AC Milan owner Gerry Cardinale has spoken about the process of buying the club and how he has found his first couple of years in charge.
Cardinale’s name has been in the headlines a fair bit recently, given his absence from the 125th anniversary celebrations and the fact that fans protested by telling him to sell the club.
Not only that, but there has been a change to the vendor loan terms. After reports circulated in the media suggesting a possible refinancing, it was announced on Friday that the repayment deadline has been pushed back to 2028.
The RedBird Capital founder and number one rarely speaks about Milan but when he does there is often interesting insight, and now he has spoken at length again about the challenges faces.
The prestigious Harvard Business School has published a 24-page document in which it analyses Milan. Inside it is an interview with Cardinale, with his comments relayed by MilanNews.
On the process of buying Milan…
“When we bought AC Milan, a lot of American sports team owners called me and said, ‘You’re crazy.’ They said, ‘You can’t do business in Italy,’ and ‘It’s impossible to make money in European soccer.’ Most people who invest in sports clubs do it because they’re emotionally invested.
“They put winning trophies above everything else, and that often leads them to make the mistake of thinking that spending too much to field a team of stars is linearly related to winning. But that’s the worst thing you can do as an investor.
“We bought it for a figure that corresponded to 3.6 times the revenues of the club; the new owners of Chelsea FC bought it for a multiple of seven times the revenues when you consider the earn out.
“I brought the New York Yankees with me for a small minority stake, given our long-standing partnership with them and our desire to bring the best practices of American sports to Italy. I think Milan has the potential to become a €5bn company.”
On winning the 2022 Scudetto…
“The passion of the fans was incredible. I’ve never seen anything like it. I sent the photos to my team in New York and told them: ‘You better get ready.'”
On choosing Giorgio Furlani as the CEO,,,
“I could have hired someone with a casting call in European football. But Giorgio thinks the way we think at RedBird. He, like Stefano Cocirio, is a bit of a unique fit for European football: young, free to do things because ‘that’s how they’ve always been done’, has an investor background, Italian but educated and trained in the US and UK.
“I’ve come to understand that the most important element of the CEO role in European football is financial responsibility and the ability to integrate on- and off-field performance.
“Bringing disciplined financial sophistication to the player transfer market and maintaining a positive cash flow position – that’s the core of our investment thesis, and that’s where Giorgio comes in.
“Where he’s lacking is that he’s not a CEO: I think he managed four people when he was at Elliott, while at Casa Milan alone we have 260.
“So it was intriguing for me not to approach this as a typical private equity search for a CEO, but rather to create a ‘office of the CEO’ that operates under my direction and brings together the various disciplines needed to evolve the ownership of European football: Giorgio, Stefano [Cocirio, CFO], Geoffrey Moncada, Zlatan Ibrahimović and my team at RedBird.
“Each of us brings something and we are all part of an integrated team. I am not throwing Giorgio to the wolves.”
On Zlatan Ibrahimovic…
“Most people would see his appointment as a ‘showcasing’ or think of me as a celebrity-loving owner. It’s the exact opposite: I’m looking for world-class people who can make us better.
“With Zlatan I wanted to make a statement that we will do things differently because there is a legitimate need for innovation in managing these resources better. So I hired him for RedBird as an operating partner and as a senior advisor to the ownership at Milan.”
On media pressure…
“I stopped reading the papers here, because they can just make it all up. I see this as a value chain with different components. The fans do their job, but the problem is that most of the other components in the chain make it harder for us to offer the best to the fans.
“The media often doesn’t help, and neither does the government. They recently took away the tax benefits we received when we paid players, making it even harder for us to compete with other leagues. How does this help us? They should understand that football is one of Italy’s biggest exports.”
On Silvio Berlusconi…
“What Berlusconi did with Milan reminds me of what George Steinbrenner did with the New York Yankees. Both were ‘buying’ leagues [buying the best players in the world without regard to expense].
“In the 80s and 90s it was possible to do that, but now we can’t afford it anymore. We are competing with clubs in richer leagues and we can’t afford to pay players what they pay them. We have to spend every dollar of capital more intelligently than our rivals.”
