Cardinale's Year Zero 3.0

Gerald Cardinale purchased Milan from Elliott Management three years ago, immediately after the team won their first Scudetto in 11 years. Since then, he has invested millions and numerous changes in staff and players have been made. Yet, while Milan did win the Supercoppa in January, they failed to get past the Group Stage of the Champions League this season, and lost the Coppa Italia final to the local authorities a referee Bologna. The team finished in eighth place this season, and without any European competition next season, a harsh enough financial reality for the budget that got Gerald involved and forced more big changes. Changes that will reset any kind of project they may have thought they had stumbled upon, Cardinale's Year Zero 3.0.

The fans would like a different kind of reset.

The change of ownership impacted the renewal of Maldini and Massara's contracts that June, as well as the summer transfer window. Then, Elliott investment banker Giorgio Furlani replaced Gazidis as CEO when his contract was up in December. To clarify, Ivan Gazidis, an accomplished lawyer who had played football and then worked in football for over 30 years, was replaced with someone who was still a child when his career began and who had absolutely no football experience. This is crucial to understand, because this was when things noticeably began to change.

One of these things is not like the other.

Fast forward to that summer, a year after Gerald purchased the club, Milan had made it to the Champions League Semifinal, and finished fifth in Serie A (moving up to fourth after Juventus were penalized. Then, just three days after finalizing Rafa Leão's renewal, Gerald suddenly and unexpectedly fired Paolo Maldini, with Ricky Massara following shortly thereafter. Afterward, we found out that Furlani was the reason Maldini was dismissed. This was a point-of-no-return moment, a mistake so massive that Gerald probably still does not understand the full consequences of his actions.

There did not seem to be a coherent plan of action following the dismissal, so these narcissistic, ignorant people with no idea what they were doing and no experience whatsoever running a football club fumbled around trying to get organized. Right away, they were offered a large amount of money for fan favorite Sandro Tonali, and they sold him without any hesitation. 

Two wrongs do not make a right.

They were also unprepared for the massive backlash from the fans and the media in the wake of firing a club legend and then selling Tonali. So, in an attempt to regain favor, they began a revolution in the summer transfer window that saw 17 players exit and ten new players purchased for a total cost of €134m. This was Year Zero 1.0. 

In spite of some surprisingly good results for having changed so many players, the damage to the culture of the club was clear. After asking Franco Baresi to be a liaison to the players did not exactly go well, Gerald spent four months in negotiations with Ibrahimović. Finally, he agreed to join RedBird as an Operating Partner and Senior Advisor to Milan. And still, no one knows what his job actually is. Or the level of authority he has in decision-making. Or why anyone thought he would be a solution to their complete vacuum of knowledge of how to run a €1.3 billion football club.

Cardinale Year Zero 1.0 did not exactly go as planned.

That season saw the team step down from Champions League in the Group Stage.to the Europa League, where they were knocked out in the Quarterfinals. And although Milan's Serie A position was second at the end of the year, they were 19 points behind Inter. At the end of that season, they agreed to part ways with Pioli, who had been at the club for nearly five years. This reset the clock again to start Year Zero 2.0.

The second post-Maldini reset did not start off well, as management completely fumbled the choice of the new manager. Shockingly, the trio of Furlani as CEO, Moncada as Technical Director, and Ibrahimović as a Senior Advisor, none of whom had any experience at their positions, chose Paulo Fonseca as Pioli's successor. They also managed the summer transfers poorly, and primarily at the very end of the window, with Morata, Pavlović, the mind boggling choice of Emerson Royal, Youssouf Fofana, and Tammy Abraham coming in as reinforcements. The Fonseca experiment went even worse than most of us dreaded, and at the end of December, he was sacked right after being made to give a postmatch press conference in which he was asked about his job. Another Milan management class act. He left with an injury crisis, a broken dressing room, and the team in eighth place.

Wrong manager, wrong timing.

