Before the Derby della Madonnina, Gerry Cardinale spoke about several things such as changing Serie A, and why he purchased AC Milan. Today, the interview has been released, and the owner could begin speaking more after the win against Inter.
Criticism has been rife for everyone at Milan this season, and some has been directed at Cardinale for several reasons. Starting the season as the Rossoneri did always opens the door to negativity, and the owner has certainly been a focus.
In the summer mercato, the Diavolo had a net spend of around €40 million, and the owner wanted to spend more, but Zlatan Ibrahimovic didn’t see the need – creating a new talking point in itself. Questions have since been asked why more wasn’t spent regardless.
Additionally, the hiring of Paulo Fonseca has been scrutinised, especially after a poor start to the season, but after the derby, doubts may be retracted slightly.
Yesterday, Cardinale spoke at the Giornata dello Sport Italiano nel Mondo in New York, and his words have been relayed by Calciomercato.com.
The Milan purchase…
“When we [RedBird] bought Milan, it was to bring to Italy what we do for a living. There is a much bigger strategy than what we play every week in Italy, which is to win matches.”
The derby…
“Today [yesterday] we play against our colleagues from Inter. It’s the derby and that’s the goal. But, you know, if people like me and Stephen Pagliuca have come to Serie A, I think this kind of meeting and discussion is fundamental.”
Changing Serie A…
“When I look at Serie A and Milan, I wear several hats [as a fan]: the Milan one, the Serie A one and the Italy one.
“The concept of Made in Italy should return. It is the highest premium quality globally: think Ferrari, think Loro Piana, think Brunello Cucinelli. We should think of Serie A in the same way. We used to think of Serie A in the same way, but then the world changed. And now when we talk about football on a global level and think about the highest quality, we talk about England, the Premier League.”
Bringing back the top…
“And one of the things I would like to do as a director of Milan and as a participant in Serie A is to work with it and all the members of the Italian ecosystem to bring Italy back to what it was in terms of global European football. I think this is fundamental. I see Serie A as one of Italy’s greatest exports.”
It’s not only winning that counts…
“This cannot be done if we only focus on winning matches. We can’t do it if we don’t innovate if we don’t change this paradigm throughout European football, where there seems to be this implicit notion that you have to spend whatever it takes to win, as if there is a direct correlation between spending and winning. And I think I’ve already said that, and that’s the level we need to reach in Serie A.”
Never like Arabia or Qatar
“It’s not about spending like a Middle Eastern government, which you will never do. It’s about spending an incremental euro of capital in a better, smarter, more innovative way. What I do in America for a living, investing in sports, is always a public-private partnership. You need municipalities, you need governments. These are public goods that you have a responsibility to provide for your community.”
The fans…
“In America, the person who spends the money to buy the teams is the team owner. In Italy, I think the fans believe that the team is owned by them and we have a job to do to satisfy this concept. But what I’m trying to do, and I’m not getting much help in the Italian ecosystem, is a partnership between all the participants in the value chain: the fans, the local government, the national government, and the capital to build our infrastructure.
“We have the European Championship coming up in 2032. I’m trying to make a stadium in Milan and with that, there should be a wave of improvements throughout Serie A, so that we become more competitive.
A message…
“My message to the fans doesn’t seem to be working, so I would say the message to the fans is that I won’t give you any message until we win. Because I understand that is the only thing you are interested in. But I will do my job and we will do everything we can to win. But win intelligently. And if I do that, we will be long-lived. And we will contribute to the growth of the whole ecosystem, as I believe is our duty.”
Bla bla bla….shut up Gerry
I heard you Gerry. I know others have too.
Yours is a rational message anchored in economic and political realities. I appreciate the peek behind the curtain.
I’d suggest you remember that “fan” is short for “fanatic” and is thus irrational. Rational discussion rarely prevails with so much emotion amon the sleeve.
Keep doing what you are doing, but please do consider getting a true soccer mind line Beppe Morata.
You are rational and well reasoned. However that is not the same as infallible. Even the Chiefs have Veach.
Well done muppet!Now stop licking your master’s balls in public.You’re f disgusting!
Fan is actually short for fancy, it comes from boxing.
Jerry is not rational, he’s just looking at squeezing the most money he can from this opportunity. He’s speaking about public-private association because his Yankees stadium has been built partly with public money. That’s some predatory instinct, classic Wall Street.
“This cannot be done if we only focus on winning matches”
“But I will do my job and we will do everything we can to win.”
Okay.
