With yet another delay in the sale of the club, it feels
like Milan’s status is just forever in limbo. Limbo comes from the Catholic
belief that unbaptized persons who die go to a place that is neither heaven nor
hell, but an eternal in between. Having been a Milan fan for long enough, I
would honestly rather go to hell than just wait around for eternity. And yet,
as a Milan fan, that is just what we are doing. While other clubs solidify
transfers and train for a new season with guarantees and certainties, Milan’s
status seems less clear every day. And our transfer market is frozen, too. Here
we are, still playing the waiting game.
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| Who will let him say so many horrible things in public or play in the trophy room if he sells? |
We are no strangers to the waiting game, and Mr. Bee forced
his way into an interview the other day just to remind us that we are still
waiting for his deal to close, too. In the beginning I tried to tell myself
that this was an international business transaction and it would take time and
paperwork and patience and all of that good stuff. But I overestimated our
management once again, what with the public statements of indecision, crazy
requests for both control and stipulating future business moves, as well as the
occasional very public “I used to say that the Chinese ate their babies”
comments. I should have known that Silvio would only let go of his personal
political campaign advertising resource (AC Milan) kicking, screaming, and
being a complete primadonna from hell. But I certainly never would have guessed
that he would have to nearly die just to agree to the deal.
So I’m thinking that having endured all of that, this thing
will finally happen. The original negotiation exclusivity was extended from
June 15th to the 30th. Then the deadlines for the preliminary agreement to be
signed started coming and going. In fact, today, was one of those deadlines.
Then it was going to be this Friday, now it’s next week or the week after. I’ve
always thought that limbo was one of the worst religious concepts ever, now I’m
living it, and it’s even worse than that.
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| "Don't let them take away my bicycle in Ibiza and my dinners at Giannini and my Genoa frequent buyer card" |
But here is what I don’t understand. We have a crosstown
rival who started negotiations with the Suning group (also Chinese, by the
way,) not long before if not at the same time as Milan started this set of
negotiations. That was also an international deal with all of the paperwork and
lawyers and such. In fact, during the negotiations, they discovered their
office was bugged, potentially compromising the deal (Moratti just can’t stop,
can he?) But no, evidence of international espionage didn’t even delay the deal.
The deal went forward, with disclosure up front about exactly whom it was
purchasing the majority of the club. And by early June, Zanetti, a club legend
who was immediately hired on upon retiring as a player, was in China to help
with the big announce. So if Inter, a club who can only win by wiretapping and cheating
and taking down an entire league can do this, why can’t Milan?
For the same reasons that Berlusconi is needing to sell the
club in the first place: gross mismanagement of the club by both himself and
his favorite co-CEO. We aren’t waiting for some kind of international legal
miracle or some epic amount of red tape. We are waiting, stuck in an eternal
limbo, because of two old men who don’t want to give up the control of the club
they’ve been running into the ground for 30 years. Their selfishness is further
destroying the club’s ability to even move on from their self-centered, abusive
ways. They and they alone are the only reason that Milan cannot move forward
with their transfer plans in an attempt to heal and recover from the wounds
this management inflicted.
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| If such a morally bereft club can pull it off, not even Berlusconi has an excuse |
So we are in limbo, a fate worse than hell, and our club’s
future and even its current value continues to plummet every time there is a
delay. It’s not fair to the fans, the players, the former players, or the image
and legacy of the club. Meanwhile Inter are securing their new players and
making their transfers because they can. Because not even the evil Moratti nor
Thohir put themselves ahead of that awful club and its few dozen fans. But
Milan fans are checking out of the club daily, and I can’t blame them. After
all that this management have put us through, it’s almost impossible to sit
around and continue to play this completely unnecessary waiting game.
This post inspired by the music of
Rammstein’s “Bück Dich”
Our next match is a friendly
Bordeaux vs. AC Milan
Saturday, July 16 • 20:00 CEST (2pm EDT)