In January, they brought in a more experienced Sérgio Conceição as manager, who had also been available the previous summer and should have been chosen ahead of Fonseca. He strolled in on a Monday and won the Supercoppa after his first two matches, an immediate reaction from the nightmare man management issues Fonseca had caused. However, less than four weeks later, management forced five changes in and out at the end of the January transfer window, which further destabilized the team. And from there, the season was a struggle to find consistency. 

After a bizarre series of individual errors led to Milan exiting the Champions League in the Playoffs of the Group Stage, the team were left without European competition, with no Coppa Italia hardware, and finished in eighth place in the league. It was Milan's worst season in at least ten years. And they could have kept Conceição for consistency and because he had not been given any time or a real chance, plus he was on crazy low wages that would have helped with a no-Europe season. So, rinse, repeat. They sacked Conceição, which they almost remembered to do before hiring the next manager. Honestly, their communications, professionalism and basic human decency are just completely lacking. Reset. Year Zero 3.0.

Better manager, still wrong timing.

Despite Ibrahimović's pet project, Milan Futuro, also being relegated to Serie D, neither he nor his buddy Jovan Kirovski were sacked, nor faced any apparent consequences. Nor were Furlani nor Moncada given any public accountability. Obviously, they did not publicly admit accept any accountability. Narcissists are never wrong. And why would they take the blame when they could just fire the manager and blame the players instead?

This is perhaps the most shocking thing. Well, after the part where four people with no experience felt confident that they could run a football club better than anyone else, of course. If someone at a fast food restaurant were even late too many times for their job, they would lose that job. But destroying the sporting sector of a €1.3 billion historic club? Totally fine. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they gave themselves a raise.

The highest valued team out of 60 teams, relegated to Serie D. A special kind of failure.

Cardinale did take a break from purchasing entertainment and media companies to crisis manage Furlani into hiring a Sporting Director, since that saga had been going on for months and was still unresolved. That is how Igli Tare was hired almost overnight, despite the months of rumors and reported arguments amongst management and talks with various candidates. He in turn almost immediately nailed down a deal with an in-demand Massimilano Allegri to be Milan's new manager (again.) Allegri won a Scudetto and a Supercoppa with Milan, but wore out his welcome. He went on to a very successful spell at Juventus, and then a not-so successful spell, which ended in him being fired for aggression toward a referee and threatening to rip a journalist's ears off. Milan are gambling on him being one of the most winning managers currently in Serie A, rather than whatever happened last year.

These were bold moves to kick off Year Zero 3.0. Which was good, because everything since has been a series of transfer sagas that inadvertently aired out some of the dirty laundry demonstrating just how toxic things have been for the players behind the scenes. The first, we saw coming and wasn't exactly done in secret. Tijjani Reijnders was sold to Manchester City for a total of €55 million plus bonuses. I cannot blame him for wanting to step up to a club with a world class manager and players and be able to have Champions League football. But he will be sorely missed and will be very difficult to replace

Farewell to the First Family of Milan, you leave a hole in our hearts.

But then came the discussions about Mike Maignan and Theo Hernández. Both should have been renewed during the 2023-24 season, but definitely by the beginning of this last season. The Club repeatedly postponed renewal talks with both players, which is so insulting. Both players were making less than several of the newer players that had been signed by this management, despite being worth twice or more in value, and were long overdue for pay raises.

As the transfer window began to unfold this month, it was reported that Milan had finally sat down and agreed to terms for a renewal through 2028 with Maignan and his agent, but then never again contacted them or actually proceeded with the actual transfer. Meanwhile, Maignan was made captain and was still doing his job in this very toxic environment. Coinciding with media reports about his contract renewal, Maignan had a couple of shaky performances. Following those, it was suddenly reported that the club were "reconsidering"his renewal due to concerns about his recent performances and also age.

Maignan had to post this photo to his social media to shut up fan and media fat shaming him.

