A Season of Chaos

The 2024-25 AC Milan season was not exactly destined for success. The Curva Sud began protesting at the end of the previous season, and following the departure of Pioli, the all-important selection of a new manager was fumbled and then clearly a disaster from early on. Yet this management comprised of people who are completely inexperienced in their roles kept him for six months anyway. Then they hired the right manager, but too late to save the sinking ship. And to make matters worse, they further destabilized the team in the January transfer window. That was after Ibrahimović chased off our Sporting Director, of course. And I haven't even mentioned the disaster that was the mismanagement of the entire Milan Futuro project, who were relegated to Serie D. Amidst all of this was a constant stream of toxic, negative press that was never even addressed, and a series of season-changing referee calls. Not to mention the arrests, investigation, and trial of the members of the Curva Sud and the excessive punitive measures that were not only costly to Milan but demonstrated that Milan no longer have any political clout whatsoever. An eighth place finish and no European competition were just symptoms of a season of chaos.

Symbols of just a fraction of the chaos of this season.

The Impact of the Curva Sud

Acting like the Karens asking to speak to the managers, the Curva Sud started protesting the last five matches of last season, when we were only in second place, as the season had not met their high expectations. They didn't even show up for Raduno, the day the players return to training in the summer, which is a beloved tradition for them. They promised that they would support the team, they were just still big mad at management and just wanted to see what would happen in the transfer window. In hindsight, I think they wish they could take all of that back.

A partial list of the many protests of the Curva Sud this past year.

Luca Lucci, the now former leader of the Curva Sud, and some others were arrested on criminal charges at the end of September, leading to a 10 year prison sentence (plus more charges) for him and other sentences have since been handed down to others. This led to a lot of changes for the Curva Sud, Clubs, and other groups in terms of ticket purchase and security procedures, as well as a season-long ban on coreografia, banners, and flags in the Curva Sud. That alone led to more protests.

Perhaps it was their anger about these things, but they would also protest or boycott over 25 times this season, by my estimate, many of them fueled by anger toward management, performances, etc. Including often singing the Curva's delightful "Cardinale Vattene," set to the tune of "Sway" by Dean Martin, a huge hit with fans and neutrals alike (but probably not with Cardinale.) However, they also abandoned the team for part or all of the match at least nine different times, including important Champions League matches, the Coppa Italia Final, as well as important matches for qualification for next season. They were quick to point the finger at players or management, but they did not take responsibility for the hostile environment they created for the team, or the influence their negative chants, silent protests, or boycotts had on the team's performances and results.

In the end, they finally got their message across effectively, despite bans on banners.

The Malignant Tenure of Paulo Fonseca

Paulo Fonseca had a honeymoon trip to the U.S., but when his important players returned to the squad after their international team duties, his typical combative control issues that he has had with all of his "big" players kicked in. He had already been complaining about everything, blaming Italy's man marking vs. zonal marking and whining about having to prepare for every match (like all managers do,) complaining that he did not have all of his players from the beginning of summer (like all other teams/managers,) and more.

The first obvious demonstration of his control issues was his benching of Theo and Leão for the Lazio match "for the good of the team," literally the third match of the season. He finally subbed them on in a losing situation with less than 20 minutes left, and they connected and scored a goal to salvage a point for him, but then they were hypercriticized for the "cooling break fiasco." When in reality, it was a crisis of his making, and we dropped two points. 

Whatever he did well was completely overshadowed by bizarre behavior and lack of leadership.

Again, with the Fiorentina penalty debacle, we dropped three points, the players were blamed. But we never saw that behavior from them before Fonseca or since. Then we dropped all three points vs. Napoli because he insisted on benching Leão for "tactical reasons," though Theo Hernandez and Reijnders were suspended and five other players were injured. Tassotti referred to his obsessive benching of Leão as "masochism." But it was merely his pattern of bizarre control issues with his big players, seen at Roma, now Milan, and since at Lyon. And in just these three matches, he cost us eight very reasonable points, enough to make the difference between eighth and a fourth place finish this season, aka Champions League qualification. In just those three matches. 

