Sportitalia director Michele Criscitiello has offered some advice to AC Milan as they look to put the pieces in place to begin a new era, including one ‘crazy idea’.
Milan face off against Inter in the derby tonight knowing that a defeat would not only be their sixth in a row in the fixture but would also mean that their city rivals get to celebrate the Scudetto.
Despite how much is riding on tonight’s game, the bulk of the newspaper columns and media coverage continues to be dominated by speculation about the Milan of the future and the post-Pioli era.
In an editorial on the Sportitalia website, the director of the broadcaster Michele Criscitiello put forward his suggestions for the Rossoneri to think about rebuilding a winning team and a management that understands success.
“The 180 minutes with Roma are enough to greet Pioli and kindly show him the way home. More serious, however, is that the club hadn’t realised it until that moment and decided to fire him just for his poor performance in the Europa League,” he began.
“Instead, as we have been writing for months, the future could not be with Pioli regardless. Milan comes out of this season, which could not be considered positive, only because of a second place and a few matches won against Lecce, Verona and Fiorentina.
“This team has never been in the running for anything and even with plan B of the Europa League they made a fool of themselves that no one could have imagined. Pioli should have been sacked a year ago, together with Maldini, they had to start again from there without losing a year.
“Now there is great uncertainty about the future and if the names are the ones circulating it is better to pay Sacchi’s pension and put him on the bench, alongside Ramaccioni as team manager and Vittorio Mentana as press office with Pippo Sapienza.
“Cardinale says that he wants to build a winning Milan but he must do the facts and clarify the roles in the club. Ibra’s arrival brought only confusion.
“Furlani’s role needs to be explained: is he involved in football or business? Does the coach choose Ibra, Furlani, Moncada or do we vote based on the mood of the fans? Too many souls in a society are not good.
“A crazy idea for the management: obviously it’s not news but a crazy suggestion. Inter experienced their fortunes with Marotta. Milan need a leader. A name? Adriano Galliani.
“He is certainly no longer 50 years old but the club must regain power in the League. Galliani has it. He has to build the stadium and power is needed in politics. Galliani has it.
“Berlusconi’s Monza risks becoming the Monza of 70% foreign players and despite the fact that Galliani loves Monza, he also loves Milan.
“It would be a masterpiece for Cardinale to bring in Galliani as CEO, Ibra as technical director and Antonio Conte as the head coach. Now this would be a Milan ready to win everything.”
Galliani of course was the vice-chairman and CEO of Milan from 1986 to 2017, a period in the club’s history known as the ‘Silvio Berlusconi era’. During his time, Milan won five UEFA Champions League and eight Serie A titles among other major honours.