Not only that, but somewhere in the media, it was reported that Conceição was concerned about Maignan's weight. That was never confirmed by the manager, nor was it condemned by the club. Amidst fans racing to fat-shame the very fit goalkeeper, Maignan himself posted a shirtless photo of himself to his social media to try to debunk these terrible rumors and stop the hateful rhetoric. This is important to note, because these kinds of disgusting clickbait stories tarnishing our players or the team have been commonplace since Maldini was sacked. Maldini not only commanded more respect and clout with the media and public, but he also protected the players and the team. Whether or not these stories now originate from management, these men in power now have done nothing to debunk them or show support for our players and/or team.

Without a renewal, it Maignan was deeply offended and was looking for ways to leave. When the quick ten day transfer market ahead of the Club World Cup, Chelsea came in with a low offer for Maignan, but although Maignan agreed to terms with them, the deal collapsed, with reports that Milan wanted more money. Not even after Maignan reportedly told them he could go to Chelsea for whatever fees now, or finish his contract and then leave on a free transfer next year. I want him to stay, and I disapprove of selling a top ten goalkeeper in the world for such a low price. However, I am thoroughly disgusted by the way he was treated by this management.

How the club should have prioritized renewals this season.

As for Theo, who had been going through a lot this season, particularly with his wife and baby girl at risk during the pregnancy, they never even sat down with him or agreed to a renewal. His off the pitch issues were evident in his performances on the pitch. That was compounded by Fonseca's repeated senseless benching of Theo and Leão, then gaslighting and criticizing them in the media. Which resulted in further disciplinary issues, such as the Great Waterbreak Scandal of 2024 (in which the bigger scandal was that Fonseca benched his two best players, costing the team two points.)

Then there was Theo's participation in the Mutiny of the Penalty, in which Milan lost all three points, and the world saw clearly that Fonseca had never gained the respect of his players. You know, Fonseca, the one who infamously had issues with his best players at Roma, then at Milan, and again at Lyon. He also left Milan and immediately got himself a nine month ban for being aggressive toward a referee? That was the guy torturing gaslighting benching Theo and generally causing an incredibly toxic and broken dressing room.

Mad skills, humble, a good teammate... things Milan are throwing away in ignorance.

Sure, Theo's performances were not up to par, with fans in particular remembering his second yellow against Feyenoord in our Champions League Playoff second leg, putting us down to ten men. Obviously, it was a nail-in-the-coffin moment for Milan's Champions League run, but to blame Theo for the whole thing is naïve and small-minded. Other players made critical errors along the way, and management chose the wrong manager in the first place. Theo was just the lightning rod for hate, because people rarely look at why a player's form is suffering. 

After his daughter was born and she and mom were both safe, his form returned anyway. And don't forget, he still managed to break Maldini's all time top scoring record for a defender at Milan during this hellish season, too. But due to these public disciplinary issues, as well as hints about some that were not made public, management never offered our loyal player of six years a renewal, despite his repeatedly expressed desire to stay. However, he was never offered that option, and when Al Hilal offered Milan €30 million for him, as well as a massive €18 million per year salary for Theo, the club accepted the terms immediately. 

Theo has always demonstrated his love for this club, the directors cannot say the same.

Theo's current market value is €40 million, down from €60 million in 2023 when Maldini left, as many Milan players have also seen their values drop. However, Theo did not want to go to Saudi Arabia. The club pushed him. Al Hilal pushed him. Daily. And he refused every time, reporting that he wanted to stay in Europe. Atlético Madrid came in with an offer for him, and Theo agreed to their terms right away, but this time, the negotiations between Milan and Atléti broke down. Reports were that negotiations were off.

So Milan and Theo are in a standoff, with the Club reportedly threatening to bench him next year if he does not find a club to pay the same price as Al-Hilal were offering for him. Absolutely disgusting behavior. Nevermind how embarrassing it was for them to pressure him to go to a country with human rights issues that would directly impact his wife and daughter, and which would negatively impact his career, just so they could get the most money for him and get rid of a player who actually wanted to stay. But to treat anyone like this is despicable, much less a World Class, irreplaceable player who had been loyal to the club for six years. I've seen far more mature behavior in disagreements between elementary school children than from these greedy, self-absorbed, incompetent imbeciles running our club.

