don’t ring true, then I would suggest getting some oxygen to the brain. After all, you can suffocate with your head in the sand like that. Nothing’s changed at Milan. And it won’t until something at the top does. Throwing €90m at it when you are not using your Director of Sport and scouting network to actually buy the right players is not something changing at the top, even if we all hoped it would be. Something literally has to change at the top because two CEO’s, no deal with Mr. Bee, no stadium, and the lack of a quality midfielder and center back is certainly not working. To say the least of the poisoned mentality that trickles down to every player. And fans that are behaving worse and worse, too.

One situation where two are not better than one

But I am here for the players, even if nothing changes. I bleed red and black, and no transfusion can help me. It may hurt, I may not like it, but I don’t have any choice but to support the 11 players on the pitch. Which is why I relate so well to these Morrissey’s lyrics:

“Nothing's changed
I still love you, oh, I still love you
Only slightly, only slightly less
Than I used to, my love”

This post inspired by the music of The Smiths’ “Stop Me If You Think That You’ve Heard This One Before”

Our next match is a friendly

Monza vs. Milan

Thursday, October 8 • 18:00 CEST (12noon EDT)