But that was just beginning. There were plenty of other points dropped, too. His press conferences involved blaming his players, throwing them under the bus, and never taking accountability for anything he said or did, destroying their confidence and completely breaking the dressing room. His postmatch tirade against his players after they won vs. Crvena zvezda in the Champions League was probably what cost him his job. His dismissal after the stale 1-1 draw with Roma at the end of December was six months too late, as he left Milan in an injury crisis, with a broken dressing room, and in eighth place in Serie A.

A dream start and a trophy was not enough, his mountain was too steep to climb.

Sérgio Conceicão: Right Manager, Wrong Time

That Sérgio Conceição strolled into that nightmare and in two matches defeated Juve and then Inter to win the Supercoppa trophy told us two things. First, it reaffirmed how shell-shocked the players were with Fonseca, and how well they immediately responded to a proper manager. Secondly, it demonstrated that he was, in fact, a competent manager. He had a better relationship with the players in less than a week than Fonseca could have ever dreamed of having. However, the hole Fonseca had dug was too deep even for such a winning manager to conquer, especially without even a full week to train his team for the first two months of his tenure, after the Champions League Goup Stage had been squandered, and most hope for next year's qualification was gone. 

Even still, had the league started in January when he arrived, despite the disruption of the January transfer window, the broken mentality/dressing room issues, and more, he would have had us in a Europa League spot, as he earned enough points during his time to have us finish fifth. Which says a lot, since most people simply wrote him off due to xenophobic ideas that he was just Fonseca 2.0. Plus, he managed the players' health so well, he had the fewest injuries of any 6 month period I can remember in ages at Milan. And given his past record, and the improvements we saw after he did have time to train the team, it is clear that if he had only been appointed at the beginning of the season, or even earlier in the season, the whole season would have been different. It is telling of this management that they did not even seem to consider keeping him on for the rebuilding year next season, as he is clearly capable of Champions League qualification or better when given a preseason.

We waited all summer for this guy and  donated €15m to Tottenham, too.

Failed Transfer Windows

Last summer's transfers were not impactful enough. While Fofana and Pavlović were good purchases, Emerson Royal was a head-scratcher from the first rumor. Bringing in Tammy Abraham on loan was also a positive, but it would have been even better if we could have found a deal to keep him, he scored ten goals and had six assists and was the Coppa Italia Capocannoniere, despite minimal playing time. Morata was just a diva signing that was completely fitting for Fonseca. But they simply weren't the players we needed to fill the holes in the team.

So in January, partially due to issues with management, the manager, just being unhappy, or the management forcing them out (or any combination of these reasons,) they forced out Calabria, our captain, who had been at the club for 18 years. Bennacer, Okafor, Zeroli, and Morata also left on loan. They brought in lifelong Milanista Santi Gimenez, who was a fantastic signing, but should have been brought in last summer. The loans of Walker and João Félix were expensive, even if they were helpful, while Sottil's loan and Bondo's purchase were like inexplicable fillers. We had over €100m worth of players out on loan, they could have easily recalled some of them instead. It would have been cheaper and more effective.

This was absolutely shameful of the Club. They could have at least let him say goodbye at the Derby.

Now we are sending all of our loaned players back, and now we have so many holes to fill. Plus we still have all of our players on loans coming back that will need to be loaned again or assimilated back into the squad, because they haven't been able to redeem any of them. Furlani is a portfolio manager, not a football CEO. So he is spreadsheet smart and football clueless. He only looks at the short term cost/benefit, without seeing that sometimes, holding onto players is worth more in the end due to their ability to help us achieve sporting goals that bring in far greater income than a loan or transfer fee. Let's hope that having an actual Sporting Director now helps to change this, but it is not looking good so far.

As sensationally good as he was on the pitch, he has been sensationally poor as a Senior Advisor.

The Danger of Disagreeing with Zlatan Ibrahimović

Ibrahimović fired our Communications Director and also shoved out D'Ottavio, our Sporting Director (at least in name,) and now the Primavera manager, Federico Guidi has left in just this season alone. It is impossible to know what D'Ottavio did, but it reportedly started with Ibrahimović locking him out of the youth training facilities and then Milanello, and in December, D'Ottavio left. Who knows what his crime was, he probably was using his years of experience as a scout in the youth sector to make wise suggestions. Guidi left by mutual consent, but it is noteworthy that he was the Primavera manager.

