AC Milan fans are slowly getting to know Gerry Cardinale, the man who became the owner of the club on an official basis just over a year ago.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) recalls, Cardinale took over Milan and he did something which is not that common in Italian football: he kept quite a low profile, and largely kept the board from the previous ownership Elliott Management.
However, in recent weeks his presence has been increasingly visible. Cardinale will be at San Siro both for the derby on 16 September and for the Champions League match against Newcastle on the 19th, work contingencies permitting.
That would mean that he has been at all five games played so far this season given he was present for the matches against Bologna and Roma too, as well as the first home game against Torino.
On 21 September at te Yankee Stadium in New York there will be ‘AC Milan Night’. The Yankees, during the match against the Toronto Blue Jays, will distribute a special edition of their cap – simply, the most famous in the world – with the Milan crest on the side.
It was a way of reiterating the partnership between Milan and the world’s most historic baseball franchise, to which Cardinale has been personally linked for years.
The change of pace is clear. Cardinale is increasingly passionate about Milan and the feeling is that what was a business is becoming a passion. Also for this reason, he is ambitious: he wants to win the derby and, naturally, the Scudetto.
However, his plan is to win in an ‘intelligent way’, because the plan is to win consistently over a period of years rather than gambling the future for immediate success.
In the summer, Cardinale revolutionised the internal organisation by sacking Paolo Maldini and entrusting the transfer market to a working group with Giorgio Furlani and Geoffrey Moncada at the forefront, plus Antonio D’Ottavio as sporting director.
Milan introduced the skills of algorithm wizard Billy Beane, did player trading selling Sandro Tonali for €70m and they invested over €130m (bonuses included) on 10 players.
Cardinale was in constant contact with Furlani and he followed market events on a daily basis, and it is no coincidence that he did not miss a live match. This Milan feels like his.
I can sense some people here squirming due to this article. “Let me just fill my pockets with the player sales money real quickly”-Cardinale.
“Don’t mind me. I’m just here for the money.”
😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 😀
Those greedy Americans, right? Ruining our club. 😀
What has he invested apart from buying the club? They funded mercato with sale of Tonali, outgoing players, expiring contracts, money from CL semis and CL qualification for 23/24.
*grabs popcorn*
“What has he invested apart from buying the club? They funded mercato with sale of Tonali, outgoing players, expiring contracts, money from CL semis and CL qualification for 23/24. ”
Exactly. That’s the RIGHT way of doing things. Kudos for that. Let’s say Investcorp (the company you people love) had bought the club and infused their own money into the club. That would have only made things worse as Milan was already penalized for “incorrect financial decisions”. The only way for Milan to get away from the bans and fines was to fix the budget – the right way. And that’s what they did. Problem?
They’ll find a problem don’t worry.
No, that’s excatly how I imagine a responsible owners will operate and I’ve always said (in different blog not here) that we need a structure that will build a club with strong foundations to be self sufficient and sustainable on the long run.
I just wanted to trigger people here with that BS 🙂
This guy probably loved the Chinese ownership because they spent money we didnt earn lmao, look how that worked out for us
WE ARE STILL PAYING OFF THAT DEBT
You’re a good case of how communication as a science is very well mastered these days.
You talk talk talk, at the end you will all keep your mouth shut
I looked a bit in redbird invesments.. Pretty smart stuff.
Green energy, oil, sports ofc, aviation, children and family multiplatform, cloud/IT stuff, shipping, food places and some real estate
Him being more involved is bad news unless he hires the right people to make the leap forward.
Moneyball doesn’t actually work and the reasons dont need to be listed. The front office is still missing a piece or two. Also 3 months to find a striker and Jovic comes on a sketchy deal at deadline day?
The start to season has been better than expected so well done on that but the real test starts now.
” Also 3 months to find a striker and Jovic comes on a sketchy deal at deadline day? ”
Well… It’s not like the negotiations for/with NINE other players before Jovic took time, right? 😀 😀 😀
Pity it isn’t a special edition Blue Jays cap with the Milan crest on the side instead. 😅
Man the James Bond Villian label isnt really working anymore lul