On the sale of Tonali…
“We didn’t sell him to Newcastle United because we needed to. We sold him because we got a great offer and we did a risk-reward assessment. We got €70 million [including bonuses], plus a €10 million earn-out, the highest ever in Serie A.
“And thanks to that sale we bought six new players and completely revamped the squad. We don’t sell out of necessity, we sell out of opportunism. If we remain disciplined, there will always be counterparties on the market who will allow extraordinary returns for the players.”
On the stadium…
“We could significantly refurbish our existing stadium or build a new one that reflects the current status of these clubs as live entertainment companies. For what it would cost to refurbish, we could probably build a completely new stadium.
“But building stadiums in Italy is a challenge – the last stadium built in Italy was in 2011 and had 40,000 seats. I would love to see a modern stadium built with 70,000 seats, but we are not getting much help from the municipality to get planning approvals in our preferred location.
“And I am still trying to deal with the mismatch between building an American-style stadium, which will probably cost over €1 billion, and not being able to charge American-style prices. It is a real challenge.”
On his plans for Milan…
“I’m not trying to Americanize AC Milan. I’m trying to introduce some American elements that can take Milan to the next level in a constructive way. I’m also focusing more attention on Serie A. I’m curious to see how we can help them negotiate international media deals.
“In the US, there’s a different relationship between team owners and the leagues. Here, there are more levels – Serie A, the Italian Football Federation, UEFA, FIFA… That’s where the learning curve is for me. Back home, I could have done all of this with my eyes closed.”
On short and long-term goals…
“Winning championships is obviously an important goal. But you have to balance that with ‘winning smart.’ Inter won the Scudetto last year and then went bankrupt [the reference is to the insolvent former owner Suning, not the club itself] – is that really what we want?
“For the fans, my job is to win the Italian championship every year – I get that. For my investors who are focused on bottom-line appreciation, my job is to position AC Milan to challenge for the Scudetto every year, qualify for the Champions League every year, and go as far as possible in the Champions League every year.
“That’s what maximizes cash flow and brand value. It’s the consistency and lower amplitude in performance volatility that maximizes value and ultimately longevity.”
Gerry…..you’re a c@nt! Get the f@ck out of our club you rancid disease
I agree with you but it his club and does what he things is right for his investors. When he says we invested the money from Tonali to new players, does he mean Emerson and Abraham???
Well only Pulisic and Reijnders have been a success, the rest have been pretty poor and they cost 40m which a club of our stature with regula CL football should be able to afford without selling one of your best players
I’d throw Fofana in that mix and take a “work in progress” on Pavlo and Musah for different reasons.
Yeah that’s fair comment, Fofana has started well. I’m a big fan of Musah too but he’s definitely one for the future rather than now, still very raw.
I think the poignant fact is that Tonali was a starter. We’ve downgraded
For Tonali’s transfer money we bought Pulisic and Reijndeers . You come to this site and don’t know who and when came to the club.
What the hell you taking about? I didn’t include Fofana as he was the season faster the Tonali sale, but ACM1899 made a good point that not all transfers have been duds…back to Mercato summer 2023. RLC is average, Musah not ready, only Reijnders has been a success in midfield and for 20m we as a financially stable club with CL revenue should’ve been able to make that transfer without selling Tonali. I mean imagine now having Reijnders, Fofana and Tonali as a midfield three. The problem is RedTurd bullsh!t fans like you into thinking we have no money unless we sell….when the reality is it’s all going to shareholders. We should be able to spend 50-50m per summer without sales, that could’ve got us Puli and Reijnders in the summer 2023 Mercato. Keeping Tonali. Saelemaakers could’ve been the Puli back up and rather than spend on Okafor and Chukwueze sign Retegui as the striker. Okafor and Chukwueze are good players but did we need them?
He is seriously giving interviews during the holidays while the fans protest against his ridiculous business model, accusing him of destroying the club? The nerve on that man. Then again, nothing football-wise matters to these clowns, so he probably doesn’t care about the protests.
I think this is at least a month old. It isn’t a new interview.
What a moron. Sure hire people who are inexperienced and don’t have any knowledge of managing a football club because you want to be different? Ok that’s how you ruin a club.
