OFFICIAL: Leonardo is our new coach

Milan Coach Leonardo: Carlo Ancelotti Motivated Me To Take The Job


Leonardo has been officially unveiled as the new Milan coach, and he is hoping to bring success and build upon what former tactician Carlo Ancelotti left behind...
1 Jun 2009 12:00:04

Carlo Ancelotti
Leonardo has spoken of his delight after being unveiled as Milan's new coach on Monday, and he is ready to continue building as he works towards brining more success to the club.

Milan have confirmed the former Brazil international has signed a two year deal which expires on June 30, 2011. Leonardo is hoping he can lead the club back to glory as he prepares to settle down and begin a new adventure.

"I am tied to Milan with great affection. It's an important day for me, it's special and different to what I could have imagined," Leonardo told Sky Sport Italia during his unveiling.

"I am truly happy for this choice. I have been here for 12 years and starting after Carlo means something even deeper as I had a good rapport with him."

Leonardo spent Sunday saying farewell to his former mentor, and he admits Ancelotti had a helping hand in pushing him to take on the role.

"It was extraordinary yesterday and to see all the players crying was strong," added the coach.

"Carlo has always stimulated me to accept this role. It has been difficult over the last few days with everything that has happened.

"I am happy, I start a new adventure. Now we have to construct. We have the right foundations in terms of will and determination in place to succeed

"We have a good structure here and I don't think there is any need to make major changes."

Kaka has been linked with plenty of clubs as the transfer rumours continue, but Leonado is not fazed by all the hype, confident his fellow Brazilian will stay.

"Kaka is always a dream for many teams. Honestly, I don't see any problems. We have him here and I hope he continues to stay here with us," added Leonardo.

"Obviously you can never tell what happens with the transfer market, but I am hopeful he will stay."

Welcome to Leonardo as our new coach. As a scout and Galliani's right hand man, he was excellent. Actually, he wasn't just excellent but he excelled in the roles.

As a coach, he's an unknown quantity, I think all of us can agree there. I'm not sure what to expect of him yet, so I can't say he's guaranteed to bring us forward.

In his defence, I can say for certain his knowledge of the game is immense, as he has shown with the BBC many times as a pundit. Honestly, he worked in the last world cup and other events as a pundit and his comments aren't only interesting, he spots things others simply didn't until it became more obvious. Tactically, he was superb and his insight in the game was superb. His eye for talent and judging how players will work is superb and without and doubt he's as intelligent as is often said. In this regard, I have complete faith in him.

His man management skills also appear to be excellent, as he has a great rapport with everyone within the club. However, the problem, or rather uncertainty that surrounds him for me is whether he can make sure his instructions are followed and discipline is maintained within the squad.

There are many opinions of him possibly being a puppet for the upper management. Carlo was never a puppet (he said this much in his book), and Leo I doubt will be either, he's too clever to get used in such a way.

Right now I can only say I'm excited by this move. I'm not sure whether Leo will succeed, but in all honesty he's got many abilities and skills and for certain he's got many key attributes to succeed as a coach.

Originally Posted by mrki

We cant say much about Leo. But we know Cappello and Sacchi were created the same way Leonardo is being created now.

Sacchi coached before coming to Milan, but Capello did come through a similar path as Leo.

Have Galliani or Leonardo revealed anything in the interviews about our transfer market this summer? Does anyone know that?

This is what I got but nothing special though about the transfer market : http://translate.google.com/translat...hl=en&ie=UTF-8

Originally Posted by ACMILAN1983

Welcome to Leonardo as our new coach. As a scout and Galliani's right hand man, he was excellent. Actually, he wasn't just excellent but he excelled in the roles.

As a coach, he's an unknown quantity, I think all of us can agree there. I'm not sure what to expect of him yet, so I can't say he's guaranteed to bring us forward.

In his defence, I can say for certain his knowledge of the game is immense, as he has shown with the BBC many times as a pundit. Honestly, he worked in the last world cup and other events as a pundit and his comments aren't only interesting, he spots things others simply didn't until it became more obvious. Tactically, he was superb and his insight in the game was superb. His eye for talent and judging how players will work is superb and without and doubt he's as intelligent as is often said. In this regard, I have complete faith in him.

His man management skills also appear to be excellent, as he has a great rapport with everyone within the club. However, the problem, or rather uncertainty that surrounds him for me is whether he can make sure his instructions are followed and discipline is maintained within the squad.

There are many opinions of him possibly being a puppet for the upper management. Carlo was never a puppet (he said this much in his book), and Leo I doubt will be either, he's too clever to get used in such a way.

Right now I can only say I'm excited by this move. I'm not sure whether Leo will succeed, but in all honesty he's got many abilities and skills and for certain he's got many key attributes to succeed as a coach.



Sacchi coached before coming to Milan, but Capello did come through a similar path as Leo.

Good to hear he seemed competent at BBC. He does seem like a smart guy, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what he'll come up with.

Marcel Desailly noted one thing that might be problem for Leonardo though. He said that Leonardo simply was to 'nice' a guy to be a coach, he didn't seem like someone that would yell at the players and motivate them that way, like Capello. It's hard to say if he's right, indeed Leonardo does seem like a nice guy, but Ancelotti did so to, and as he just revealed in his book, he did give the players the hairdryer on occassions. Though I doubt that Leonardo will be able to make the players fear him like Capello did, but that's not necessarely a bad thing though.

