Seeking Glory in Perth

To close out their Summer Tour, Milan have returned to Perth in Western Australia, where they played a friendly vs. Roma last Summer. They will be facing local A-League side Perth Glory on Thursday before heading back to Milano for the rest of their preseason preparations. Their visit last year found a passionate group of Milan fans, including the members of the Milan Clubs Australia, which is the combined group of Milan Clubs from Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney. With the prospect of Milan possibly playing the first Serie A match outside of Italy next year vs. Como seemingly only waiting on the approval of UEFA and FIFA, this friendly is truly about seeking glory in Perth.

Milan found glory (and a trophy) in Hong Kong after defeating Liverpool 4-2

Respecting Liverpool, Remembering Diogo

Some things are more important than football, and just three weeks ago, we were reminded of that in the worst possible way. Liverpool lost Diogo Jota and his brother very suddenly in a tragic accident. Just ten days after his wedding, less than a month after lifting the Nations League trophy with his Portugal team, and six weeks after lifting the Premier League trophy with Liverpool. Milan have a painfully historic rivalry with Liverpool in the Champions League, but that gets set aside at a time like this, when emotions are still very, very raw. Normally, this match in Hong Kong would be just another preseason friendly, but it is their first international match since losing Diogo and his brother. So Saturday will be about respecting Liverpool, remembering Diogo.

Gone, but not forgotten.

Time to Get Friendly with Arsenal

Milan kick off their summer tour in Singapore tonight with a friendly vs. Mikel Arteta's Arsenal. This will be Max Allegri's first match after being appointed manager in a very overhyped move by this horrible management, even if he was not even their first choice. The same management who publicly struggled to hire a Sporting Director while still showing zero accountability for destroying this team the past two years, thus giving new hire Igli Tare little chance for success in the transfer window. (Tare was also very publicly not their first choice.) Needless to say, I am not excited for any of this, but here we are. It's time to get friendly with Arsenal.

Milan training in Singapore ahead of the match.

The Return of Allegri

After a blissful ten and a half years without him, Massimiliano Allegri is returning to AC Milan as the manager. For those of you who are new fans, count yourselves lucky that you missed the first version. Despite the fact that Allegri 1.0 brought us a Scudetto and a Supercoppa, those years were filled with unnecessarily unique lineup changes on a weekly basis, tactics that were inexplicable, and of course, his weird voice screaming "Dai Dai Dai" for nonstop. It was so traumatic, in fact, that after he left, I wrote a match review in the form of a break up letter. But, as all of my exes do, he has come back to haunt my life once again. I just wish we could have a manager who would finally truly see me for who I am. (I acknowledge that the 2005 team ended in great trauma and heartbreak, but that is part of the beauty of that song.) Unfortunately, though, Allegri is just giving me stalker vibes, which is on top of all of the other trauma this owner and management have created here. While many people are excited about his appointment, I am definitely not at all thrilled about the return of Allegri (just like people are not thrilled about stalkers.)

I know what you did last season.

RedBird's Communication Policy: Suffering in Silence

There has been a deafening silence surrounding communication from the Club that has only increased as key players left following Gerald Cardinale's purchase of AC Milan. Whereas Elliott Management was transparent with fans, creating the best relationship between the Club and the fans in my memory, RedBird Capital has chosen the polar opposite position. Which is odd, for a company that specializes in investing in Sports, Media, and Entertainment, the expectation would be a focus on marketing and communications to grow their investments in those fields. However, between denying fans access to friendlies and limiting official announcements and decreasing informational posts on social media finding out what is actually going on at Milan has been a struggle for Milan fans. Not only have there been plenty of misunderstandings betwen the club and the fans, but it has often left us suffering in silence.

"The Sound of Silence," a banner from Curva Sud's protest at the end of the 2023-24 season.