While I agree ultras in other countries can be worse (there's also been extreme violence and murder in Italy), that doesn't condone the actions of the ultras recently. Threatening players with sticks or whatever it is they said and forcing them into meetings with the threat of violence is civilised?
Also, what's been constructive about what's been happening with the ultras? We've reached no new ground thanks to their actions, just a handful of apparent statements which they claim were made.
What's happening with the ultras isn't right. They're not doing the club any favours by acting like thugs, they are threatening violence with regularity and their actions only further damage the club's appeal worldwide. They had some reasonable points when they said what they were protesting about, but beyond that everything they've done is mostly just damaging.
(03-20-2014, 03:51 PM)Ceceves Wrote: (03-19-2014, 10:22 PM)elieassi Wrote: "Nine players were present during the meeting: Balotelli, Giampaolo Pazzini, Ignazio Abate, Daniele Bonera, Nigel De Jong, Sulley Muntari, Andrea Poli, Kakà, Marco Amelia, plus Seedorf.
”Balotelli didn’t speak, only Luca Lucci, the head of the Curva, spoke. We told Balotelli that we’re not happy with his behavior off the field. He lowered his head and didn’t answer.”
Although I'm all for nurturing the bond between the team and the fans, bowing down to these thugs is pathetic. In my head I'm imagining Maldini stopping by and telling the so-called leaders of the Ultras to 'go f**k themselves'.
And as for the Italian ultras being angels, there is just too much evidence to the contrary, I wouldn't know where to begin.
Hat off to Paolo for his courage and integrity. Of course, that's also exactly why the Ultras only hang up #6 jersey and call Baresi the "only 'true' Milan captain." Those pathetic thugs. Just pure amazing. 
Yes, the maldini case makes me ashamed of our curva... even though i think the way they handle things now is very positive. Using words instead of violence is the way to go if you want to get things done.
Regarding the curva vs Maldini drama, I've heard that Paolo is not entirely innocent in the whole thing either. I don't have the details but I do remember reading that for some reason or other, Paolo never endeared himself to the curva, which is why they consider Baresi their one true captain (P.S. I know I butchered the story. I can't remember all the details, but I'm just playing devil's advocate here)
Siamo a posto cosi.
(03-21-2014, 07:47 PM)Mystik Wrote: Regarding the curva vs Maldini drama, I've heard that Paolo is not entirely innocent in the whole thing either. I don't have the details but I do remember reading that for some reason or other, Paolo never endeared himself to the curva, which is why they consider Baresi their one true captain (P.S. I know I butchered the story. I can't remember all the details, but I'm just playing devil's advocate here)
As far as I remember the main reason why they made those banners for his final home game was that he had insulted some of the ultras that were protesting when the team returned from Istanbul in 2005. I don't know what he said, but does it matter? He served the club for a quarter of a century and surely deserved better than having some bitter, self-important fans (or "fans") ruin his farewell. Even the interisti paid more respect.
Of course we Milan fans tend to view Maldini as some sort of infallible, God-like creature. He's probably made his fair share of mistakes, but I certainly respect him being his own man and not acting like a puppet, whether in the hands of the club or the ultras. Other Milan legends can't say the same.
The story of Maldini and the ultras stems mostly back to 2005. When Milan returned from Istanbul, a lot of the ultras were hurling abuse at the players for their loss and apparently Maldini muttered something along the lines of "ungrateful peasants". This is what the ultras claim, but no one else, press or players etc have ever confirmed it. Anyway, since then the relationship between Maldini and the ultras has been sour. It's not like the relationship between them was ever good mind, as Paolo has always been outspoken and never one to give the ultras attention, unlike other past players who have often developed friendships with these guys (e.g. Sheva infamously was in the stand with the ultras before leaving).
It's important to note that apparently not all ultras have this feeling towards Maldini. From what I understand, it is only a small group of ultras that have this problem, while most are still appreciative of what he's done for the club.
03-23-2014, 09:47 AM
(This post was last modified: 03-23-2014, 09:56 AM by ACMILAN1983.)
Right on cue, the head of the Curva has spoken out about Maldini's comments effectively agreeing with him (as I said above, I don't think all the curva hate Maldini)...
http://www.milannews.it/altre-notizie/lu...ate-139893
Just in case anyone's interested, here's another comment from the same guy on Galliani...
http://www.milannews.it/le-interviste/cu...poi-139913
Effectively he's saying that Galliani's removal of certain individuals (Leonardo) and acquiring of new relationships (Raiola and I assume Bronzetti) is part of the reason we're in this mess. He then goes onto say we need to improve scouting to find talents before they're known and that Galliani is ignoring the ruling Berlu gave that the club be self sufficient and build talents internally. I half agree with the statements. Guys like Raiola and Bronzetti have leeched the club for a long time now and have way too much power.
It's true Berlu has said the club is dependent on building youth, but if Galliani isn't following through on this project then it's Berlu's responsibility as owner to do something about it. Until now, Berlu has just shown no interest in how Milan is run. At the same time, Berlu's seemingly contradicting himself more than ever, as a week ago he commented on how the squad is poorly built, yet in the last day or two is apparently showing more faith in the man who is responsible for this squad than ever.
As for Galliani, we need to be fair in that he has done some good work, as he's been successful in improving the youth sector in recent years and has been identifying some good young players (Mastour is obviously the poster boy here) and getting them early. That said, he is also responsible for pissing away all of that good work by mismanaging the youth products when they reach senior level. Merkel, Strasser, Darmian, Albertazzi, Verdi, Carmona, Fossatti and Ely until now have been completely wasted and even Petagna and Cristante have been terribly mismanaged and are at risk of being burned in the same way. This isn't new either, we sold Borriello only to buy him at an insanely inflated cost later, lost Astori who would be better than pretty much all of our current defenders (at the least he'd make a good partner for Rami or Zapata) and then there's Matri, who is similar in case to Borriello only with even more disastrous results. Not to say all of those mentioned above would improve us, but a couple (like Merkel and Fossatti, or Ely, Albertazzi or Darmian) may have helped.
03-24-2014, 10:08 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-24-2014, 10:08 PM by Alan.)
great post, I'm going to also just chuck the name Aubameyang on the list there. the guy was pinpointed as a player of great potential from a early age and we just offloaded him all over france without giving him a chance. he's not world class but he's far better than robinho, matri or taraabt.
Great post, Dev. 
03-25-2014, 10:51 AM
(This post was last modified: 03-25-2014, 10:52 AM by ACMILAN1983.)
Thanks guys. Alan, I agree totally about Aubameyang, I remember he was doing great in Primavera and was an out and out striker, but then he was sold. The list does go on, I just named names that popped into mind.
That said, the difference with Aubameyang is when we sold him (like Astori and others who are older) is that our priorities were obviously different in the past. Just these sales came back to bite us in the backside.
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