Perhaps either or both of them made the mistake of saying something about Ibrahimović's son, Maximilian, who plays for the Primavera team. Abate made the mistake of not playing him in that team last season, when he was younger than the other boys. And it cost him his job. He was not offered the Milan Futuro manager position or even a renewal after reaching the UEFA Youth League final, having reached the Semifinal the year before. Ibrahimović was so petty, he even fired Abate's father, Beniamino, who had worked for Milan for years as a Goalkeeping Coach, despite the fact that he and Abate had been close friends and business partners for years.

After keeping Bonera for nine months too long, Tassotti was brought in to try to help rescue Milan Futuro.

The Failure of the Milan Futuro Project

Speaking of Milan Futuro, Ibrahimović made big promises last summer about how it would focus on the development of the young players. That was the biggest failure, as players like Camarda got lost between the teams and saw too few minutes, and a player like Zeroli ended up loaned out in January. Other young players left, too, to make room for players who were more experienced, in an attempt to save the season, rather than develop the players. 

When all along, they should have just sacked Daniele Bonera. He had zero head managerial experience, and three of Milan Futuro's four wins had come when he was suspended. It was clear as day to everyone but Ibrahimović and his buddy Jovan Kirovski, who had no business being put in charge of this project in the first place after his ten years of failures with the LA Galaxy in the MLS. They brought in the legendary Mauro Tassotti to try to help, then finally sacked Bonera with just ten matches left, and brought in Massimo Oddo, but it was not enough time for the more experienced (but still not very successful) former Milan defender to save them from the drop. 

Massimo Oddo is reportedly signing a 2 year contract, but can he really help promote them from Serie D?

Milan Futuro, having started the season with the highest valued team of the 60 teams in Serie C, were relegated to Serie D. Just because Ibrahimović and Kirovski could not see what even the most casual of fans could. And more importantly, our young players' careers were impacted, with incredibly talented players like Liberali said to be unhappy and looking to leave because of the way he was treated.

There is Definitely Such Thing as Bad Press

Whomever came up with the saying that there is no such thing as bad press has never been to Italy. Not only have they become more toxic than ever, in recent years, they have had a constant stream of toxic and negative stories surrounding Milan. When Milan are winning or losing, when the players are doing well or poor, when we sign great players or no players, it does not matter. They are like an underground sewer, producing nonstop toxic stench surrounding Milan.

After being abused by Fonseca, they did not deserve the mauling by the press, too.

Is it a coincidence? No. For one, several of the larger news outlets in Northern Italy are owned by former Milan board members or Inter fans, and it helps their club to produce a constant negative stream of nonsense about their rival club. Especially to distract from the insane stories about their finances that have recently come to light.

Secondly, ever since Berlusconi sold the club, Milan lost a lot of respect, and there are plenty of journalists who are happy to kick the club around, even if they are not Inter supporters. Some of them were forced into a respectful silence at times by Maldini when he was at the club, but not even he could silence all the voices. Certainly even if there is not an agenda, smearing a big club like Milan sells papers/produces clicks. So one way or another, the narrative is negative. 

Complete political impotence.

In particular, since Cardinale bought the club, and with an impotent, unscrupulous president like Scaroni representing Milan, and with a tiny little rat-weasel portfolio manager like Furlani running the circus, there is no one that anyone respects to take a stand against these  so-called journalists and pundits. Not that any of them would have the gravitas or even care enough to stand up to them. But it is really harmful to the team, the manager, and especially oft-targeted players like Theo Hernández, Rafa Leão, or anyone else they put in their news crosshairs. This constant negative press has harmed the team mentality and results for too long now, and there is no end in sight with the sad excuses for men we have running this club.

The Milan Not-So-Conspiracy Theory of Referees and More

For years, Milan have been on the receiving end of undeserved yellow and red cards when other clubs are not carded for far more serious infractions. Earlier this season, MilanNews compiled the statistics about this that actually proved that Milan are one of the most sanctioned teams in both the Champions League and Serie A, despite committing fewer fouls than most teams. Fans were so mad at Theo Hernández for getting carded for diving in the Champions League Playoff match, but it was widely considered an overreaction of the referee, and incredibly inconsistent in terms of other calls in other matches.