Bro threw Zlatan under the bus.
Send aessage by hiring a real sporting director
We know your objectives Gerry, and I for one largely agree with them. You are implementing them poorly.
Fix it.
Bro three Zlatan under the bus.
Send the message by hiring a real sporting director that the club so badly needed
He is spot on with what he is saying , right now clubs need to understand how they spend money, the quality of players has not improved globally, but prices for very average players has gone up tremendously, salaries are extremely high, managing finances in a club is paramount, the Futuro project and emphasis of buying young players early and handing them over to our youth teams is a wise idea, in what world does a club but a player like Chukwueze for 30m, even the quality of football has declined because very average players are paid big money, and they then tend to misbehave or be absent minded about playing well
The only thing worth adding now is young Italian players in the squad..
All sounds good on paper – but you cannot have a NET transfer spend of 35-40M per season and expect to win titles. Unfortunately European football is not built that way. Yes you can be competitive – but you will not consistently win titles. There is a difference. And if he miscalculated the culture of the fans of European football – then that is pretty shocking. You should know your audience before you buy. That will not change. This is not America. This is not American sports – where you have sweetheart TV deals and you cannot get relegated from your league no matter how poor you are and taxpayers fund or subsidize the majority of stadiums. Ya it would be nice if he could change that – BUT – he is delusional if he thinks all of Europe will follow suit and do so in a relatively short period of time.
Oh really? Real Madrid’s net spending over the last ten years has averaged 25M (less than half of Milan’s spending), and yet I do believe that they might have won a trophy or two in that time span.
It’s not how much you spend, it’s who you spend it on. Just ask Man U how wild indiscriminate spending is working out for them.
That might be the case but Real Madrid made heavy investments right before that era and a great deal of those players was at Real Madrid for that following decade.
They’ve always made heavy investments, the difference is they also continually sold players.
Well I’m referring to that they made heavy investments on for example Ronaldo, Benzema etc who played there into the late 10s so that is at least part of the equation even though they happened well before the last decade.
…well before the last ten years….
I can overall appreciate what he wants to do for the club and league even when the league is still the 2nd highest ranked league according to Uefa coefficients as of June 2024.
Club owners are custodians and the difference between Europe and USA is that they can basically do whatever they want in USA like moving American football clubs to different states and cities as they please, Europe has thankfully limitations in that sense because I’m pretty sure the repercussions around here would be dire and anyone involved in such schemes would put themselves in grave danger and quite frankly rightfully so.
We know…winning is boring 😆😆
As I’ve seen that sentiment mentioned many times I think it’s taken way out of context because as I recollect it that remark was made in regard of Juventus winning 9 scudettos in a row. That certainly didn’t make it an especially exciting league to watch at that point of time. Same can be said about Lyon in the ligue 1 in the 00s or PSG in the 10s and 20s as well.
Pretty sure Cardinale would like Milan to win as much as possible.
Context?!?!?! Sir, must I remind you that this is the Internet and people have arguments to win!?!?! There is no room for context here!!!!
😀 Well I’m not here to participate in a popularity contest so I do try to be as objective as I can be.
Another idiot repeating something he never said. They know he didn’t say that and they still keep repeating it. Bunch of dishonest, irrational haters in here. And when he brings the team another Scudetto, just like the previous AMerican businessmen did, they will pretend they didn’t say alll this, or they will just try and give the credit to someone else. Most likely Maldini somehow.
Please don’t forget Berlusca’s words about this crook when he said he doesn’t have the money to own this club and he is nothing but a cover up of some other guys…Wake up if you’re well intentioned(and not one of his bots) and read again this article…the guy is a fraud,a crook,trying to sell to the ignorants a self image as visionar when he is nothing but a crook…he is here to laundry some money for the big sharks behind this fund and to make some more…By telling us how all the rest are against him and his vision is just opening a door for his future failure as he will say well he tried to make smth from Milan but all the rest were against him and his”vision”…This guy is not only looking like a crook ,but he surely thinks and act like one…JERRY IS A CROOK AND A FRAUD…We need a TOM pronto!
Well done muppet!Now stop licking your master’s balls in public.You’re f disgusting!
Is that a reply for me because if it is then you can fuk off because I have certainly also been critical of Cardinale from time to time.
No mate!Sorry for that double reply,this site works very wierd!It was ment for a clueless gringo!
Well fair enough then but even then MyKidPlayedSoccer also has some pretty good posts from time to time. Anyways just thought it was a jibe at me so my apologies.