Stefano Pioli’s contentious tenure at AC Milan has drawn to a close. Completing a term packed with bouquets and brickbats, Pioli will leave the club with his head held high and Milan’s 19th Scudetto tattooed on his arm.
The days leading to his departure strangely resembled his arrival; loud, cantankerous voices from the stands and on social media demanding his exit. #PioliOut trended when he signed for the club and echoes as he signs off as well.
The vehement opposition towards prospective coaches isn’t limited to the time Pioli was brought on board. This sentiment reverberated when Julen Lopetegui was touted as the hot favourite and remains resilient with another Portuguese manager expected to take the reigns at Milan. His name is Paulo Fonseca.
The en masse objection arises from the optics of the appointment – Fonseca isn’t perceived to be an upgrade on Pioli. A cursory glance at the stats establishes that perception. Pioli’s win percentage at Milan hovers around 55%. Fonseca’s record at Lille (50%) and Roma (52%) is comparable but needs to be contextualised.
Pioli has been at Milan for five years, during which the squad has transitioned from an upper-mid-table team to league champions. Fonseca’s Roma and Lille were objectively weaker with comparably lower expectations.
Fonseca took over at Lille in 2022-23 following a horrific season for the French club. The team had finished 10th merely a season after they had won the league title. Nine of the thirteen most-used players from the title-winning side were no longer at the club.
Fonseca was tasked with developing talent as the management raked in big bucks from sales and spent a paltry portion on purchases. He led Lille to a 5th placed finish last season and improved upon that, finishing 4th in Ligue 1 this year.
In addition to his achievements with Lille, the suits at Milan possibly admire Fonseca for his likeness to their picture of an ideal coach. He works with what is available to him and is compatible with driving a youth-oriented project. His stint at Lille holds the blueprint for Milan’s mandate.
Aesthetically, Fonseca’s teams play a high line, build from the back and dominate possession. He prefers to employ a 4-2-3-1 shape but has demonstrated the ability to adapt to a 3-4-3 and 4-3-3. Bringing him in would not require a reset in the squad, nor is he likely to throw the toys out of the pram if he isn’t given a shiny new one.
Through the dismissal of Paolo Maldini at the start of the season, Gerry Cardinale sent a clear message to the folks at Milan – comply or leave.
In that sense, Pioli is the very definition of a yes-man. He would’ve continued in the job if not for a slew of embarrassing results, including the sixth derby defeat in a row and the meek loss to Roma in the UEFA Europa League. The team’s performance in the last few weeks made Pioli’s stay at the club untenable, despite him leading Milan to a second-place finish in Serie A.
Fonseca, in many ways, is an extension of what Pioli represents. He will build on Pioli’s work, retaining Milan’s competitiveness without clamouring for RedBird to break the bank. He also mirrors Pioli’s results in Europe. Apart from a run to the semi-finals with Roma in 2020-21, Fonseca has little to boast of in the illustrious continental competitions.
His five-year hiatus from the UEFA Champions League raises a legitimate concern. During his previous participation in Europe’s top-tier competition, he guided Shakhtar past the group stage only once, being eliminated on two other occasions.
His mettle remains unproven in Europe, which surprisingly doesn’t seem to impact Milan’s decision to give him the keys to the squad, one which is, by the President’s admission, built to play European football.
Another chapter from his coaching timeline is somewhat unsettling. A ghost from his past hauntingly looms over his return to Italy. AS Roma is not bereft of internal turmoil, however, over the two seasons he spent at the club, Fonseca was provided significant resources to actualise the management’s ambitions.
The club spent nearly €200m on transfers building a squad with the third-highest wage bill in the league. Mismanagement stemmed from the top, but also materialised on the pitch, with Roma finishing 5th and 7th during those seasons.
Fonseca’s goal will be to overcome that setback and embark on a fresh journey with Milan. He brought Braga their first cup in fifty years, a feat worthy of accolade. He will have to draw from that victorious spirit to break out of Pioli’s shadow at Milan.
By overlooking superstar managers like Thomas Tuchel and Antonio Conte, along with hipster favourites such as Thiago Motta and Roberto De Zerbi, the decision-makers at Milan are deliberately opting for Fonseca, a name that fails to infuse giddy excitement among the fans. He’ll step into the role amidst considerable scepticism, tasked with shifting the prevailing mood.