People were mad at Theo, but what about this refereeing? It was actually so obtuse, it was insane.

But no place was it more blatantly obvious than in our back-to-back matches at the Stadio Olimpico at the end of the season. The first match, the Coppa Italia Final, saw Bologna get away with multiple cardable offenses in the first half, including a clear red card offense from Beukema on Gabbia. In a Final. They played more than 45 minutes on 11 men unjustly. And the referee designator admitted it was an error. In a Final. But, Oops.. Zero apologies, zero consequences for the referee or VAR referee.

That would have been bad enough. However, the disgusting thing was that Santi Gimenez was sent off early in our next match vs. Roma, a match determining European qualification for next season, for the exact same foulBut, Oops. No apologies, no consequences for the referee. No consequences for the VAR referee, who was also a VAR referee in the previous match. Exact same guy. So these guys cost us a Coppa Italia trophy and a European spot for next season. But, Oops. No apologies, no consequences. Because it's just Milan. And these are only a couple of examples. This stuff has been happening increasingly for years, this year being atrocious.

Referees check the badge on the shirt before they give out red cards.

And expanded to off the pitch, too. When Bologna's mayor forced a rescheduling of our first  match. Or when the authorities continued to disallow our Curva Sud to have flags, banners or coreo, even at the Coppa Italia Final, which gave Bologna an advantage. Or when they oh-so-quickly banned all Milan fans from the Roma-Milan match in the wake of that match, giving Roma the complete advantage in that match, even though Roma fans were not punished for slashing Milan fans' tires or fighting with them. Like it is actually insane how the rules have been harshly applied to Milan, and completely not applied to other clubs. But that is what happens when you lose your political clout.

The Price of Arrogant Incompetence

So Milan are owned by a man who knows nothing about football and cares even less. Our CEO was appointed to CEO of a €1.3 billion legendary football club as his first job in football, directly from his job as a portfolio manager. Our guy-who-thinks-he's-a-Technical Director never played football professionally, he is just a scout. But now he's overseeing the entire sporting sector for AC Milan, a club with seven Champions League trophies. 

What you see if you look up "incompetence" in the dictionary.

Like only a completely clueless person would put these people in place. Then there is Zlatan Ibrahimović, who is a Senior Advisor to the club on behalf of RedBird, and if you figure out what his job or level of authority is at Milan, please tell him. Like it is actually insane that these people have been running this club for two years. And even more shocking that no one has been fired for the appalling levels of ineptitude and horrifying levels of failure.

Finally, looking at finishing eighth and missing out completely on Europe (read: tens of millions of Euros,) and with dozens of protests and boycotts from fans, Gerald Cardinale finally stepped in and refereed the reported in-fighting between Furlani, Moncada, and Ibrahimović and made them hire Igli Tare as Milan's new Sporting Director. Of course, that was after he was told by the FIGC that he could not hire the criminal Fabio Paratici, which speaks volumes about Gerald that a criminal was his first choice.

Say goodbye to world class players.

But without Europe, that meant that they readily sold Reijnders, they are forcing out Theo Hernández, and who knows who else will leave this summer? They almost lost Maignan, too (who could still actually leave.) Who knows what players we could have also signed who will not join because of no Europe and no competence? Plus, we miss out on another year of competing in Europe, while other teams compete for more Champions League titles, threatening to equal or beat our seven titles. And even with a "proven" manager like Allegri, who knows if he can heal this team's mentality after all of this incompetence has caused so much damage?

We've heard things like "I saw things I've never seen before" from seasoned veterans, and many other indications that this season went well beyond train wreck levels. The damage caused by their arrogance these past two years, letting these imbeciles steer the ship "their way" with their "Moneyball algorithms" and "working group" has caused irreparable damage to Milan's history and reputation. They sacked Maldini, dismantled our Scudetto-winning team, and now we are at a third consecutive Year Zero. And even though they've finally conceded that they need a real Sporting Director and a proper manager, we will be feeling the repercussions from their arrogant incompetence for a while. That is just the tip of the iceberg from a season of chaos.


This post inspired by the music of Baby Lasagna's "Biggie Boom Boom"


A Season of Chaos A Season of Chaos Reviewed by Elaine on 11:59 PM Rating: 5
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