He definitely has a point, it’s better to be financially prudent in the long term, going out to buy success instantly is not easy, the path we are following is the right one, but the management needs to look at players critically before they buy, and they need to bring in Italians, the Futuro and the youth projects need to be enhanced.
In regards to Redbird, the truth is we need a management that understands how to enhance our capabilities in terms of the financial aspects,and the club and institutional aspects
The stadium issue is another problem, they need to go at it alone, without Inter, we are to big to be sharing a stadium.
The last time I checked Inter have all their star player and are at the top of the table. So I am not buying the whole Inter are bankrupt argument. Have heard that so many times. Inter have weathered their financial woes extremely smartly, sell Onana buy Sommer being an example.
Well well well….the truth finally comes out from Gerry himself – and what many of us have been saying over and over. PROFIT is the goal.
The Redbird Lovers cannot hide and make up BS stories about what his goals for the club really are, or why players WILL be sold. It’s all in black and white.
Tonali: “ We didn’t sell him to Newcastle United
because we needed to. We sold him because we got a great offer and we did a risk-reward assessment. We got €70 million [including bonuses], plus a €10 million earn-out, the highest ever in Serie A.”
Yes Tonali was sold NOT because he “wanted to leave” (as the Redbird Lovers falsely claimed) – BUT because it was a good financial opportunity and the algorithm did a “risk-reward assessment” and told them to sell LOLOLOLO
On wining TITLES: “ For the fans, my job is to win the Italian championship every year – I get that. For my investors who are focused on bottom-line appreciation, my job is to position AC Milan to challenge for the Scudetto every year, qualify for the Champions League every year, and go as far as possible in the Champions League every year.”
Ahhh…. His first love is towards his INVESTORS and PROFIT. And as I have been saying over and over again – we will never spend enough to win titles – that costs big $$$$ – only qualification in UCL is the only goal.
Experience running the club with Furlani: Where he’s lacking is that he’s not a CEO: I think he managed four people when he was at Elliott, while at Casa Milan alone we have 260.”
He admits Georgio has NO experience running a football club yet he entrusts him to guide our beloved club? Why? “ Bringing disciplined financial sophistication to the player transfer market and maintaining a positive cash flow position” – YES protect the $$. Who cares about actually knowing football and what it takes to build a winner.
Stadium?? “ But building stadiums in Italy is a challenge – the last stadium built in Italy was in 2011 and had 40,000 seats. I would love to see a modern stadium built with 70,000 seats, but we are not getting much help from the municipality to get planning approvals in our preferred location.”
We will never build a new stadium. Period. That will be for the new owner when he sells the club after 2028.
On Zlatan: “ Most people would see his appointment as a ‘showcasing’ or think of me as a celebrity-loving owner. It’s the exact opposite: I’m looking for world-class people who can make us better”
How does Zlatan make us better? I had hopes but so far I haven’t see anything that would lead me to believe he is making us better esp not when he goes on vacation last 2 weeks on the transfer market and isn’t at casa Milan each day like M&M were….
TY Isak Möller for posting this article. Not sure why Gerry would think it would be well recieved by us fans – but I don’t think he really cares and that is the point. I appreciate the honesty. It just PROVES what I and many other non-Redbird Lovers on the chat have been saying from the beginning: Redbird are in it for PROFIT only and are not concerned about winning titles – so get used to more barging signings, wage and salary caps, signing players nobody wants and selling our best players to make $$$$ if the algorithm says it’s ok.
Wonderful
🤡💩🤡💩🤡💩🤡💩
Well said buddy…far more articulate than my rant 😂😂
Juro 💯
There’s nothing wrong with building a profitable club and there’s plenty of proof that it can work IF it is run by a competent team.
Look at Atalanta. That’s what Gerry want to build, but with the wrong cast. Atalanta has a competent team in play with a coach that works well and a Sporting Director that ensures synergy all throughout.
Gerry has built none of that.
Signings have on the whole been dreadful. All were cheap ‘might work’ signings. I was calling for Retegui 2 years ago. RLC as always a gamble, Musah one for the future, Chukwueze? As much as I like him we have Pulisic and it would have made sense to keep Saelemaakers as his backup. Money wasted while talent in Serie A got taken elsewhere.