Given his previous struggles in high-pressure environments, the odds seem stacked against him to usher Milan into the next phase of growth and success. Declining a move to the Orange Vélodrome in favour of San Siro, Fonseca has traded one cauldron for another. Pens and keyboards await the start of his spell at Milan.
Fabrizio just shared the news of Conceiçao leaving Porto. The Milan management seem deeply incompetent, however.
Any manager with dignity won’t come to Milan now, the arrogant American who know nothing about football make sure of it.
If we were to go on previous stats and results alone we never would’ve hired Pioli, Sacchi, Capello etc. More “glamorous” choices like Conte or Tuchel could wind up flopping harder than Fonseca because football’s a funny old game as they say. I just hope next season’s hilarious.
Benefit of the doubt. Sure. But he just seems like a Stop Gap. I just can’t figure out why.
They met with Conte early to talk. Seemingly hashed everything out. And then……. Something must have happened. Another opportunity?
It’s almost like it’s all made up!
“over the two seasons he spent at the club, Fonseca was provided significant resources to actualise the management’s ambitions.
The club spent nearly €200m on transfers building a squad with the third-highest wage bill in the league. Mismanagement stemmed from the top, but also materialised on the pitch, with Roma finishing 5th and 7th during those seasons.”
There’s a saying in my country – same sh!t, different package.
Why not Itsliano? Italiano would have been an upgrade.
Here’s another report from football-italia that puts a big shadow of doubt about our rigid salary cap.
“The Argentinian striker’s entourage have requested a salary that’s out of reach for the Nerazzurri considering their current situation, which allows them to pay a maximum of €10m net per season, including bonuses.”
But we, with our clean bills and books, have a ceiling at 5 millions+bonuses? Ok.
The problem with 10mil/year is that everyone will know what’s possible and want higher wages. You pay it once and you set a precedent.
Who knows, maybe when a stadium is built it will be possible to pay high wages like that.
It just bugs me the sentence of “considering their current situation, which ALLOWS them to pay maximum 10 net”.
How’s that even a possibility considering their accounts are in shambles. We’re here healthier than ever before but are giving wages on Fiorentina’s level or sell when demands are over imposed salary cap.
Milan fans who wrote #Pioliout must be really happy with this situation lol. Fkin
I wonder.. i wonder what is going on at Milan and I wonder what is media selling clicks.. cant tell anymore
Roma spent 200 million, while at the same time earning the same amount of money by selling off many key players, including Manolas. Despite these significant changes, the team has not been strengthened. It is worse than Milan during the chaotic Chinese ownership era.
New Rule:
Those who called for Pioli to be sacked don’t get to complain about the new manager.
Those who defended Pioli and said that there’s no guarantee his replacement would be an upgrade…..well let’s wait and see.
Lol. Nice false equivalence. Calling for Pioli to be fired does not equal wanting Fonseca to come in. So, no, if Fonseca sucks I will also be on him.
Actions meet consequences…
Are you dumb? Those who want pioli out clearly want a much better upgrade than this NONSECA smh
Actions have consequences.
You call for this. Own it.
Bizarre comments. Nothing in life would ever change if the fear was “it could be worse”. Nothing is guaranteed. The definition of insanity is repetition with the expectation of a different result. Every coach should be handed a lifetime contract then.
No.
Knowing the current situation at Milan what did you expect?
Guardiola to come in?
We were always going to get a manager like Fonseca. This was entirely predictable if you lived in the real world rather than the fantasy in your heads.
@Maldini’s Heir, was Motta a fantasy appointment? How about De Zerbi? Even Enzo Maresca, who not a single article has linked with us, is being linked with Chelsea. Thousands of fans, including the curva, were ready for a change. We have nothing do to with the next appointment. And, by the way if the next appointment turns out to be the next Sacchi, Cappello or Ancelotti, I won’t rub it in your face, because this isn’t about getting one over on fellow fans, but it is about trying to improve the club.
@ Vero Rossonero
More fantasy football! I can confirm that none of what you said happened in real life.
Your choices are to either:
a) live in and make the most of the real world (including supporting the manager and the team);
Or
b) continue your miserable life where reality can never quite meet your fantasy.
