Milan Obsession

Our club has a lot of parallels between the story of the Wizard of Ozright now. For example, we just learned that the man behind the curtain is not an all-wealthy wizard, and so now our club is owned by a company that is much closer to Kansas than in some fantasy world. So now we are vulnerable and forced to take a path through strange woods, where we will undoubtedly meet shareholders’ meetings and appeals and friendlies… Oh my!

Another change in ownership, a ban from Europe, and a zero balance mercato. When will Milan fans catch a break? So much to talk about, but nothing that we would like to be talking about. And yet as fans, we are still here, still emotionally committed to the red and black. So it seems that hope is all we have.

I like to believe that Yonghong Li wanted to create a legacy for himself at Milan. And he seemed to want to help the growth of football in China, too. But instead, he will be remembered as the guy who held Milan’s mercato hostage twice trying to buy the club, then brought everything at the club to a screeching halt when he defaulted on his loans from Elliott Management. Between the European ban and subsequent appeal and the red tape that comes along with any change in management, Milan have just stalled.

When it was announced that Adidas was dropping Milan as our kit provider, we all feared the worst. Then Puma was announced as our kit provider, and we knew it would be even worse than that. Even still, I am not sure we could be prepared for the atrocious disparity between last year’s amazing Adidas first kits and the feeble offering that Puma dragged in.

So Milan are officially owned by Elliott Management Corporation, the American hedge vulture fund that loaned Yonghong Li the cash to buy the club in the first place. This was the scenario that UEFA feared for Milan – not that Yonghong Li didn’t have the money, but rather that we would fall into the hands of a vulture fund – businessmen without morals who are just looking for a quick buck. And while UEFA themselves helped to push us into this position, it seems that Paul Singer and his Elliott Advisors (UK) Limited actually have a Plan B.

Raduno literally means “rally,” and that is what is supposed to happen to kick of Milan’s new season today. But what can we rally around? The new kit is poor, we don’t know if we’ll have Europe or not still, and now we don’t even know who will own the club by the time the season kicks off in five weeks. It’s hard to be excited about anything at this point, so as passionate Milan fans, sometimes we just have to say “whatever.”

The focus lately has been on AC Milan’s FFP punishment, a very harsh exclusion from European competition, reportedly primarily for “break-even” violations. But lesser known is that Inter have been sanctioned for FFP violations since 2015, and still have yet to meet their break-even requirements and thus will continue those sanctions again this year. Yet despite having consistently lost literally billions in recent decades, UEFA used kid gloves with Inter. Whereas Milan, who have been more consistently successful on and off the pitch up until the last few years of Berlusoni’s ownership, were thrown under the bus and run over with a very questionable ruling by UEFA.

There are many cruel and horrible things in this world that man inflicts upon himself. But in football, none are more cruel than the penalty shootout to determine the winner of a match. And, of course, the loser. Even worse when the shootout determines whether your team stays or goes home in a tournament. The most cruel, of course is when a penalty shootout determines who wins the world title and lifts the trophy, and who relives their missed penalty over and over obsessively for the rest of their lives as the loser. After 90 minutes of nonstop running, then another 30, the slightest error or the heroics of an opposition goalkeeper – just a split second – determines which players go home with tears of joy and which players go home with tears of agony. It’s literally the worst.

The legendary Paolo Maldini turned 50 last Tuesday. Although he retired from football in 2009, he still manages to keep busy with new adventures. But his birthday was also a chance to reflect on that incredible football career, as well as his life in general. He answered 50 questions from La Gazzetta dello Sport, and RossoneriBlog kindly translated them into English for us. If you click any link on this blog ever, please click that one and read every answer, you won’t be disappointed.