Winter Mercato

Originally Posted by Hasan Rossonero

I hadn't heard of Donadoni

Sorry for going off topic but this is an anecdote that must be heard. This is why the male population is jealous but still has nothing but respect for Berlu
Nothing illegal happened, but the way he did business is something that must find itself in a book called "I want to be a successful businessman and owner of a great club "

Here is the story :
In the summer of 1986 the transfer of Roberto Donadoni to Juventus was 99% a done deal. Juve and Atalanta had a fantastic relationship and all the best players from Atalanta were finishing in Juventus.
But than smthg happened and that was the very first coup that made it clear that Berlusconi was “one who gets whatever he wants and that even mighty Juve couldn’t resist”.

During a high-class party, in his luxurious palace of Arcore, he invited the two Bortolotti, Achille Bortolotti, the father and Cesare the son, the two bosses of Atalanta. In that party, Berlusconi didn’t receive the Atalanta supremos as in a formal way: he received them while wearing his tracking field suit. He had also invited some of his most beautiful ladies from his TV station Italia 1 and the most beautiful escort-girls in Milano. The wine was flowing freely and the ladies were beautiful and the atmosphere great. The Bortolottis got a lot of the wine and a lot of the ladies
At the end of the night, at dawn,, after the Atalanta bosses had a lot of fun, Berlusconi went to see Bortolotti senior, and gave him a blank cheque, telling him with a large smile: “This is for Donadoni, you name your price”. The Bortolotti were simply puzzled, and that is to put it very mildly.

After this high class evening, the next day, the Bortolotti called a press conference telling about Donadoni’s sale to Milan, in a very enthusiastic tone: “We have never ever encountered anyone like Berlusconi! He has a force, energy extraordinary. And how about the numerous gorgeous ladies…”. He went on to say: “He just made us an offer we simply could not refuse.”
The Agnelli's were left with their mouths opened and one big WTF !!!!
Juve had to simply give up on Donadoni and Berlusconi's charisma.

Hats off for Berlu ! What a legend

Thanks as always Tony, for the education...all I can say is I wish I was Bortolotti...

Originally Posted by Tony29.

Sorry for going off topic but this is an anecdote that must be heard. This is why the male population is jealous but still has nothing but respect for Berlu
Nothing illegal happened, but the way he did business is something that must find itself in a book called "I want to be a successful businessman and owner of a great club "

Here is the story :
In the summer of 1986 the transfer of Roberto Donadoni to Juventus was 99% a done deal. Juve and Atalanta had a fantastic relationship and all the best players from Atalanta were finishing in Juventus.
But than smthg happened and that was the very first coup that made it clear that Berlusconi was “one who gets whatever he wants and that even mighty Juve couldn’t resist”.

During a high-class party, in his luxurious palace of Arcore, he invited the two Bortolotti, Achille Bortolotti, the father and Cesare the son, the two bosses of Atalanta. In that party, Berlusconi didn’t receive the Atalanta supremos as in a formal way: he received them while wearing his tracking field suit. He had also invited some of his most beautiful ladies from his TV station Italia 1 and the most beautiful escort-girls in Milano. The wine was flowing freely and the ladies were beautiful and the atmosphere great. The Bortolottis got a lot of the wine and a lot of the ladies
At the end of the night, at dawn,, after the Atalanta bosses had a lot of fun, Berlusconi went to see Bortolotti senior, and gave him a blank cheque, telling him with a large smile: “This is for Donadoni, you name your price”. The Bortolotti were simply puzzled, and that is to put it very mildly.

After this high class evening, the next day, the Bortolotti called a press conference telling about Donadoni’s sale to Milan, in a very enthusiastic tone: “We have never ever encountered anyone like Berlusconi! He has a force, energy extraordinary. And how about the numerous gorgeous ladies…”. He went on to say: “He just made us an offer we simply could not refuse.”
The Agnelli's were left with their mouths opened and one big WTF !!!!
Juve had to simply give up on Donadoni and Berlusconi's charisma.

Hats off for Berlu ! What a legend

Sorry Tony.
But I remember myself reading la gazzetta about this transfer, although its been a long time now, and things were not exactly as you are saying.
I remember that Juventus had an option on Donadoni, and (IL GRANDE BERLUSCOI ) offered 7 miliardi Lire which was a great sum for those days, and Juventus refused to buy him for that sum of money and pulled out.

Tony note that the Agnellis were controlling all the transfers in Italy and Thanks to Berlusconi he stopped it.