I’m passed caring.
@Maldini’s Heir
“live in and make the most of the real world (including supporting the manager and the team”
Then support the club’s transfer decisions and managerial changes. Otherwise you are a hypocrite.
“I’m passed caring.”
Clearly not.
@ Vero Rossonero
Did you see the rule?
Those who defended Pioli and said that there’s no guarantee his replacement would be an upgrade…..well let’s wait and see.
As for supporting transfers that is a different thing because transfers fundamentally change the team (and manager). Next season we’ll be supporting a different team without Pioli, Kjaer, Giroud, At-Least-One-Star, and probably the captain, Calabria, will be pushed out in favour to some new RB.
So it’s basically a new team. And when there are endless new teams the club becomes no more than an empty brand, and that is where I am passed caring.
Excuse me own what ?
Almost everyone wanted an upgrade, and most wanted someone like Motta. As far as I’m concerned even Conceicao would have been fine. I did not advocate to fire Pioli to replace him with a coach that was hired because he will earn slightly more than half his wage. There are many coaches available right now, so choosing Fonseca doesn’t seem make any sense apart from telling that the management doesn’t seem to want anything more than a top4 ranking each season.
Plus, what bothers me the most is not only Fonseca, but these rumors around selling Theo and getting some unproven players from the french league.
We’ve been spammed with these articles telling that “Milan is financially stable” and that “Inter is on the verge of collapsing”, yet they already secured their mercato and seem willing to pay 10M per year while we can’t seem to pay the best LB in the world more than 5M per year.
Well be careful what you wish for!
And what a shame all the moaners this season couldn’t have enjoyed themselves more. It might have been a last hurrah!
>We’ve been spammed with these articles telling that “Milan is financially stable” and that “Inter is on the verge of collapsing”
Reminds me of loser talk like Arsene Wenger.
The worst thing that ever happened was Berlusconi selling to the Chinese fraud and then Elliott taking over.
Elliott will never sell their minority share, so a serious ambitious owner who isn’t broke will never buy us again.
Haha good one. I see where u are coming from. I gotta say it’s been hilarious watching ppl lose their sh!t over a new coach. Like what exactly were ppl expecting. Apart from Guardiola (even with him there’s an asterisk), there’s absolutely no guarantee that’s we’ll do better than before, not even with Klopp or Ancelotti. Huge toss up as we’ve been saying all along. It could go well, it could bust, who knows (that includes any coach btw not just Fonsy). Just as long as people understand that you’re trading in a certain level of certainty for something else that’s quite uncertain. Don’t bother with the comments section and media. The vast majority of people appreciated Pioli and wanted his stay. Now we will take what we get and have to trust the process.
There were many coaches available and not all of them were expensive like Klopp or Guardiola or Conte. We could (should) have gone for Motta sooner and as far as I’m concerned, Conceicao was a good proposition.
Could Fonseca succeed ? I don’t know, I hope he does, but so far with the informations available, it seems that he has been chosen because he is cheap (2,5M per year) and that he is less likely to make a fuss if we sell a player like Theo this summer.
Plus, what bothers me the most is not only Fonseca, but these rumors around selling Theo and possibly Leao and getting some unproven players from the french league. If we got Fonseca but brought players like Hojbjerg, Sesko, Calafiori,… I would have been fine but the direction doesn’t seem to go in the direction (pun intended).
We’ve been spammed with these articles telling that “Milan is financially stable” and that “Inter is on the verge of collapsing”, yet they already secured their mercato and seem willing to pay 10M per year while we can’t seem to pay the best LB in the world more than 5M per year.
