Zvonimir Boban has slammed the current AC Milan ownership and management, stating that it is unrecognisable from his time.
Since his rather toxic exit in January 2020, Boban has often been critical of his former club, especially since Paolo Maldini was relieved of his duties as technical director. He has not held back on the recent ownerships, from Elliott Management previously to RedBird Capital now.
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Speaking on stage at the Festival dello Sport in Trento – an event put together by La Gazzetta dello Sport – Boban took the opportunity to once again criticise RedBird. His words were relayed by MilanNews.
“We’ve adapted to not having ambition. Then this isn’t Milan. If Milan’s ambition is only to reach the Champions League, then we haven’t understood anything. Nothing makes sense anymore. This applies to us as much as it does to Juventus or Inter,” he said.
“Napoli almost have a greater awareness and ambition to win, or to have to win, than us. Does it hurt to see Milan reduced to this state? With all due respect, and I love Naples deeply, but Milan is Milan.”
Boban was also asked about something a bit more positive, namely the 1994 Champions League final win over Barcelona, which remains for many the best result in the club’s history.
“For that match we changed our game, perhaps no one noticed. Capello prepared the match individually and said: ‘If you are real men, you will show it today.’ For me and for Milan, that May 18, 1994, the final against Barcelona went down in Champions League history.”
DEVI VENDERE!
I can BS… Boban still sour from getting fired…
We finally have a manager, a modern mentality when it comes to tactics, young team with talent.
already 4 players that I honestly didn’t even have any expectations became important players in 5 games: Cisse, DeWinter (as CCB), Musah, Chukwueze…
Rome wasn’t built overnight; look last year’s Roma Gasperini had many issues to solve and a lot of players to kick out and replace… having Estupido, Butt-Cheeks, Terrorcciano is sub-par at best… let this MF cook at least a season before b*tching…
Ramos, Gila, Moreira are fantastic signings; name me last time we signed someone on their level… a quality ready-made players and not gambles and future prospects… seriously name me that season.
we will get Inacio in the winter, left-footed CAM and we will see even more from this team in the final half of the season!
I think u need to read the article again.. There was nothing mentioned about the team zzz
what could the management have done differently?
Inacio being late is the only serious blunder, the rest everything was actually done well.
calling Napoli being ambitious is laughable… if Cardinale have done the same as the clown in the South you would have whined for an entire season
still doesn’t proof his point is wrong
what point? what to b!tch about? they literally did 180 what else do you want?
Boban is right. Ambition doesn’t mean ” qualify for CL,” or “finish in top 4”. Milan under these people are just a jersey selling operation where they bring minor celebrities and influencers for photo-op. There is no more ambition to dominate football or Serie A.
milan is just a player trading company. and they cant even do that right. they sell season tickets at sansiro, and idiots are buying it like hot cakes expecting something that will never come under current ownership.
This guy really has a beef, so f’ing obvious, he must really be struggling,…. move on
If we can get rid of Fulani Tomori and RLC and replace them with Yoro and Endrick he would still say the same thing, just say it YOU FiREd and now you are still crying like a little BIT@H
I think you’ve missed the overall point and went into the weeds a bit. This isn’t about the specifics about the current setup but the overall trajectory of the club. I dont know if you noticed but currently that trajectory is downwards (out of Europe for 2 years running) and the recent investments made were to bring us back to UCL spots not necessarily to win a title. Even our club president says our objective is top 4 and winning titles are secondary. Since Boban left, on the start of our most recent upward trajectory, look at what’s happened to the club. You fire the ppl who were forming a winning cycle and it’s been downhill ever since. Why wouldn’t a past legend for us not be mad at seeing the club he loves to down the drain ? Sour grapes?;If we were winning you’d have a point but we’re farrrrrrr from being close to winners.
Btw, the only one close to ready made player in that list is probably Gila,… and even he needs and can step up a couple of notches and genuinely become world class. Ramos is ready made for the bench like he was at PSG. And Moreira is like recent signings that had potential (Chuk, Theo, Tonali even Leao)…. Lots of potential but he costs way more. And I know for sure you have never heard of Moreira prior to us buying him. You post many formations all the time, I’ve never seen you put his name up in your potential XI. Also, you’ve highlighted 3 signings to fix problem spots caused by this very owner when only 3-4 years ago we were missing one world class DM. Let that sink in. Gerry is only doing this because his asset was going to reduce in value. He’s basically digging himself out of the hole he dug. We could have been competing for titles and UCL runs, yet here we are. But I guess Gerry keeps the formation junkies happy so….
