No Savior for AC Milan

Milan fans have developed a savior complex. After being traumatized for the gross mismanagement and neglect of the club throughout the final years of Berlusconi’s ownership, still trying to figure out what the Yonghong Li era was, and now being caught in the revolving door that is being owned by a merciless hedge fund, a savior sounds better every day. Only there is no savior for AC Milan.

He looks contemplative, but not redemptive

In an ideal world, the worst suffering fans should endure should be because of a poor performance or result on the pitch. Milan fans have also seen our fair share of those, too. But when things are bad in the boardroom, bad decisions are made by management, and especially when Milan legends are disrespected or even fired, it is a different kind of pain. An inhuman football suffering.

This is the kind of pain that you start taking painkillers for, like when the Senatore all left in 2012 and Galliani sold Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva because Berlusconi’s parent company were fined the biggest fine in Europe and they needed cash. Your body builds up a tolerance for painkillers, so as the parade of subpar players continues, and Milan legends are burned as coaches, too, you need more painkillers more often. Still, the pain is unstoppable.

Mr. Bee was supposed to make it rain, but is long forgotten

After all of these years of abuse of our beloved club, three owners in the last three and a half years, and nine coaches in six years, it’s like we have now turned to heroin to try to numb the pain. Fans are addicted to looking for the next big thing if we lose one match, or even if a player misplaces a single pass or makes a social media post fans don’t like. No mercy for players, coaches, management, or even legends. And still, nothing can stop the pain.

In our desperation, many fans have become addicted to rumors. Not in the normal way football fans follow rumors, as if they were oxygen. This is much darker and more sinister, because through their bloodshot eyes, every rumor for these Milan fans is a savior. Last year, despite zero evidence of Giampaolo being even competent enough to coach Milan, fans dubbed him the next Sacchi. A technical savior. Only not only were they completely wrong, not even Sacchi would have been able to clean up the mess of the past ten-plus years of trauma at Milan on his own.

Now he spends his days trying to discredit the club he owned for a week

So instead of fans acknowledging their poor judgment or being so obsessed with finding a savior, they failed to note clues such as Giampaolo never having coached at a club like Milan before or even won anything. Facts just disappear with those addicted to the next big thing, like forgetting that Gattuso left by mutual consent. Instead, these fans blame Maldini for firing him, and also for hiring Giampaolo, even if they worshipped his very name just one short year ago.

Now, they are happy to throw Maldini, who is the essence of Milan, under the bus, and run him over as many times as possible. No matter that he literally helped to create the standard for Milan that they claim to be fighting for. Because they have found their next savior: Rangnick. Ignoring all of the facts about him, like a heroin addict ignores their jobs and families to keep using, the fans are getting bolder, more desperate, more delusional, and causing more damage to the climate at the club. All the while failing to recognize that this savior complex is a self-negating prophecy.

That's not a halo, just sunlight through the trees

No single person can save Milan. While Maldini coming back to the club was an important part of the solution, he was never going to be able to solve every problem, let alone overnight. Pain-ravaged and heroin rumor-addicted Milan fans want that fix, but the truth is that this club did not fall apart overnight, and it will not be healed overnight. Like everyone at the current project has said, it is going to take time and patience. Salvation takes faith.

As we discussed on the last podcast, consistency is the most important factor in bringing Milan back to winning ways. Until there is stability at the club, there will not be success. Changing owners, CEOs, sporting directors, coaches, and players like they are Kleenexes during allergy season only worsens the situation. Not even the best, most expensive, most experienced players/managers/directors can change this overnight. There needs to be some stability at some level to be able to build on before anything good can stick.

Sacred, but not saviors

We are all suffering. We all want the best for Milan. But forsaking all reason and reality to delude yourself that Rangnick or anyone else can come into this mess and do any better than those at the club now, let alone be able to do it alone, is worse than being addicted to heroin. And like heroin, it does nothing to solve the pain. So rather than crucify those who are at the club now, including a second-generation Milan legend, let’s find a rehab center and check ourselves in and hope that Gazidis, does, too. Because saving Milan is going to take time, patience, and consistency. There is no savior for AC Milan.

This post inspired by the music of NIN’s “Hurt”

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