Counting Down

We’ve thought about this and talked about this so much for so long, and now it’s almost here. The sale of the club is set to be finalized on December 2nd. Silvio Berlusconi is staying on as Honorary President, but both Barbara Berlusconi and Adriano Galliani look set to leave. After all we’ve been through with Milan this past five years, a big part of me wants to count down the days, even the hours, and have a big celebration, bigger than New Year’s Eve. But then that nagging question I’ve always asked myself: would a foreign entity buying Milan be worse than what we’ve gone through? And then I get nervous and want to think about stopping time. So where are you? Apprehensive and afraid? Somewhere in the middle? Or counting down?

Yeah, that might be the perfect awkward celebration for a time like this

With recent success, the mood is pretty good amongst fans. But we don’t have to look back very far to find the douchebaggery. Like this summer when Berlusconi dragged negotiations out on the sale so that we missed out entirely on the transfer market. And remember the days when we actually had a douchebaggery meter here? To alert another Galliani special free transfer, Berlusconi telling the fans we should be grateful when there was nothing to be grateful for, or Galliani publicly announcing Ambrosini’s contract ending and Montolivo’s captaincy without having talked to either Ambrosini or Abbiati first? Not to mention the sale of players like Ibra & Silva. Yeah, I’m not going to miss that.

But so far, what we’ve seen isn’t good, either. Fassone & Mirabelli are scouting players that Montella has been careful to publicly announce he doesn’t want, while not talking to him at all about what he does want. Maldini not coming back to the club and the conversations around that showed that the hierarchy is not built for success, or even for football. It’s all about power and decisions made by those least experienced. In short, we could have bigger problems sooner than we think. I mean look at Inter. And they even have Zanetti. They spent all of this money on quality players, but they can’t win when it’s most expected. That could be us sooner rather than later.

Montella bringing the calm before the storm

There is some hope. Not only are our young players outperforming everyone’s expectations, there is a sense of calmness and confidence that Montella has instilled within the team. Like a protective bubble, with this sale not seeming to loom over any of them. While it is likely that the new management will invest in some quality players come January because we are still not playing great football, that fear that seemed to impact the team before with the revolving door transfer policy is nowhere to be seen. But can Montella continue to shield them if new players and egos are brought in? Will he get a say in the new players, or will management just hand them to him? A lot of questions about the future remain.

It’s hard not to get excited about new money and new investments. But it’s also hard to think of things shaking up and changing – possibly for the worse. While it will be great to get rid of Galliani’s cancerous wage spending and horrific free transfers, it is going to be really strange having a mercato without his “3 days of the condor” grandiose statements. It’s going to be weird to see Barbara go – so much potential and so little power. But that stadium should have happened, and it’s a shame that it didn’t for her. We may be stuck with Silvio’s helicopter trips to Milanello to scare/motivate the team and his megalomaniac and racist comments in the media, but I have a feeling that the new management will do their best to shelter everyone from him. It’s impossible to know what the future holds, even if we do have some information with which to speculate. So the question is -- December 2nd: Are you afraid? Cautiously optimistic? Or counting down?

This post inspired by David Bowie’s “Changes”

Our next match is

il Derby della Madonnina

Milan vs. Inter

Sunday, November 20 • 20:45 CET (2:45pm EST)

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