AC Milan’s owner Gerry Cardinale has promised a full-scale review of what isn’t working at the club, sending a defiant message to fans.
It is once again a turbulent time for Milan at the end of a rollercoaster season. For most of it, there was the illusion that Massimiliano Allegri’s men could really push Inter all the way in the title fight, until a run of two wins in eight left them hanging on for the top four.
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It means the Rossoneri go into their final two games of the season against Genoa and Cagliari needing two wins to secure Champions League football. As our latest column analysed last night, there isn’t much trust in those at the top to get things right regardless, amid talk of another revolution.
Cardinale breaks his silence
Cardinale gave an interview to the newspaper Corriere della Sera in which he spoke about a number of topics, from the season so far to what the future of the club might hold.
How do you judge the season?
“Not having won the Scudetto is a disappointment. And if we don’t finish in the top four, it will be a failure. For me, winning is a priority. Always.
“We were in the top two of the table for much of the year, in contention for the Scudetto. But the ending was below Milan’s standards and we threw the season away. I’m disappointed. It happens in sport. But that doesn’t make you feel any better. I want to win.”
There are those who say you only care about the money from the Champions League…
“There’s a narrative that I only think about money and not about winning. It’s absurd. If you look at my life and my career, I’ve always won. When the club generates money, I don’t take it out. I reinvest it in the team.
“In players, infrastructure and growth. In the last three years since I took over Milan, we’ve spent more than any other Serie A team on the market. And that’s a fact. Have we spent perfectly? Clearly not. We need to do a better job of making sure there’s a direct correlation between spending and winning.
“The idea that financial discipline means not wanting to win makes no sense. Since 2022, we’ve only won one Supercoppa? I can’t coach. I can’t score goals. I can’t defend on the pitch. But I can provide the financial resources and build a winning team.
“My job is the financial part and creating a sense of urgency and a culture of winning. Everyone has to assume that I’ll do my part. I am I’m a fighter and I won’t stop until I win.
“Have I made mistakes in these four years as an owner? Of course I have. This is probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but I’m a fighter and I won’t stop until I win. I love Italy. I love Milan. For me it’s become a personal issue.”
Will there be changes in the summer?
“Every year we constantly evaluate how to evolve the organisation and maximise performance. Each season is carefully evaluated, especially after a year below expectations. At the end of the season, I will evaluate everything and everyone.
“But this is not the time to talk about changes; we need to focus on the next two games. What will the future hold for the management and the coach? Allegri and the team have done a great job for much of the season.
“I’m not happy with what I’m seeing in recent performances. Max is not happy. The players are not happy. I’ve already spoken to Max. We’ve discussed many things. We need everyone – the coaching staff, the sporting director, player development, the academy – to work as a single ecosystem.
“The goal is not simply to win once. The goal is to build the foundations for winning consistently over time.”
Is there a message you’d like to send to the fans?
“I understand their disappointment because I feel it too. Our team is going through a difficult time. Everyone who cares about this club should try to help the team get back on its feet instead of tearing it down.
“I don’t blame the fans for being angry. I am too. The criticism is legitimate. But there’s too much noise. Soccer here is deeply emotional and connected to the community in a way that Americans can’t understand.
“I’ve always tried not to be the stereotype of the American who arrives thinking that everything that works in the US can be transferred here. Everyone has a role: ownership, management, players, coaching staff, media, fans.
“Everyone should contribute to improving Italian soccer and helping it evolve. When we fail, I experience it personally. That’s why no one should ever question my desire to win.”
“I’ve always won” Anyone have any idea what is he talking about exactly? 😀
Cardinale: “i sack maldini because he want more transfer budget. I don’t care if maldini bring scudetto or semi final champion league. I WANT 1 MILLION PROFITABLE MILAN EVERY SEASON. OUR TARGET IS QUALIFY FOR CHAMPIONS LEAGUE EVERY SEASON.”
Mental Gymnastics.
Difícil!!! cuando das el dinero. pero es mal invertido o no sabes quien lo invierte o solamente los celos egoístas lo impiden
“I love Italy. I love Milan. For me it’s become a personal issue.”
Says the guy who doesn’t know where “San Siro” is – what a deceitful moron and a plain hypocrite.
“Soccer here is deeply emotional. Everyone should contribute to improving Italian soccer and helping it evolve.”
It’s not soccer, it’s football, you dumb f, just ask your compatriots in the PL (at Man Utd and L’pool) whether they would even dare to think to say “soccer”, let alone to use that lousy term publicly.
Soccer is actually a British term
OK, but it is a term which they don’t use nowadays. However, that’s a long story, the more important part of my comment is the first one.
“I love Italy. I love Milan. For me it’s become a personal issue.”
Says the guy who doesn’t know where “San Siro” is – what a deceitful mo*on and a plain hypocrite.
“Soccer here is deeply emotional. Everyone should contribute to improving Italian soccer and helping it evolve.”
It’s not soccer, it’s football, you dumb f, just ask your compatriots in the PL (at Man Utd and L’pool) whether they would even dare to think to say “soccer”, let alone to use that lousy term publicly.
Yes they would. Soccer is not an American term. Soccer is British slang. When you’re special you’re special.
Stop writing BS! Of course it’s not their term (or an Australian (or NZ or/and SA etc.) for that matter) and of course it originated in the country which invented rugby, are you for real? That goes without saying. No, they wouldn’t say “soccer”, I’m 100% sure of that. That’s a term used by americans (and others) for a well-known reason and that’s all that matters. Besides, you can always ask their fans how would they react to that. Stop replying to my comments, you are obviously challenged way beyond repair.