I read this Charlie , i'm not saying as i remember because i had no idea about this until few months ago. I read the same story in 3 different sites and one of them is a Milan fan forum ( devilmania )

And it's an anecdote. Probably new things are added every next time someone is telling the story. It's more interesting this way

Yeah Charlie...I like Tony´s version better!

Cassano to Samp is a done deal according to tuttomercato and tgcom.

Real have bought Alves, according to TVE.

If Real do get Alves, then they will surely be a rival in the UCL....that is if Schuster can fit all these pieces together into a cohive unit...though by the time he does that, Real could find themselves knocked out in the group stage

Sampdoria are doing a nice bit of business in signing Cassano (if the right one turns up at any rate) and this aquisition (all things being equal) could see them as tricky opponents, who will want to challenge for a European spot in the table.

Not too worried though, as his (Cassano´s) tendancy to self-destruct, outweighs his potential as a game winner.

Channel4 is now on about R10 and us next year....

http://www.channel4.com/sport/footba...ia/aug13l.html

Which for me is ridiculous...we might end up with another Rivaldo...how old is R10 anyway?

Originally Posted by Warro Bantan

If Real do get Alves, then they will surely be a rival in the UCL....that is if Schuster can fit all these pieces together into a cohive unit...though by the time he does that, Real could find themselves knocked out in the group stage

Sampdoria are doing a nice bit of business in signing Cassano (if the right one turns up at any rate) and this aquisition (all things being equal) could see them as tricky opponents, who will want to challenge for a European spot in the table.

Not too worried though, as his (Cassano´s) tendancy to self-destruct, outweighs his potential as a game winner.

Channel4 is now on about R10 and us next year....

http://www.channel4.com/sport/footba...ia/aug13l.html

Which for me is ridiculous...we might end up with another Rivaldo...how old is R10 anyway?

27, so, if he comes, he will be 28.

What the hell Real Madrid is going to do with all these players.

Cassano Samp
Real Alves
R10 and us next year....another Rivaldo

Oooh, another great day for us!!!

At least good for Samp they will probably have a quality striker..

28 is not a bad age at all ... but it would depend on his price for sure ... It would have to be a much more realistic fee of £40 million or less.

I know it's a wrong thread and everything but what the hell.... that's why mods are here. They will move it to some other topic if they feel it should be done.

Few more anecdotes ( all taken from Devilsmania) :
You all know the legendary Nils Liedholm, the great Swede, of the 50's of Milan. He was if you want, the Rijkaard of that time, but in even more dominating style, especially technically. Technically, few matched him and his passes were so spot on, so precise, that he never missed a pass. Actually he did miss one pass. It was 3 seasons after he joined Milan, I don’t remember the exact game, or the exact year, but all the old Milan fans are saying it, that at one time, at the San Siro, Liedholm missed a pass in midfield. He wanted to pass the ball to a teammate and instead, the ball went straight to an opponent. At that time, happened one of the most extraordinary moments ever lived in the San Siro, as related by the old timers. The crowd couldn't believe their eyes. In 3 full years, that Liedholm has been playing for Milan, no one could remember him making a bad pass. At that time, the whole San Siro gave Liedholm, one of the warmest and longest standing ovation ever witnessed in that great stadium. The opposition team was going nuts, not understanding what was going on!!!!The standing ovation lasted for 5 whole minutes !!!!Can you believe that???? A 5 minutes standing ovatin for having missed a pass!!!!

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It was in the mid 80's. At that time, the coach of the team was no one else than the legendary Nils Liedholm, one of the 3 Swedes of the famous Gre-No-Li trio. So he was the coach and during a match one of Milan defenders got injured. So Liedholm turns to a young player on the bench, with the name of Paolo Maldini and asked him if he could replace the injured player. Paolo answered with a resounding "Si!" (Yes). He warms up for a few minutes then, before entering on the pitch, Liedholm asks him: "where you prefer to play in defence? Right wing or left wing?" And Paolo answered :"Right wing back."

The reason he chose to play on the right? Very few know that Paolo was originally a right wing back and then, had to adapt himself to playing into the left wing back position!!!!In his debut, Paolo preferred to play in his "natural" position...

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Some of Galliani's most famous and ludicrous comments ever!!!Looking at them retroactively makes one really laugh!!!