We all agree with the profitability, but for these clowns to admit they don’t look at signings over 25m just shows where they are at.
Look at how CDK went. 30mil on a player Pioli didn’t know what to do with. Now he’s shining with Gasp. That hurt.
Failing a 20mil signing hurts less than a 50mil signing. And so far these guys brought in more question marks than quality.
Reijnders, Puli, Fofana and a few maybes. Would you trust them to spend 50mil on a single player???
No I don’t think I’d trust them to tell me the time in a room full of clocks to be honest
Cardinale: “who care about trophy, when we can profitable. This is trophyless cardinale milan.”
“Yes Tonali was sold NOT because he “wanted to leave” (as the Redbird Lovers falsely claimed)”
That’s bubbles right there.
“if we remain disciplined, there will always be counterparties on the market who will allow extraordinary returns for the players.”
This for me is the worst thing he has said and the last thing i thought id ever hear from a Milan owner. He is saying that if we get offered lots of money for our best players we will sell.
I have no hope anymore and feel pretty dejected by this.
A Milan without hope
This might make view as Red bird lover which I’m not. But the Player can also refuse to leave, Kessie is the prime example, when management tred to sell him. He refused and ran down his contract. It takes 2 to tangled.
What would the scenario be if he rejected to leave. Bench him? Do you really think fan would have liked that. Barella was the initial target, Inter didn’t want to sell and Barella refused and the deal fell through.
You are a red bird lover. nothing else is there to cover.
Cardinale clearly said Tonali was sold because they saw profit in it,not because it was needed. Meaning it was already out of Tonali hand either he plays along,or they make him the villain of the saga and slowly frustrate his time at Milan. Which will you pick.
Stop that nonsense of barella and what not. barella saw inter stand with him so the decision was easy for him to make. but at Milan Tonali saw his club already sell him out what did you expect him to do??
Look at Maldini that held to his beliefs, he was insulted and villianized and demonized, until his side of the story came out in an interview and then the truth was shown.
Please stop all that nonsense of Tonali said yes or what not. it was Milan job to say no at the front office, when the deal was presented. Shoot it down no reason to deliberate or ponder anything.
Wake up from the cool aid redbird gives you. WAKE UP they are killing the club
“I brought the New York Yankees with me for a small minority stake, given our long-standing partnership with them and our desire to bring the best practices of American sports to Italy”
This guy is still believing that the best practices of American sports will work in Italy
This dude is a joke
He is clowndinale
This interview, AGAIN, just shows how clueless he is about football. In order to increase the brand, the team has to win. Without winning not a whole lot the brand can grow. He says, he bought 6 players with tonali’s sale and the team revamped. How exactly? We have a worse starting lineup than tonali’s era. The few remaining stars will leave because of bad management and displays on and off the field. With this mentality and attitude Cardinale is in for a rude awakening, as in a couple of seasons the price of some overpaid players will drop and CL cashflow will diminish because of poor rankings. The fool doesn’t know the difference between baseball and football.
Get a f..ck out of acm!!!
Go watch baseball.
In transfermark site the value of milan player has decrease again. At the start of season the value is 600 million. At oktober the value is 560 million (drop 40 million). Right now the value is 530 million (drop 30 million).
Everything is there from him directly, black and white.
He fired Maldini because buying 2-3 world class players to cement our position after 22/23 didn’t correspond with his investors’ view. He doesn’t care about nothing related to the sporting side, only the cash matters.
Unlike other projects owned by people who are willing to invest a lot for the sporting success, knowingly losing money by doing it, but extracting the dividents from other ventures as a result of the sporting success, like has been the case with Berlusconi, RedBird are here only about the positive cash flow.
The most effective way of protest from us would be to not go to the stadium, not buy any merchandise from the club, and maintain strongly negative opinions about the way the club is managed on social media platforms.
This is the only way to damage the only thing he truly cares for – his pockets, the profit, the positive cash flow etc. I will do my part. Exactly when I am in the position in my life to finally be able to go to games without thinking too much about the costs, I will not go, and will not buy any products from the official store for a long time.
