Zlatan Ibrahimović has always considered himself a god to the Swedish people. And perhaps to football in general. And I think many of us mere mortals would agree. Despite having many controversial incidents and one of the most hated agents in all of football, he scored goals and did things on the pitch that could only be described as divinely inspired. For Milan fans, he is particularly special, because with his nomadic footballing career, Milan is the only club he ever came back to. His tearful retirement tribute showed that he was perhaps human after all, but it is his latest job, working for RedBird as a Senior Advisor to Milan, that has seen him falling from grace.
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| Cardinale may be the only one who still looks at Zlatan that way. |
Let me begin by saying I am a true disciple of Ibrahimović. Whether he was going by Ibra, Ibrahimović, Zlatan, or any other name, since he first arrived at Milan in 2010, I not only fell in love, I worshipped and became a believer. I've read his books, I've watched him play for Sweden, followed him at his clubs in between spells at Milan, and more. I even wrote my own Ibra-style biography, because who doesn't want to be like him? That said, take Ibrahimović off the pitch, put him in a suit, and, like some of the ancient mythological gods, not only does he lose all his powers, like the mortal Icarus, he falls.
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| The god of football at full strength, in his natural environment. |
He is not employed by Milan. He was hired by RedBird as an operating partner. His assignment with Milan is to be a Senior Advisor to management. An operating partner does not have a specific list of duties, it is a generalized title of someone who has specific skills or experience to be able to increase the value and reach the goals of a privately held company. In this case, after firing Maldini, RedBird finally figured out that they needed someone with footballing experience involved in the project, so Ibrahimović was brought in to do whatever was needed to help increase the value of the club. Or at least try to salvage the Milan brand from all the damage they have caused.
His specific role as a senior advisor to management and Gerry Cardinale's comments that the former Milan striker was "his voice" on everything gives us some clues as to how RedBird are using Ibrahimović. And they definitely do seem to be using him. But he does not seem to have any set or defined roles. More specifically, no one has confirmed whether or not he has any decision-making power or authority at Milan, merely the expertise to "advise" management on decisions.
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| Cardinale literally looks up to him. |
It took four long months to convince him, but fans were so happy to have Ibrahimović back at the club, and to have someone who knows football and Milan involved in management, that not many worried much about what his exact role would be. At least not until it came time for the club to actually start doing important things again, and he opened his mouth. What has happened since has been beyond disappointing, it has been disconcerting and is even becoming harmful. Sure, he says some things the fans want to hear, like "Milan does not just win, Milan makes history." And then he goes on to make that history himself, but not the kind of history we want, and it has nothing to do with winning.
Ibrahimović getting into trouble for saying things is nothing new. He did that his whole career, and many people respect that he is very honest and straightforward. In fact, some might even say that is part of his brand. But beginning with his first press conference, bizarrely titled and promoted as "AC Milan Sport Season 24/25: A Forward-Looking Vision," it was clear that things were going to be different than any previous management. Very, very different. (And not necessarily in a good way.)
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| What even was this? The title of someone's AI-written middle school essay? |
First of all, it was he who announced our new manager, and he did so without even presenting him. Not our CEO, not our technical director, not the sporting director. Not even a Milan employee at all. Just a "Senior Advisor" to Milan. So bizarre. Then he talked. And talked. And talked. He took questions from members of the press for nearly 90 minutes, often repeating himself over and over. He kept reiterating that they were only going to speak if they had something to say, which only highlighted the poor communications this management has become known for in the past year. Well, he certainly had a lot to say, as it took an hour and a half to announce a manager, something that could have been done through a press release. And while we had been promised that his role at Milan would be defined at this press conference, nothing was defined at all. I was actually less clear afterward as to what exactly it was he was doing than before.
This trend of a frustrating combination word salad and diarrhea of the mouth labeled as some kind of transparency continued with the hour long press conference with Bonera to announce Milan Futuro, and again with the actual presentation of Paulo Fonseca last Monday, which also lasted about an hour. At each press conference, he has become more sarcastic and even insulting to the journalists asking the questions. (Which is entertaining as a fan, but not good for the club's image.) If you read the club's transcripts of those press conferences, they are highly edited from his original words, removing Ibrahimović-style language like "losers." They have also edited actual facts that he apparently misspoke.
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| People are not fans of Press Conference Ibra. |
The plan that these tiny little cowards in management are using him as the giant 6'5" (196 cm) face of the club in hopes of scoring some points with the public has already backfired. Particularly without having come out and actually defined his roles and responsibilities, fans have already begun to turn on him, claiming he is a sellout and a puppet and blaming him for everything the rest of the management are doing wrong. Are these things his fault? Probably not. But he is no longer free to just speak his mind, he is still wearing the suit.
Worse still, he is still free to use his own social media in any way he sees fit. That alone is incredibly dangerous when representing an entire club. For example, as the fans have grown increasingly impatient with the club for not making any real moves in the transfer market, Ibrahimović has been posting vacation photos and videos. Some, if not all, may have been old pictures, but the fans see him posting pics of him swimming or whatever instead of helping with the negotiations and signings of new players, or welcoming the new manager at the airport, and they are (rightfully) outraged seeing his callous and insensitve social media posts.
