(05-23-2024, 12:36 AM)slifersd1 Wrote: Their lack of ambition is pretty obvious to me. The players they sign, the coach they hire and the overall structure of the club do not scream "we are trying everything we can to win trophies" to me. Instead, it feels much more like they are content with getting to CL every year to keep the revenue rolling. After the Scudetto win, we should have invested heavily into improving the team talent level to make a real run to become a dominant force in Serie A. Instead, we decided to keep investment low (despite a huge inflow of revenue) and regressed since then. Every time we need to spend big money, we have to sell someone to finance it. That's not a team trying to win on the field, that's a team trying to win on the balance sheets. Sure, they are not taking money out of Milan, yet. But that's mostly because there aren't much profit there to take, since Italian clubs mostly still run in red every year due to low revenue level. If Milan get to the revenue level of an EPL team, i bet you money Cardinale is going to take the profit out of the club
Part of the reason I said what I said is because I am also familiar with American ownerships like this. I have seen this movie played out many times in American sports nowadays. From baseball to football to basketball, these "smart" ownerships decided their mighty algorithm is more important than on field results. Ask the Yankees how many championships their analytical front office has won in the last 15 years. Every time Cardinale opens his mouth, he sounds like a hedge fund manager talking about a random stock in his portfolio instead of a fan of the club looking to win championships.
Got it. Thanks for explaining. I guess we'll see what happens when there is more profit and if they actually start taking it out of the club. Not saying you are wrong and I understand your concerns. I have them too. But let's see if it happens. At the moment, it's not happening. And IMO, what we are seeing is not "lack of ambition", but "lack of funds". And I can live with that, as they are running the club like a business and trying to grow it organically. I've come to a realization that the Milan of old, the glory days of Berlu, are gone. As long as we can be self-sustainable and smart with our decisions, use the brand to grow, we'll be among the top teams every year, and win titles (likely not every year). We just likely won't dazzle the world and win CLs for fun like we used to. It is what it is. It's better than overextending ourselves, drown in debt, and finish midtable in Serie A with the likes of Poli, Bertolacci and Paletta on the field.
(05-23-2024, 03:30 AM)ACM2023 Wrote: I am jealous of Atalanta to be honest. You can claim that they have some great players but talent wise we are close if not better. But they play so much better as a team.
We just don't have a good coach and it is so obvious that a blind man can see it. Yet Pioli was able to keep his job until now.
And then Fonseca is the new guy? Out of all the options, why did they choose the worst one? I hope I am wrong, but I feel that next season is already over before it even starts.
Come on Xu. Jealous of Atalanta? Don't be caught up in the moment my friend. They have won 1 title in their entire history. As a matter of fact, currently, we ARE Atalanta (at a bigger scale). There are many similarities between the clubs the last several years. Sad for us as Milan fans, but think about it. They won a title this year, but hadn't won one in a long time (or ever). We won the Scudetto 2 years ago, and now hovering in the top 4. Same as them, really, and they're likely to continue that.
They play "good" football....but what's "good" football? People forget they've actually lost more games than Milan this season and are finishing the season behind us. They've scored less goal then Milan. They've lost every final they've ever played in (apart for a Copa Italia 60 years ago).
People forget they sell their stars every summer. We sold Tonali, and people were ready to riot. Their coach failed at Inter. The guy we are about to hire " failed" at Roma (debatable), and we are about to riot. They lost 3 Copa Italia finals under Gasp, we lost a semi final and a super league against Inter, and people want to riot.
To be clear, I don't take these "riots" as negative. It's actually good. It's good to be upset and demand more from the club. But my point here is Atalanta and I'm just saying all this to show the similarities of the situations....YET, the different perception of the situations. Total opposite ends of the spectrum, yet still, the same.
The same philosophy is followed by both teams...that being, get your accounts in order first, then go into the market.
So why jealous? Atalanta is just as likely to finish out of the CL spots next year as they are to repeat a title season again. It's what you get with this type of philosophy. There simply isn't enough continuity and funding to keep the success going. So you'll have some great seasons and some ok ones. Every year Gasp complains that there is lack of ambition there. Every year he has showdown talks with the owner. This summer is no different.
I want us to NOT be in the Atalanta model. I wanna get away from that. Where we are able to offer 10m a year to our top players and keep them, along with bringing in others at that quality level. Problem is, I just don't think it'll happen with this ownership. At least not until we own a stadium and the revenues are >€500M.
I know I'm in the minority here. But I don't think the future is doom and gloom, even with Fonseca. I think we have a great base of players. I am prepared (note, I don't want to, but I'm prepared for it) to lose one of our starters. I'm hoping that won't be Theo or Leao (I'm fed up with Leao, but I want to see what he does under a different coach). The rest are replaceable. But with smart additions, I think we can improve on our season. Is it the ambition of Milan as it was back in the day (to win the Scudetto and the CL). Reality says otherwise. But if Atalanta can win the EL, Dortmund can be in the CL final, this Leverkusen can mop the floor with the Bundesliga, then anything is possible with smart and efficient work.