#CardinaleOut
Maldini wanted young and promising players mixed in with veterans to build a competitive team. Furlani would never spend like that under Gerry. So Maldini had to go. I don’t think Maldini would ever be down for “calculated risks” – he understood that early on and said as much in that interview that caused a stir.
He did an interview on TNT sports with carragher and Henry saying as much. If was before the inter semi final in the CL. He said we have to invest now he wanted Berardi and SMS didn’t he which would’ve been nice…..
So summarize it:
He wants to bring his American expertise he has with Yankees to Milan. Yankees last won their title in 2009. And they’re in a closed league competition.
His appointment of Ibra is not celebrity showcasing but he wants to have world class business people around him. Wtf does that even mean?
They sold Tonali cause it was a great opportunity and not a necessity. He also says that they’re focused on market that will allow extraordinary returns for the players which actually means buy low sell high. So we can expect more of such painful manouvers.
He’s having problems building an American style stadium cause he won’t be able to charge American style prices for tickets.
He understand fans want to win every year but staying afloat and qualifying for CL is more important for his investors and expected ROI. So he’s only doing as much to achieve this.
This interview is basically just showing his narcissistic and cash grabbing character while saying a big f*ck you to the fans.
He wants a balance of winning VS financial returns.
Financial returns seem to be there thus far, but apparently no one has checked the sporting side because no one reads papers in Italy, or anywhere…
Maybe he ought to look at a score every now and then, or check the standings or something…
Financial returns were there already with Elliott, Gazidis, Maldini and Massara while it took them 3 years to win Scudetto, 4 years to reach CL semis. So certain fans here will need to ditch that washed up made up excuse. Under Elliott this club was gradually building and showing results each season on both sporting and financial levels. Under Gerry, they’re gradually downgrading. At least in sporting sense. But sporting results go hand in hand with financial…
my reply won’t post for some reason…
Guess you’ll forever wander about my reply, because this site ain’t having it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Copy and refresh. You should be a ble to post it happen to me all the time
He is digging his own grave at this point. Firing Maldini, selling Maldini, Firing Calabria, not hiring an Italian manager and selling Tonali cuz he wanted to. He is trying to americanize Milan, making it a soulless franchise that only cares about money.
He doesn’t even read the papers or listen to the fans, it’s just a shame and I can’t wait for him to leave.
you know elliot was also just waiting to sell. but they did manage to grow the brand, improve the sqaud and win something. with limited finances.
And all ‘ol Ger did so far is dismantle that
Elliott just trimmed the fat.
Is this new excuse now in a long line of excuse people have for redbird.
Elliot trimmed the fat really, like really that’s what Elliot did😮💨😮💨🫡
The manner of excuses I see people give redbird, and especially from you.
I find it hard to believe is the management/ownership really the problem with Milan or the fans who excuse that excesses over what they think redbird wants against what they are actually doing, or what they think redbird has achieved.
It’s beyond me as to how anyone can still find a silver lining to defend this ownership, and or give them a pass because of the bare minimum they accomplish by error not even deliberately.
Elliot accomplished far more than redbird and they were here for the profit,and did not even hide it.
Coincidentally Maldini didn’t get this much
defense, where were his attorneys.
he’s not giving excuses for redbird.. what area you smoking? stop it
Flying turtle you finally single. Me. Out too ey.
I have seen your fights with some. Few here. Any way it’s was only a matter of time.
Now he is not giving excuse for Redbird is it. But he always highlights thier positives as reference as to why their policy can work or the few good they have done.
Has any good they did overwritten the bad. Or what’s the use mentioning any good if it cannot hold up to all the mess they created.
And saying Elliot just trimmed the fat is basically taking away and downplaying Elliot work in Milan.
I am not fighting him on the contrary, there should not be an attempt at trying to bring up Redbird positives again. Because they kill it everyday, especially with this and Furlani interview.
And as to what I am smoking. I don’t smoke.
