Current squad - what work is needed?
#93
(11-17-2013, 08:40 PM)honsano Wrote: Dev you make some good points. I will say you refer to a lot of modern merchandising/advertising especially when you bring up twitter and youtube. When you compare us to Real or Barca you are forgetting that probably 1/2 of videos for each club revolve around Messi and Ronaldo. You are essentially alluding to the commercial aspect Real realized years ago with the Galacticos.

Modern football is no longer as much result driven as it is player driven and goal driven. I think Real is a great example as they have not won a CL in over 10 years (and the last time they were in the final is when the won), they have won like 2 or 3 La Ligas in that time but they are a juggernaut financially. The reason is that their attacking galacticos fit the modern paradigm of marketing very well (which brings in the money). The same goes for Barca with Ronaldinho and now Messi. These players are the Youtube highlights, ESPN highlights, the discussions people have. People don't want to talk about a Serie A 1:0 scoreline that was tactically stunning, they want to talk about the 5-3 match or when Ronaldinho hits a beautiful volley. They want to see that.

Milan, on the other hand, do not have such players or scorelines. Outside of Silva and Ibra we haven't really had any big caliber stars grace us AND we all know that defensive stars like Thiago do not garner the attention outside of the hardcore footballing world where the money is made (I mean most people watch youtube videos of goals not tackles or tweet exciting results not 1-0 score lines). Sure as fans of the sport we know Silva's importance to ANY club in terms of play but financially he doesn't bring money in like a Bale, Messi or Ronaldo.

Now I'm not saying Milan has never had stars like that. We just have to look back to Van Basten, Pirlo, Shevchenko, Kaka, etc to see that Milan was once to a beautiful team. The problem is in the past 8 to 10 years the sport has become more and more international and we haven't had that reach because our lack of spending. As people can now see their footballing idols online that they once only heard about over a decade ago, they are willing to spend more for the teams. I think the commercial aspect is due to timing. We just happened to stop spending much in the recent years when more and more international money began flowing into the game. That is why you see teams really pulling away from us. The timing is also apparent in the Calciopoli eroded the credibility and the fan base of Serie A as well.

Oh my that was a rambling post. Hope it makes sense

I didn't ignore the Messi/Ronaldo vids at all, but bear in mind that in our ranks we have Balotelli who was recently voted in Time's 100 most influencial people and is probably the most popular Italian player in the US and Brazil right now (one is a market we're trying to enter, the other a fast growing economy). We also have El Shaarawy, one of the faces of FIFA 14, the biggest/most popular football sim on the planet, Kaka who needs no building up (despite being past his best) and I'd add Robinho, still a very high profile player despite his struggles. If we're focusing on attracting Milan fans etc to our facebook/youtube pages etc, then guys like De Sciglio, Saponara, Gabriel and Cristante are also going to be popular. Granted, none of these guys reach the heights of Ronaldo and Messi, but I'd say we have some pretty marketable players.

I agree Real are more about commercial branding than sports, but Barca have found a nice balance in recent years and should be viewed as an example (I use Real mostly for figures). As for people not wanting to watch 1-0 Serie A matches, I'm afraid those days are long gone. Serie A hasn't the quality defending/tactics it was once known for and these days it's frequent to see goals and entertainment in matches. I'm not alone in thinking this, I recently heard Mina Rzouki (serie A expert in the UK and one of Italian football's biggest defenders) saying it. The problem is how Serie A sells itself as a product, but that's another debate that I have plenty of opinions on.

(11-17-2013, 08:41 PM)reza Wrote: At this point in time it is perhaps best to take the opportunity, accept a pause, take a small step back and then look to a longer term future. What I mean by this is *marketing wise* I think it is a futile exercise to be compared with Real, Barca, EPL etc and we should perhaps build from 'Italian' strengths. Milan's social media presence is already superior to Juve's and Inter's for example. We get stadium issues sorted out and I am afraid I think San Siro is too big, a village around it will not fix the stadium itself, we all love Milan and we know there are lots of supporters all around the world but a stadium nearly twice Juve's is not needed and in quite a few ways it is not helping.

I want to clarify my opinion on where we should be (i.e. competing with the likes of Real and Barca) stems from the last 25 years of football, during which time we've surpassed the achievements of both and Serie A was the best league in the world. I accept we've failed to grow during this time as we should have, while they haven't hesitated in their growth, hence we're not even able to compete with them now.

The whole village idea was something I considered for after the San Siro is renovated/modernised (which hopefully will happen for 2016), essentially fixing the problems of the stadium before any other action takes place. It would be a minimum of a 10 year project to fully establish imo, but something that needs the seeds sewn now.

I do agree with you though, I share similar concerns about the size of San Siro. What I'd want is research to be conducted, seeing whether it's feasible to stay at the San Siro based on our income. In our current state, I doubt it, but I'd want to consider forecasts of expected income if we're to increase marketing of the club, offer membership deals and increase commercial revenue with some of the ideas I mentioned before (including other ideas).

(11-17-2013, 11:08 PM)Kastriot Wrote: I can see here some of you have put some valid points that can help the club. Is it possible for us as a community (Milanmania) to write a letter directed to our mgm with some points derived from our posts. I would really want for Galliani to read this post Dev wrote. I honestly think it will be refreshing if they read a letter from fans outside of Milan and Italy.

Reza what do you think? can we write a letter signed from members here and direct it to Via Turati or the new headquarters. Or maybe just send it by e-mail??

Maybe it may come to def ears but I think we as fans are entitled to out opinion and hopefully will be read.

I'm rather pessimistic this would ever succeed if I'm honest. I'm the first to admit that while I've got quite a few opinions on the business, I'm not of a business background and accept my arguments may be naive or unfeasible, especially not knowing the actual details behind what's going on at Milan and it's partners. My post is also just has a few random opinions around various areas of the business (not a structured report), where it seems obvious we've missed opportunities time and again. My issue is that these are things that should have been implemented (or implemented better) 5, 10, 15 and even 20 years ago.

Chances are that if we send these things to Milan, it would go to some random support/PR division which holds no real power or links to the powers at be at the club. At most, in this scenario we'd get a thank you response. I don't think this stuff would be seen by anyone above a mid-management level role (if that), never mind those who actually make decisions.

The truth is, Barbara Berlusconi wrote a long report (60 odd pages if I'm correct) detailing why selling Thiago Silva and to a lesser extent Ibra was a bad idea in the past. She has direct access to the head honchos and her argument was totally disregarded. If we're talking about the owner's daughter being ignored, then I don't have much hope for a small fan group.

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Messages In This Thread
Current squad - what work is needed? - by Danny - 05-17-2013, 03:56 PM
RE: Current squad - what work is needed? - by Ryo - 10-15-2013, 05:22 AM
RE: Current squad - what work is needed? - by Ryo - 10-16-2013, 08:30 AM
RE: Current squad - what work is needed? - by Ryo - 10-17-2013, 03:57 AM
RE: Current squad - what work is needed? - by Ryo - 11-06-2013, 08:18 AM
RE: Current squad - what work is needed? - by ACMILAN1983 - 11-18-2013, 11:57 AM