I think ur making the same point but in a different way. It’s not to say I don’t want a change of direction or a new coach. But seeing ppl lose their sh!t from whatever name be it the best of the best or the worst of worst or in between is so weird and hilarious to me. Management and some fans here seems to want a change. With that comes with it risk is basically the point I was trying to make. Let’s say Juve does get Motta. I’m not griping over that. Who knows Motta can lead them to 11th and we can win the Scudetto with Fonzie. That’s possible. Or it could go the other way. And I do get that some CVs look more impressive than others and ppl will have an opinion on one which seemingly has a better CV. That’s fine too. But I’ll never say this one will clearly be a better hire than another
Also, just like you, I can only hope the next coach does well no matter who it is. Pippo Inzaghi and all 😅
The same logic applies to improving. There is no knowing how better we could have done. Even all of those top coaches we reminisce about left the club at some point. Also, I wonder what the Pioli supporters thought when Pioli was appointed. Did you know he would win a scudetto? What is next week’s winning lottery number please? What if we’d given Giampaoli more time? If we’d kept Inzaghi or Gattuso, who knows, maybe by now they would have won something. If we’d kept Zaccheroni for another two or three seasons, maybe he would have won another league title with him (but Ancelotti probably never arrives in the scenario). Or what of giving the great Farih Terim more time (also no Ancelotti)?
@Vero, I’m not sure about that because one is certainty and the other is uncertainty. With let’s say Pioli and Ancelotti we know what we’re giving up. And there’s successes attached to that. Good table standings too. With the others we can only give up what they’ve done and it’s not much. With Pippo for instance….with 10th there’s nothing much to give up.
And sure some cycles come to an end like with Ancelotti. I get that. As long as ppl are comfortable with the risk. Personally if prefer to see Pioli see out the last year with a proper squad, no injuries and DMs. Replacement striker for Giroud (doesn’t have to be fancy) and keep the rest of the team as is. But alas..
It’s not just the uncertainty, it’s recognising who and where we are.
Who we are is the manager and the players who we follow week in/week out. That’s the substance.
Where we are is a club that is no longer a top tier club. That’s the reality.
Combine the two and the best we can hope for as a fans is solid foundations for a club that might slowly return to the top with a clear strategic direction that makes the right moves on the transfer market.
These fans are acting like we’re a top tier club and this sets them up for disappointment and puts unnecessary pressure on the club forcing it to make stupid, panicked decisions like firing the 2nd best manager in the league.
Because we’re not a top tier club we then end up with a coach like Fonseca.
Now we’re got to hope that he somehow turns out to be ‘The Next Great Manager’.
To compete with the oligarchs, dictators and war criminals you have to be smart.
Snap!
(I also made the Guardiola point)
I too was moved by the reception in the stadium but I don’t share your hope that the majority of the fans supported Pioli, or at least a very vocal but influential section certainly turned against him.
And apart from my concern for Pioli and the players as a fan, I’m also concerned the club cannot hope to return to the top with this lack of direction or focus driven in a large part by completely unrealistic and inconsistent expectations.
And we’ll see this now with Fonseca – the next victim. He’s already facing an uphill battle given the fans didn’t get the coach they felt they deserved. He’ll need to start really well otherwise they’ll turn.
” I don’t share your hope that the majority of the fans supported Pioli, or at least a very vocal but influential section certainly turned against him.” Fair enough.
“I’m also concerned the club cannot hope to return to the top with this lack of direction or focus driven in a large part by completely unrealistic and inconsistent expectations.” Preaching to the choir here. I have a way more passionate view on that than the next coaching selection. Let’s just say I don’t get easily bamboozled by their words lol 😂. It’s also not helped that the media is pro-management either. They lapped up last year’s transfer campaign like it was this huge success when we got objectively worse in many metrics.
The media have a huge responsibility.
Ultimately football transfers (and alien abductions) is one of the few areas that the media can completely make up stories without fear of defamation.
So the media pumps out transfer stories which creates this narrative where thousands of transfers every few months are considered normal and even ‘fun’.
The media also don’t properly investigate the transfer market and just how dodgy the whole thing is.
This is why there was no questioning of last summer’s transfers. It was ‘fun’.
’’Where we are is a club that is no longer a top tier club. That’s the reality.’’
No, we have the attendance numbers of a top tier club. That’s the actual reality.
Milan is a top club with a 3rd rate ownership.
Ok sorry we’re the same level as Real, Bayern and Man City.
Nothing like dealing with reality.
i know why Zlatan choose Fonseca. cz he’s Zoro, he’ll put Z mark everywhere
No Ultras protest? I guess they rate Fonseca but not Lopetegui?
Or maybe Lopetegui was a smokescreen and they bribed the Curva for that Anti-Lopetegui charade so they can get us to accept Fonseca.