Why? You cannot put a price on this.

Then there was the permanent deal of Kalulu to Juventus. He had been loaned to our direct rival this season for €3.2m, who not only finished above us on the table, but secured a Champions League spot. Juventus used their agreed option to purchase the defender for €14.3 million plus bonuses. A great capital gain, considering Maldini and Massara only paid €1.5 million for him. 

However, to demonstrate Furlani's brilliance, he allowed them to spread such a massive figure over three years time. That's right, Milan will receive €4.75 million per year for the next three years for Kalulu. With guaranteed payments like that, we don't even need to worry about qualifying fo Champions League. Not only that, but when he was loaned, Kalulu was worth €20 million. Now he is worth €26 million. And these are just the numbers. Milan lost a really talented young player who was versatile, able to play at both right back and center back, and was integral to our Scudetto win. You cannot put a price on that. 

Furlani is convinced he is a genius... a genius of player layaway plans for our opponents.

The young center back Marco Pellegrino was on loan to Huracán in Argentina after his loan to Independiente was cut short due to disciplinary issues, including a yacht incident. Milan managed to permanently transfer him to Boca Juniors for a reported fee of €5 million plus 20% of his sell-on fee. Players whose contracts are up June 30th include: João Félix, Tammy Abraham, Riccardo Sottil, and Kyle Walker. Milan still have many players out on loan who will be returning as well. Tare has his work cut out for him, not only trying to clean up the mess and heal some of toxicity in the dressing room, but also clearing out some of these perpetually loaned players as well.

And it remains to be seen how much help or interference he will receive from the people who made this mess. It turns out that having a narcissistic football virgin owner, a glorified accountant as a CEO, a scout who never played football pretending to be a technical director, and a rogue footballer playing wear-your-suit-to-work-day when his hallmark as a player was getting into trouble for things he said was not a recipe for success. That they have spent the past two years acting like they know better than the rest of the football world at the expense of our club, our players, and our fans should be a crime, actually. Not a good start to Year Zero 3.0.

As long as there is ZERO accountability, the Year Zeros will continue each season.

Gerald did not even have the balls to fire even one of them, so their cancerous narcissism and toxic interpersonal skills are still running the club. But now they've added a Sporting Director with a lifetime of football experience, as well as 15 years of experience at his job. Whether or not he'll win any awards as a director like Maldini and Massara did is unlikely, given the people he is working with. But at least Tare is there, finally. And perhaps he can develop an actual coherent plan for this tragic management.

The bigger question mark is Allegri. His early meteoric rise to fame as a manager flatlined after Milan got rid of all their star players last time. Then he went to a Juventus with plenty of stars, and did well in a league where the rivals were all struggling, too. His second stint at Juventus was not nearly as successful, as the club had serious issues with crime and such, as well as a poorly balanced squad. But pundits accused him of having tactics that were outdated, and his behaviors were more extreme, too, until finally he was fired. So which Allegri did Milan hire? The plan was to hire a guaranteed-winning manager, but did they just hire another behavioral risk?

Can one person clean up this mess and create a new project?

Then there is the transfer window. Having sold Reijnders in order to avoid a deficit for the 2024-25 fiscal year, and without any European football next year, they now need to find players to replace some of these big players leaving, but also keep them on low wages. And they must succeed. Top four is the bare minimum requirement next year. But that may be really difficult, given that we are likely to see a huge reset in the team, with many players in and out this summer. After completely destroying the sustainable, successful project they inherited, this clearly chaotic and unplanned reset is destined to be Cardinale's Year Zero 3.0.

This post inspired by the music of Garbage's "Sisyphus"