Banter 2009/2010

I'm sorry, the fact that B&G made mistakes as some sort of proof of their stupidity or ineptitude is like saying the fact that players misplace passes or miss shots on goal are proof that they are crap players. Mistakes happen, and it is not just with our club.

Inter has been a laughing stock, no one respects their Serie A wins as each year they have had countless penalties, questionable ref decisions, and just a terrible way of winning. Combined with their poor European showing, they are a joke, pure and simple.

The amount of money that Inter has wasted is incredible, honestly, incredible. So if anyone wants to compare our practices with Inter, go ahead, because that was the team that bought Robbie Keane, sold Cannavaro, Grosso, and gave us Seedorf and Pirlo for COCO. Do they spend a lot of money? Yeah. I'd like to have that money, but I'd rather win with dignity, than take 20 years to win a Scudetto (when was the last time they won the CL? Oh, that's right).

As far as Moggi goes, this was the guy who brought in Legrottaglie, Zebina, Balzaretti, Giannichedda... But those are success stories in comparison to the Nicola Amoruso, Oliver Kapo, Stephen Appiah transfers, while he was able to ruin Manuele Blasi, Marco Di Vaio, and of course there are the Miccoli and Ruben Oliveira. If you think Gourcuff is bad, what do you say about Thierry Henry? What about letting Christian Vieri go after one season? There are many others, but the lack of success in Europe, like others have said, again, speaks volumes of the sort of management style Moggi had, which is why he is banned from Calcio.

The idea that Moggi brought in no bodies and made them into superstars, like Trezeguet, is not right. Trez had won World Cup 1998 and Euro 2000 with France before coming to Juve, and the fact that he is banned from football means that his good transfer work while not completely overshadowed by the ban, but, much of it must be scrutinized by this fact.

I am with brk who says that we should separate Galliani and Berlusconi. I think Galli can do a lot better then he does if Berlu gave him the sort of funds that Juve or Inter have currently. Furthermore, for every Emerson, Oliveira, or Gila, this is the Galliani who brought in Thiago Silva, Pato, Kaka (for 8.5 million, I believe?), who brought in Pirlo and Seedorf, Gattuso, Rui Costa, and so on and so forth.

Think about it this way. Perhaps Gourcuff is our Henry equivalent. Juventus paid 10.5 million for Henry, sold him for 10 million. We bought Gourcuff for 3.5 and sold him for 15. Both are unfortunate, as they are fantastic players. However, when Milan makes a mistake, we don't take such a massive hit. Sure, we might have taken a hit with Ricardo Oliveira (who's kidnapping saga I think was the reason he failed, more than footballing reasons) but look at what Moggi did with Vieira. They sold him to Inter for 9 million after buying him for 20. It seems unclear, but I think Vieira and Zlatan went to Inter for a combined 24 million, though the 24 might be for Zlatan alone, but if the 24 million is for the combined pair, that is a 12 million loss just there.

I don't think our management is doing what we deserve as fans or as fans of a club like AC Milan. However, things are going well, and looking over at the way things are going with money-spending Juventus (they just lost to Chievo, and we just beat them 3-0) I think that whatever Galliani is doing, he's doing it right, and frankly, the results speak for themselves.

Again, I am afraid of what happens in the next few years. What happens when Pirlo, Seedorf, and co. can no longer carry on? I think that is Galliani's next big test, what he does with Milan in the next two years. However, with Leonardo at the helm, Ronaldinho on form, and Milan youth products taking starting roles in our eleven (while winning), it seems that we might have reason to be optimistic in the future.