Before the beginning of the 97-98 season, during the presentation of the last Milan team led by Don Fabio Capello:

"We may have not been able to get Figo, but we have been able to get a younger player and then, therefore, stronger in the long run: Ba!"
" We may have lost Toldo, but we have taken a keeper with a great future: Pagotto!
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Or how about this one:
As a kid, San Paolo was a DIE-HARD Juve fan!!!!
It is rumoured that as soon as he reached the age of reason, he became a Milanista. And no, this change has nothing to do with any kind or shape or form of paternal pressure...
Also, Deme Albertini was also rumoured to be a die hard Juve fan in his youth...
Paolo a Juventino???I'd rather die than see that!!!! ( it's not Tony29 saying this. The guy who originally wrote the post said it )
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Don Revie, Leeds manager, wanted to stop Rivera for the Salonica final of Cup Winners Cup. He called the marker, Hunter: "Rivera, out of the game". Hunter laughed through barred teeth and pointing to the captain, he hissed: "Out of tonight's game or the game of soccer altogether?"
I think Hunter was the player that, taking the ball into Milan field, found Rivera, and the Golden Boy took it, launching an attack. Hunter, without stopping, turns back and slaps with open hand Rivera's head, causing him to fall a couple of yards away! Not sure if it was the fault that gave Chiarugi the only goal of the game -on freekick- but indeed Hunter did not return to Revie with his mission complete
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The following are a couple of great annecdotes involving the referee Trantalange and Milan. From the November issue of Forza Milan!Enjoy!

First of all, in his first game at the San Siro, in January of 89, during a Coppa Italian game between Milan and Messina. Milan wins 6-0. During that game, Trantalange gave 4 penalty kicks, 3 for Milan and one for Messina. The fact that will be forever remembered in that game is that all 3 penalties for Milan were taken and scored by...Baresi in what was to become his only hat-trick of his legendary career.

Now, here's a very funny annecdote involving Trantalange and Milan. Trantalange doesn't remember whether this was a friendly game or a Coppa Italia game, but he was about to whistle the start of the game, when he noticed that on the Milan bench, was sitting a certain Silvio Berlusconi. The Serie A rules do not allow members of the board of a club or the president to sit on the bench during a game. So Trantalange realizing that, he approached Milan's captain, Baresi and asked him to politely pray the Milan president to go sit in the stands. Baresi, smiled and told Trantalange: "I really don't feel like doing that." Trantalange, then, still embarrassed, went towards the Milan bench and asked, not Berlusconi in person, but Silvio Romaccion, one of Milan's managers to ask Berlusconi to leave the bench and go sit on the stands. Romaccioni, understood very easily Trantalange's embarrassment and asked Berlusconi. Berlusconi, with a smile, went towards the stands.

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Here's what was written in that same article on Berlusconi and some of the dubbious dealings of Milan involving Toro in the early 90's.

"In the summer of 1992, Milan paid Torino the then extraordinary sum of 18.5 billion Lire for a young footballer called Gianluigi Lentini. It later emerged that the Lentini transfer had been the subject of shady financial deals. The president of Torino (who doubled, of course as a member of Parliament) alleged that 6.5 billion Lire of the transfer fee was paid sottobanco - without receipts or contract - to a Swiss bank account, an obvious way to avoid taxes: the actual player, Lentini, had his proposed salary slashed from 4 billion Lire a year to little more than 1.5 billion Lire (with the obvious suspicion, according to the Torino President, that he was "topped off" in cash from Berlusconi's slush funds in Switzerland); most damning of all, when the Milan directors had paid a 7 billion deposit on the player, they didn't ask for the usual "receipt" of payment, but instead wanted shares in Torino. It was that, more than the financial scams, which incensed neutral observers, because it meant Milan had played much of the 1992 season owning controlling shares in another club. The magistrates who investigated financial irregulations in early 1990's were called "Clean Hands"; the Lentini scandal duly became known as "Clean" or "Dirty Feet". Berlusconi's response to the scandal was to become during the next 10 years, a familiar refrain. He was, he said, the victim:"I have the sensation of living in a police state...I feel the object of a wicth-hunt."
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Enjoy

Hasan, what is TVE?

Can you post a link or is it a radio/tv station?

Originally Posted by Warro Bantan

that is if Schuster can fit all these pieces together into a cohive unit...

Which for me is ridiculous...we might end up with another Rivaldo...how old is R10 anyway?

1) big IF
2) after all that useless fuss about landing him this season it would be strange not to splash the cash next year. After all, who do u think we're saving this years transfer budget for? And 28yo transfer is somehow young by milan standarts

man u got some more anecdotes ? these are great, gg tony