AC Milan President Paolo Scaroni Discusses The Club’s Priorities and FFP

AC Milan President Paolo Scaroni has discussed the path ahead for the club in the face of the recent tumultuous times in an interview with Olympialex via Football Italia. He stated that Ivan Gazidis has a major role to play at the club and has his confidence. He went on to outline the three priority tasks for the CEO:

‘‘The first is to build a young team, with young players who play quick football, quicker than what’s usually seen in Italy, more like the English model or Ajax.’’

“The second concerns the new stadium: San Siro is a big name, but it’s totally obsolete for football.’’

“The third is sponsors: Milan need them. Sponsors won’t arrive without results and results don’t arrive without sponsors.’’

On Milan as a global brand, he stated:

“Milan’s a global brand, we have more fans than any other Italian club and we’re in Europe’s top five on that basis, even if we haven’t won for some time. In Indonesia, for example, we have five million fans. We have to do well on the sporting side, but the real challenge is to make new fans in places like China, Indonesia and Pakistan ... If we want to win over millions of fans, what you have to do is play at times compatible with their time zones.’’

Regarding Financial Fair Play, he said:

“Many fans don’t understand what it means to run a club with FFP: we don’t want to be punished again ... UEFA’s FFP model is different to the mechanism used by the NBA. If I can criticise FFP: the situation has frozen.

“If you are a club that’s winning, your future is made up of winning and sponsors, otherwise the road is very long. FFP will change, everything’s changing course.’’

Scaroni’s comments largely pointed toward the establishment of a solid foundation at the club over the next year or so and a return to being competitive. His comments made it clear that the priorities span achievements both on and off the pitch.