Ya you sound more and more like a Redbird defender lol
And Atalanta is not a great model – except for last year Europa league they haven’t won anything. Only this summer they spend big $$ and are challenging for Scudetto but they have never won it
“my job is to position AC Milan to challenge for the Scudetto every year, qualify for the Champions League every year, and go as far as possible in the Champions League every year”
lets see challenge for scudetto nope
Qualify for CL Nope
go far in the cl only this year coz you will be out from any eu competions so what that tells you if you cooperate milan as a company you would make drastic measures because team value is decreasing rn so um yh you just yapping about what you want to do and not succeded that tells to any football fan not just milanista that you are fraud you fired maldini and massara that brought the best players this team could have you didnt fight for better coach so what that tell us that you dont have any ambition you just throw money and hoping something sticks. we are bad situation rn i think you need to forget the stadium because if you built that team and fans will witness banter era 2.0 even harder and focus bringin top of the top players and one coach that has results in any top league except ligue 1 and in eu comp except conference league because you are going to be Lin 2,0
‘And thanks to that sale we bought six new players and completely revamped the squad‘
Lol. Do you even follow or watch your team play? And they should ask him regarding Maldini’s issue. Really interested to hear what he has to say.
Get a f@ck out of ACM!!!
Does he know we won’t get the first pick in the draft by coming in last place?
Yank scum.
Even within the parameters they want to operate in they can do SO much better. They are basically trying to run the Atalanta model.
Fine, but put in place a better cast that CAN run it like Atalanta. Better Sporting Director, Better Coach – give them the operating model and have them work. Instead, we’re on a better financial foundation but with people who don’t run it well.
I read the interview, and I understand they want to take calculated risks with buying players. A hit on a deal the size of Douglas Luiz is far more painful than a hit on an Emerson deal. I get it. Furlani mentioned the success of selling Tonali and finding Reijnders but then he stopped there…
Our “Reijnders” are too far and few in between. Only 3 players so far worked out at the 20mil mark. What about the calculated risks that haven’t worked out thus far? The Chukus, Emersons, RLC’s and the likes of this world? Who’s keeping track of those? Because so far those vastly outweigh the ones that have.
Gerry’s way of doing things can work but he needs to re-evaluate the people he put in charge. Furlani is a numbers wizard? Great. What about Moncada’s limited network or the fact that no one understands what Zlatan’s role is nor what he brings to the table outside of cryptic insta posts? Never seen any Sporting Director do that…
It will take a long time to get the stadium put in place if that’s the next threshold ofbeing able to spend more on transfers and unfortunately until (or if ) that ever happens we’re braced for more or less of the same. Low salaried players and coaches, limited potential and “loud ambitions”. More of “Top4 is good enough” while preaching “We want to compete to win and bring Milan back to where it belongs in the European scene”
Beer budget, champagne taste.
Putting aside last year Europa upset over Bayern – what has Atalanta EVER won??????
We used to be on par with Real Madrid…not he bar is lowered to Atalanta???????
And you’re ok with that??? Yikes
We couldn’t get good owners from the States like the Dodgers or Liverpool, we had to get these clowns, smh. Back to banter era at warp speed.
SempreMilan:
I tried posting the same comment 15 different times avoiding “duplication” LOL!!! WTF???
oh but this one posts… LMAO!!! You can’t make this up…
Try putting the same post but with a punctuation added or a comma or something. It tends to go through. Also some words may get auto flagged even though it’s intent is harmless. Like as.set….without the punctuation between the s of course. Just my two cents
The worst man on planet Earth!
Rank 8th is potential 5B? Okay, just not drop to Serie B haha, which I am not watching
Clowndinale said he doesn’t read the news, he don’t know milan is 8th rank.
His goal only to compete ucl every year. So sad.. because were the second most succesful club in the world. Look at real theyre spending like crazy but never been bankrupt and still the most valuable club in the world. Even city whom burning billions of dollar never get caught by fifa. This fund manager know nothing about soccer. I think we watch this game only after he bought milan
Ii mean he wath the game not we
Boycott Milan to get this Clown out of our beloved club.
” my job is to position AC Milan to challenge for the Scudetto every year, qualify for the Champions League every year, and go as far as possible in the Champions League every year.”
Doing a fine job getting Milan into the UCL next season, right?