Also I say this as someone who’s optimistic this season than most other seasons. If Gery sticks to the plan I’ll give him even more credit but I’m not going to act like all the prior years mismanagement didn’t happen
Can you stop talking nonsense @King22? A club legend is talking, you are arguing with him? Do you know where he is coming from? Do you realize what they achieved with this club under Berlusconi? There is a reason why Milan are the 2nd team with the most Champions leagues won in history despite our years of horrible decline till date. Boban is 200% right and it has nothing to do with being angry cos he was fired. This is not Milan, it hasn’t been in a very long time. Milan starts every UCL as one of the strongest favorites to win it, now we are struggling to qualify for UCL and it will be an impressive achievement to qualify for UCL under this Milan. This is what Boban is talking about. We are a far cry from where we ought to be. New Milan fans can never understand what Boban is saying. Sadly Milan may never get back to where it used to be unless we get a change of ownership in the right direction. It takes those who have been there to lead us back there. Sadly, the management never gave them full support to carry out their visions, next thing we knew, they were sacked and treated like garbage and here we are today thinking we can use Ibra to replace our legends. Ibrahim may be a top player but he doesn’t bleed red and black, that’s the truth. We need men like Maldini, Costacurta, Boban in Milan’s management.
Haven said all these, I’m rooting for Amorim and love his boldness with our youths. I hope and pray he succeeds with us
Exactly, well done! Boban was saying the exact same thing before he even returned and then he continued to criticize during his time as a member of management, he has every God damn right to claim this.
Banter era was much worse with signings of Cristian Zaccardo and Bekaye Traore. Ang yet these legends weren’t bold enough to talk about Berlusconis ambitions at the time. Lot of senseless decisions like firing Maldini but I we’ve done well from the summer and see no point continuously criticising the club.
that’s exactly what he said,
this era they forced us to adapt being unambitious
Don’t even bother.
It’s a movement against foreign investors especially the Americans.
banter era never left. there was short blips under late berlusconi and then elliott. it’s been 20 years of banter for the most part. 2 scudetti in last 20 years.
it’s big dif between Milan in the eye of cardinalis & Milan of the Legends + Milanista since 80’s.
cardi’s think we are some kind of Como
He’s best ignored.
Boban has consistently spoken more sense about our club than anyone inside the club has been allowed to. But hey, he’s just an old dude who isn’t known to Americans.
not a Yank and have been supporting Milan even Boban days…
City, PSG and other break rules but 0 reaction from UEFA but we had to be put on a leash for 6 seasons…
the team is on a right track, you can rebuild everything in 1 day. either support when their is effort and the boys and the coach are doing their best or f off!
Exactly the footballing landscape has totally changed and it has hit Italian teams hard, who would think ITALY would not make 3 world cups in a row, all the big names go straight to the premiership because they can make 3x or 4x what you make in seria A, these are facts which Boban is ignoring, Juventus and Inter in the same boat, if they had the resources that the premiership big teams have they would totally dominate Europe and do a lot more than other teams..
What are you talking about? Inter has been extremely successful in the last 5 years if not a decade. They are doing it against teams with half a billion spending easily.
a club legend is still a human… they are not above making bitter remarks…
let’s see how you clowns will be cheering when everything will go well settle down and our team achieve great results!
A team that wins, everybody is a legend, he spent a lot of the time at Milan on the bench, even Eay Palour is hailed a legend and an invincible, but we all know he really isn’t either of those things
You seriously have no idea who he is. Literally started for Milan in the 1994 AND the 1995 Cup Winners Cup (Champions League). Winning the 1994 match.
Captain of the Croatian national team that took 4th at the 1998 World Cup.
Sorry fianl of the Cup Winners Cup. Should have said finals.
Sour grapes make the best wine
Both things can be true….
But ZB clearly has an axe to grind and loves hearing himself talk.