Milan Martyrs

Many fans have spoken of their disgust for the way that Milan has treated its legends in recent years. From pushing them out, not even calling them before announcing they wouldn’t be renewed or giving the captain’s armband away, to pushing them into retirement and hiring them as a coach only to fire them or to give them a squad that no one could coach. To say nothing of the fact that so few even work for the club, they are treated like strangers in their own family. For a club that is known for its family-like relationships, it’s almost criminal that so many legends have become Milan martyrs.

Don't mess with our heroes

People make mistakes, I get it. But making the same mistakes again and again is unforgiveable. Particularly when it comes to the people who sweat blood to fill your trophy room. In fact this may be the one point that nearly all fans agree upon: Milan has treated it’s legends horribly.

Going back to the summer of 2012, not only were so many players pushed out, because the club was so terrible, they didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to the fans, many of them having been at the club for so many years. The next year, they announced in the media that Ambrosini was not going to be renewed, but failed to inform him of this fact before they announced it. Furthermore, the captain’s armband, which was supposed to have been given to Abbiati, was given to Montolivo instead, another announcement made before consulting Abbiati ahead of time.

A simple phone call for those who sweat blood for you... is that too much to ask?

We all know that Seedorf gave up his playing career midseason and rushed to heed the call of Galliani to take over as coach when Allegri was fired. Insert politics and behind-the-scenes-who-knows-what-happened, and despite having the best record of any coach for the past two years, he gets sacked. But they did learn something from this: they gave him too high of a salary. So then they pulled Inzaghi into the mess, giving him a much lower salary, more player turnover, and lower quality players, too. And now he’s been sacked after being basically a placeholder while they hire an ex-Inter player and coach and offer him players worth tens of millions in transfer fees.

You can argue about a lot of things, you can defend various moves management have made in regards to spending or not, free transfers, etc. But it is nearly impossible to defend the douchebaggery that they have been handing down to our legends. Particularly the common courtesies of a simple phone call, etc. I have no idea why management have lost sight of one of the trademark parts of Milan class, but they have. And while us fans have suffered watching it happen, it’s our Milan legends who have become Milan martyrs.

This post inspired by the music of Muse’s “Psycho"