Originally Posted by fLame

Erm... the thing is noone knows anything about his coaching abilities, because at the moment he hasn't coached! (thank you captain obvious)

I have a strong feeling that next year we will get crushed by your enemy #1 Carlo's Chelsea in the Champions League.
Any team in the world would be happy to sign Ancelotti! He got signed to another top club IN ONE DAY after he was made available with 2 top clubs showing interest! He is a top coach, and hopefully this stupid mistake we made won't come back to haunt us next season.

My god...he didnt get signed in one day dont be naive. He was Chelseas coach for a while we just needed to wait untill the end of the season to solve technical details. It was all done before and he just gave it official today.

So what if we get beaten by Chelsea? ( I dont know how you have that feeling, maybe you have special powers, manthical or something...). Right now Chelsea, players wise, has MUCH stronger team then Milan. If we played Chelsea this year we would also be crushed.

I dont care anyway, Milan needed fresh start as the team and the sistem got washed out. It was obvious. Im sure Galliani and Berlusconi liked Ancelotti, but even they decided that its time for a change. Some things need to finish when its not working anymore. And it wasnt working, so obviousely! Come on, be real for a sec about it.

For the past 3 years in serie a this squad simply wasnt working well. Results showed it and we opted for a man who is here for 12 years and obviousely knows something about football looking at his judging of players. Maybe he'll suck! If he starts leading the team in subjective and biased way like Carlo did I will also look for his change. I care only about Milan's game, not about individuals in ac Milan.

Apparently Leonardo wants to build the new Milan in the image of the 1982 Brazil side.

Originally Posted by Christian

Apparently Leonardo wants to build the new Milan in the image of the 1982 Brazil side.

Can you explain it more? How did 1982 Brasil side look like?

Thanks before.

Well it's from this editorial: goal.com

I can't say I watched the 1982 world cup, since I wasn't born, so perhaps someone else can elaborate.

Originally Posted by Siregar

Can you explain it more? How did 1982 Brasil side look like?

Thanks before.

He said he admires 1982 Brazil's side but he won't make Milan this way because those were the 80's and you can't play so offensively today, he also said that he likes to play with wingers pushing all the time, so i guess there will be a considerate change from Carlo's tactics. And he prefers the 4-3-1-2 formation so we will finally see a more attacking Milan, i hope. I can't wait for the new season to start and see how will the new formation look like.

Originally Posted by mrki

My god...he didnt get signed in one day dont be naive. He was Chelseas coach for a while we just needed to wait untill the end of the season to solve technical details. It was all done before and he just gave it official today.

So, he didn't get signed in one day, the top clubs were actually fighting to lure him away from us. Thanks for reinforcing my argument.

Originally Posted by mrki

So what if we get beaten by Chelsea? ( I dont know how you have that feeling, maybe you have special powers, manthical or something...). Right now Chelsea, players wise, has MUCH stronger team then Milan. If we played Chelsea this year we would also be crushed.

Yet, somehow it was always Ancelotti's fault this season when we lost. All because of his "crappy tactics", right?

Originally Posted by mrki

I dont care anyway, Milan needed fresh start as the team and the sistem got washed out. It was obvious. Im sure Galliani and Berlusconi liked Ancelotti, but even they decided that its time for a change. Some things need to finish when its not working anymore. And it wasnt working, so obviousely! Come on, be real for a sec about it.

Oh I see that you don't care and that you don't know what you are talking about. Only a total noob will demolish everything and start from scratch. People who know what they are doing FIX THINGS UP.
You mention being real. Sure look at Real Madrid, they start from scratch every year, how many trophies have they won recently?

Originally Posted by mrki

For the past 3 years in serie a this squad simply wasnt working well. Results showed it and we opted for a man who is here for 12 years and obviousely knows something about football looking at his judging of players. Maybe he'll suck! If he starts leading the team in subjective and biased way like Carlo did I will also look for his change. I care only about Milan's game, not about individuals in ac Milan.

lol.. you ended up contradicting yourself in this very post. First, we don't have a good enough team. Now it's again Carlo's fault for being subjective.
Then you want to change things up.
Now Leo should be a good coach cuz "he has been around for 12 years"?
lol what?

I love this news. New coach is a new coach for now. If he doesnt deliver then we can look next summer.

The thing i love about leo is that he has been a part of this club for 12 years. We will samba in Milan this next year, he has the connections with brazil aka Ac Milan. Im happy and i hope we meet chelsea.


Forza Milan!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S. i need to change my sig.

Seedorf, I meant Flame, just let it go, he is gone for good.

Whether he is a good coach, or a great coach or a bad coach, it is entirely up to your judgement. I mean some of my friends are Real fans, they think Capello sucks.

I will miss Ancelotti, but now Leonardo is my guy.

Mrki, saying that Ancelotti made subjective and biased choices is weird, especially when you say it is bad ...

The fact is that a coach is a person like everyone and of course, he has to take some decisions, so his choices are of course subjective.

Then, saying that a coach leads a team in a biased way is not correct as the only person who is probably less biased than everyone else in a club is the coach. And we, as the fans, are the most biased.

Anyway, welcome to Leonardo and let's hope for good years ... but that won't depend only on Leonardo, it will even more likely depend on who we will buy this summer.

A bad coach will make a team loosing with good and with bad players.
A good coach will make a team winning if he has good players.
Give a Serie C team to the best coach in the world and he won't manage to do anything special with them.