Silvio Berlusconi was certainly a winner when he was AC Milan’s owner, but he also went down as an innovator who perhaps took care of the details like no other club president had or has since.
La Gazzetta dello Sport recall how at the end of 1985 Milan were closer to bankruptcy than to the Scudetto when Berlusconi decided to step in. On 20 February 1986 he officially became the new owner and before he was named president on 24 March, he immediately amazed Baresi and his team-mates.
During a retreat at Milanello on the eve of a game against Verona, Berlusconi got off a helicopter and said he will build a Milan ‘capable of winning in Italy, in Europe and in the world, master of the pitch and master of style’.
It was the first of many promises kept as he turned to Adriano Galliani as his right-hand man and Ariedo Braida to be the sporting director. He took care of every detail, even changing the colour of the players’ shorts from back to white.
On the eve of the first retreat, he summoned all his collaborators to the castle of Pomerio to have a discussion about his vision for Milan moving forward. Ramaccioni became a ‘team manager’ in charge of maintaining relations between the squad and the upper floors.
The most spectacular turning point was arguably on 18 July 1986 on the lawn of the Arena Civica. Welcomed by the soundtrack of the Cavalcade of the Valkyries by Wagner, three helicopters descend on the first of which are the new signings Bonetti, Donadoni, Galderisi, Massaro and goalkeeper Galli.
The enthusiasm of the fans was cooled by the team’s false start, immediately defeated at the San Siro by Ascoli. In addition to the Scudetto bid falling apart, the team fell out of the European zone and then Berlusconi sacked the head coach Nils Liedholm.
Fabio Capello arrives in his place from the Primavera and this choice, also thinking about what will happen later, is the president’s first masterpiece. Under Capello the Rossoneri finished in fifth place and by winning the play-off against Sampdoria they got into the UEFA Cup.
Berlusconi however had already fallen in love with Sacchi, who was in charge of the Parma side who knocked Milan out of the Coppa Italia. He entrusted him with the team, giving Capello a manager role.
The likes of Gullit and Van Basten arrived and Milan won the Scudetto in Berlusconi’s second full season. The party began in Como, where a draw earned thanks to a goal by Virdis was enough to win the title.
Berlusconi preferred to stay in Arcore alongside his father Luigi, who was 80 years old by this point and had been ill for some time. It was Luigi who passed on his love for Milan to his son Silvio, and on 15 May 1988 they spent a historic afternoon together.
In the living room, Luigi was sitting on a sofa with a blanket on his knees, when Berlusconi realises that he had not asked for the TV to be tuned to low frequency, because back then it was not yet possible to watch live matches in any other way.
Therefore he had to rely on the radio, listening to Enrico Ameri’s voice, and at the final whistle there was an emotional embrace between father Luigi and son Silvio, with ‘a little tear of satisfaction’ as he has since defined it.
It was the first of 29 titles in his presidency, the seed towards new and more important triumphs, the seed towards new and more important triumphs, because ‘now there is the European Cup and then the Intercontinental’ to conquer. Which he did.
