Adriano Galliani will always be connected to AC Milan, even if he no longer is the club’s CEO. Today, he looked at the past, and how his journey with Silvio Berlusconi began.
As CEOs go, there are few, if any, that can look back at a tenure with as much happiness as Galliani can. The 80-year-old first arrived at the club in 1986, and throughout his time at the club, Milan won 29 trophies before he left in 2017 – recording almost a trophy per season in this time, numbers which the current management aspire to reach.
His absence only lasted a year, though, as Berlusconi bought Monza, and once again Galliani was his right-hand man, and whilst he has not been able to recreate his successes yet, the Biancorossi were promoted to Serie A for the first time in their history under Galliani, and they have remained in the top flight since.
Ahead of the weekend’s clash between the two clubs, the former Rossoneri CEO spoke about Berlusconi’s impact on his life to Gazzetta dello Sport, and Milan News have relayed his words.
“I was an entrepreneur, I was working in my Industrial Electronics. My secretary told me that Silvio Berlusconi, whom I did not know, had invited me to dinner at his home in Arcore. ‘What should I say,’ she told me. ‘That I thank and accept!’ I had almost arrived in Siena, turned the car around and drove back to Brianza. He will remain the person who changed my life, my teacher. He was good and generous.
“The reason for the invitation? I showed up with one of my partners, Aurelio Cazzaniga, another teacher for me, and Fedele Confalonieri was also present at the dinner. With incredible lucidity Berlusconi explained to me that he had plans to create three national television networks.
“He asked me if my company could help him with this project. I said yes. Without knowing anything about my company he told me that he would buy 50% of Elettronica Industriale: ‘You name the price’. We shook hands and our adventure began.
“He was 43 years old, and when I went to see him I would enter Arcore walking, and leave flying: he had an incredible ability to motivate you. He was the Guardiola of entrepreneurs, in fact much better than Pep.”