Roy Keane says soccer all the time. Scholes, Lampard use it on TV weekly. And half of UKs football people use the term every now and then. You’re a halfwit, time to understand that.
If you want me to stop replying just don’t write them. Or stop being a mo*on that doesn’t understand anything. Your choice 😂
Seriously, man, get some help. You’re way below me in every sense of the word, everyone here laughs at you, I actually feel sorry for such wretched creatures.
🤣🤣🤣🤣 You forgot to do the football manager transfer window in the comments today.
Nevermind me, you forgot your medicine this morning. You are not Max, you are Mad/MAD.
It’s been 4 years and very little to show. He can say these things and present himself towards the public but he now has to bring the actions and the results to match. It’s a fair point that he has provided money, and every year news comes out that he won’t provide enough economic resources, reality is he has. But how those resources have been used has been abysmal and a failure. Again, he doesn’t have the final say or the selection of the players but he needs to do better with appointing the right people in charge of making a successful mercato and project. And so far he has not done so and if he continues with Furlani and Ibra, he will still fail
It’s a shame we have to do this all over again. Post Pioli was suppose to be an evolution. Now we are about to press the reset button for the 3rd time.
He really needs to evaluate everyone especially Furlani. Furlani took over from Gazidis too early, and his inexperience has been hurting us ever since.
Reset button will be pressed every summer until the top management has been replaced with competent people. Starting with Furlani.
He’s saying all the right words and everything the fans want to hear. But the actions speak against it. IF there is ANY truth behind his words, he should sack Furlani ASAP. He is responsible for the failures and if Cardinale wants to win like he says, replacing Furlani is the only way forward.
Exactly.
How can he replace someone who seems to have him.by the cohones?
He wasn’t able to put in competent people in charge 4 years ago. What makes you think he can do so now? I have very little hope in competency at this point.
“Everyone who cares about this club should try to help the team get back on its feet instead of tearing it down.”
Look in the mirror, the answer is right there.
Same thing I always say – Redbird is just a pot of money and – at source, is no better or worse than any other pot of money.
The problem is that the purse strings have so far been given to incompetents. If that drastically changes (and with the right will it could change quickly), everyone stops complaining about Redbird. But you can only go off the data you have, and the data we have is ‘3 summers of committee-based confusion’.
It’s at least good to hear from the horses mouth that he can see the problems, but saying the right things has no objective relationship to doing the right things. No one knows that better than people in power.
Well said. Everyone would forgive everything if they could only just get their act together.. I think most fans would be okay with not winning right away if we could at least see a project that’s building/ getting stronger – instead of reverting to Year Zero every season…
And we were so close to returning to the top with the scudetto-winning squad! Only Zlatan and a couple of other “elderly” should have been replaced with younger, proven upgrades and we could have competed for more trophies but no. We chose the wrong path, wrong managers and the wrong players. Name one thing they have done right after sacking Maldini. One thing.
Sudah saatnya Milan REVOLUSI DARI PEMILIK,CEO, SAMPAI DENGAN MANAGER TERENDAH. MEREKA TIDAK LAYAK MEMILIKI MILAN YANG OBSESINYA HANYA BISNIS, BUKAN MEMILIKI OBSESI MEMBAWA MILAN JUARA LIGA ITALIA,JUARA CHAMPIONS,JUARA EROPA DAN JUARA LIGA ANTAR CLUB DUNIA. MEREKA SEMUANYA MEMBAWA MILAN SEBAGAI CLUB YANG BARU PROMOSI LIGA SERI B,CLUB MEDIOKER DAN MEMBELI PEMAIN YANG BERKELAS PRIMAVERA.
I don’t think you need a college degree to judge RedBird’s management from the very first day they walked into the Milan world. They took over a club that had finally started rebuilding trust and looking toward future success. Cardinale keeps saying he’s a winner, but in reality he’s dragged Milan into a deep mess that’s been going on for four years.
Saying he wants to invest doesn’t match with having people like Furlani and Ibra around, people who basically have zero understanding of how money works in football. Taking a former player, even a legendary one like Ibra, and thinking he’d be better than Maldini is the clearest proof of Cardinale’s total lack of cultural depth.
Replacing someone just because another person has a “nice CV” is exactly why Milan is falling apart.
Then you shouldn’t have fired Maldini if you are the winner that you say you are! Cuore Rossonero! Do you even understand what that truly means!?
What is this, a damage control interview? This clown actually promoted his puppet Furlani after a disastrous season that was built by him and Zlatan who is also still his advisor or whatever, only causing damage wherever he appears. This is quite literally the definition of settling down with mediocrity. “Always wanting to win” in our context requires a very clear first step – changing the whole pathetic management behind the sporting aspect of the project. The fact that he refuses to do that 3 years in a row is a clear indicator he doesn’t give a cra*p about titles and is only talking BS to the usual bunch of fans who will eat it up and blame the next coach for the inevitable Groundhog Day we’ll arrive this time next year.
Yep, 1000% correct.damage control.
“The goal is not simply to win once. The goal is to build the foundations for winning consistently over time.”
Complete nonsense in both aspects. If this statement was even somewhat true then Maldini is still at the club. Cardinale and Furlani have changed the coach at least 3 times now and it’s about to be 4 times once Max is gone. Over 100 players have been sold or signed in the last few years since RedBird took over. Let’s put it in simple terms, these guys have no idea what they are doing. They have no plan and never did. It’s been that way since Paolo left and will remain that way until this club is sold to people who actually care about the product on the pitch and can empower people who actually have competence when it comes to football and not just calculators.