Please don’t take this as some silly sob story, but more of a frustrated explosion of feelings and thoughts. I don’t cry for Milan, I don’t cry for a few mediocre years if it means future success. I have been a fan of this team since 1990, the trophies, the horrific hiring’s and firings of 1996-1999 and mid-table out of Europe finishes, I have been with this team through good and bad. But just because the good days were very good, it doesn’t mean I hold some sense of entitlement that AC Milan can’t rebuild, regroup and reset to become the team it was a few years ago; instead of just spinning its wheels in neutral putting glue on the increasingly growing and numerous cracks.
We need an implosion, yet we don’t even have a Coach. We need a new system of personnel and tactics, but certain members of management can’t get the heads far enough out of their asses to see the truth. Instead we have an owner who has completely and certifiably gone insane. I can handle Silvio reminding me of the “Grand Milan,” it was his vision his success story. I would even shake his hand for it. I can even justify the fiscal responsibility in global crisis and the need to stabilize the Club in the eyes of UEFA while the likes of Real Madrid, Barca, Man U, and Pool hold massive debts with the potential for sanctions. What I can’t deal with though is this fool saying he can Coach this team to a scudetto or worse his love affair with certain players, certain has-beens, over the betterment of the team. When the influx of class players was flowing out of Africa we enamored ourselves with Brazilians. Our historical scouting of young Italian defenders is now nonexistent, and their ability to nurture strikers completely gone. This fool sold Kaka in favor of Ronaldinho who at his best delivered us twenty goals, a third place finish, and a “me first” attitude. At Kaka’s peak we hoisted a CL on his shoulders alone as he rose the level of play of those around him when no one else believed, still patting your back Silvio?
So while Juventus has put a plan in place, hired a coach and has begun courting young Italian players for an Italian team in an Italian league. AC Milan, its fans and management, continue these delusions of grandeur for players like Dzeko, Krasic, Pastore and Kjear (Palermo wouldn’t even sell us a ticket to a match)…seemingly blind to the fact that our problems were not localized in a single part of the pitch, but in depth and through the spine of the team. Even more interesting is this odd sense that solid Serie A players are not good enough for AC Milan!??! Where does AC Milan play their Club football?? Some league in outer-space? Do we play 30 games in Europe and only around 12 in Serie A? Am I missing something? If a good defender under 25 has a good year for a Club in Serie A would it not be prudent to pursue said player so he can mature at AC Milan and become a force on the CL stage in our colors?? The small amount of funds available should be spread among three to four solid Serie A players instead of one stupid signing to satisfy an owners’ ego. If Allegri is the new coach, I wish him luck but more importantly the intestinal fortitude to implement a system, make the tough cuts, and tell the owner what he needs and why.
Evolve, adapt, rebuild, or continue with the status quo. Do we pin our hopes on Ronaldinho for another year? A year with no WC motivation and the return of his best “party” bud Adriano to the Serie A? Can we bank on Nesta playing 25 games or more? Can Pirlo survive without DM balance and if so can Rino and Ambro be those guys?? Can Pato do more than just dribble with his head down? Do we even have a RB!?! Those are the real questions, instead I have to read articles and comments day in and day out surrounding replacements and trades for Borriello or Antonini as though their semi-decent and admirable performances this season did not happen? Maybe it is the rest of the soccer World trying to tell us that those are the only two players on this team with any value in a trade deal? Or maybe just maybe the senility has gone beyond Silvio and Fester…
The past few weeks have been the most difficult I have endured as an AC Milan fan. The transfer season is difficult enough as it is with the off based rumors and ridiculous wish lists from the likes of goal.com and other horrific rags. But to have no coach, no system of order, and an appearance of utter chaos to the football community has made a historic juggernaut into a laughing stock across the globe. Thankfully the World Cup will start soon, and my long promised World Class post will be up shortly, but in the meantime I think I need a drink…