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| Who is using whom in this relationship? |
This past week, things went from bad to worse when he agreed to do a stream with the always infamous and toxic iShowSpeed. For anyone blissfully unaware of who that is, he is an American "influencer," streamer, and attention whore whose most recent debacle was exposing himself to 25,000 viewers (including children) during a livestream. He has publicly said racist and misogynist things, sexually harassed and even threatened female gamers online, been arrested, banned multiple times from multiple platforms, and more. Basically, he has made a name for himself as a predator and a popularity parasite.
When it comes to Milan specifically, he has publicly told Leão to go to the Premier League while disrespecting and demeaning our club. He very dangerously tackled Milan legend Kaká in a charity match. He has demonstrated a complete lack of knowledge of our players, such as immediately believing Djoković when he told him that he was a Milan player at the Ballon d'Or last year (and also, not knowing who Djoković is at a sport-related event.) He has both impersonated Leão on social media while wearing a sacred Maldini jersey, and used Leão to seek revenge against his enemies, all while being a pathetic and extreme Cristiano Ronaldo fangirl. He will say or do anything for clicks, but so far, has mainly said and done negative things against Milan and taken advantage of our players.
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| You can take the Zlatan off the pitch, but you can't take the Zlatan out of the Zlatan. |
I have no idea if Ibrahimović knew any of this before doing the stream, but if he did, that makes it even worse. This person should be nowhere near our club. But RedBird's Operating Partner spent a full hour with this creep (or in his vocabulary, "loser,") much of it in a Milan store, with the guy wearing a Milan jersey. In addition to giving him a personalized jersey or two, Ibrahimović showed him other Speed-personalized jerseys hanging for sale in the store, clearly a pathetic attempt at marketing. And while much of what they did and said was innocuous, at one point, Speed challenged Ibrahimović that whomever moved first was "gay." This rightfully got immediate criticism from the press, particularly given that it is in sharp contrast with Milan's consistent support of the LGBTQIA+ community and their well-known #RespACT initiative.
This is a complete PR disaster for the club. Not just for that little clip, but just associating Milan with this guy at all. It's bad enough that Leão tolerates him as a player, but he's just a player. And still, Ibrahimović continues to post clips and links on his socials. Not the club, just him. And why not? Ibrahimovic is still his own person. He has not signed away his life to RedBird or to the Milan project. No one can tell him what he can and cannot do with his social media accounts. Except that they should, especially when he is in a Milan store and doing work representing Milan. Now his little public missteps have much greater consequences.
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| Sometimes legends are better off just being legends. |
While some felt this might be good PR to expose Speed's younger following to AC Milan, and specifically the Milan Futuro project, Ibrahimović actually has far more followers on his Instagram and Twitter than this poser. So who is actually benefitting from this livestream? Speed is the one getting the clicks, it's his livestream. Milan has gotten plenty of bad press from this, and it has absolutely damaged Ibrahimović's credibility as a member of senior management. Which is more important? Selling a handful of jerseys to a few gamers? Or ruining the image and credibility of the club that was just so recently and meticulously restored? Has anyone told him that this is actually the very opposite of what he is supposed to be doing for the club as an Operating Partner?
And I have not even spoken yet of him hiring his friends or bringing in players to the Milan Futuro project that he personally endorses, but have never come good for Milan, instead of bringing in people on merit. His decision making is compromised by his circle of friends that he trusts, which is smaller than it should be for someone who played in so many different countries and at so many different clubs. But not that surprising when you remember all the enemies he made along the way, I guess. It turns out hiring a rough, brutally honest, and non-conforming spirit whose intelligence has always been focused on the streets or on the pitch and whose confidence is perceived more as arrogance may not have been ideal for a job that demands that you put the club before yourself at all times.
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| Please let all of this be a bad dream... |
For those of us who have loved and worshipped him for so many years, it is particularly painful to watch him lose the trust of fans and the credibility of everyone in such a short time. Suddenly, everything we loved most about him, everything that made Zlatan authentically Zlatan is actually the opposite of what he should be saying and doing, and this time, it's really hurting the club. And he's wearing suits. So weird. Couldn't he just throw on a kit and take the pitch again and make this all go away?
That said, he is still Zlatan Ibrahimović, so he will just keep battling through and adapting and trying to prove himself. But how long will it be before Cardinale realizes that he is more of a liability than an asset? I assume that will be quite a while, given their mutually ego-stroking relationship and Gerry's lack of any knowledge of football whatsoever. But eventually, the numbers won't lie, or there will be a public misstep too large to ignore. Waiting and watching for that happen to both our footballing god and to Milan is particularly heart-wrenching. None of us ever wanted to see Ibrahimović falling from grace.
This post inspired by the music of the Sneaker Pimps' "6 Underground"
Reviewed by Elaine
on
11:00 PM
Rating:
