AC Milan’s seemingly imminent hiring of Paulo Fonseca has been met with waves of backlash from fans, and it is understandable why this has been the case, but we must look to the past to see why the appointment follows a historically successful trend.
Moreso than ever, football is affected by people and events outside of respective football clubs, and Milan are no different, which has been proved as recently as April. Fan protests were rife about the appointment of Julen Lopetegui, and the Rossoneri opted for another avenue, or perhaps, avenues, given there have been multiple shifts in the ‘favourite’ for the job.
We have covered this topic in depth already, so we will try to keep this reflection to a minimum, but the same hounding directed to the Spaniard cannot be recycled with the news of Fonseca. There have been signs that it might, and with the split still evident within the fanbase, we must now look to the future rather than hypothesising about what could be.
It is fair to say the fans’ biggest drawback to Fonseca’s appointment is his reputation or lack thereof, but we will get to this eventually. The qualm for many fans has been that the Rossoneri have gone for the Portuguese manager as opposed to someone with a higher reputation in the game, whether that be in Italy or overseas.
At present, the managerial market is chaotic, and several big-name managers are available. However, just because they are available and hold a reputation within the game does not mean they are the right fit for Milan, and it does not mean that they are going to eventually make Milan the right fit for them.
Thomas Tuchel, Antonio Conte, and even Jurgen Klopp have been names put forward by fans, but ultimately, football is not that simple. Appointing Conte, for example, might bring a domestic trophy, but looking at the figures of his Napoli deal and budget for the summer, it is a trend Milan can not, and should not follow.
A past that tells a story
Better yet, it is not a trend that the Rossoneri have followed exclusively in the past. Of course, there have been appointments that stray from the norm, but the trend with Milan is not the big names. Instead, being at the club is what ascends them into that territory.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport wrote earlier this week, the Diavolo’s bench has hosted numerous ‘illustrious unknowns’ in the past, so Fonseca is not a brand new, money-saving tactic for RedBird.
Let’s start by looking at Gipo Viani, who led Salernitana and AS Roma to Serie B titles before getting the Milan job. He was unknown quantity for sure, but a manager who took inspiration from others, merging them into his tactical philosophy.
In turn, he is associated with creating the early stages of the Catenaccio style, implementing nuances from Herbert Chapman’s WM system and developing a now heavily renowned system.
He left the club after winning two Scudetti and taking the side to the European Cup, where they lost to one of the best Real Madrid sides in history, spearheaded by Alfredo Di Stefano.
Of course, this is not the only example of this, and after Viani departed due to medical reasons, the club repeated the trend, with great success once again.
We are speaking of Nereo Rocco, another disciple of the Catenaccio style, though perhaps he can be referred to as the master rather than the disciple, and Milan’s longest servant, managing 472 games in his three periods in a managerial role.
Before his time at the club, he had managed Padova, who he took from Serie B to a third-place finish in Serie A, his work was again praised due to his work with a nominal budget.
With the Rossoneri, he won two Scudetti, three Coppa Italia, two Cup Winners Cups and arguably most impressively two European Cups, becoming the first Italian manager to bring the trophy to Italy.
Now, perhaps the greatest story of all: the tale of Arrigo Sacchi. Prior to the Rossoneri, he was a footballing minnow. A shoe salesman who had never played the Beautiful Game professionally but studied it religiously and reaped the rewards.
Starting in youth management, Sacchi eventually got his break at Parma, where he earned a promotion from Serie C and almost earned back-to-back promotions.
Silvio Berlusconi took notice of this, though, and took a risk. Understandably, the reaction was shock, and there was instant speculation about his ability to manage at the top level of football, let alone be successful there. As we know, though, the doubters disappeared.
In his first season, he won the Scudetto, and the Supercoppa Italiana followed shortly after. Furthermore, he brought two European Cups, two European Super Cups, and two Intercontinental Cups.
Not bad for a shoe salesman, who, before Milan, did not have a reputation for being among the elite coaches of the time.
When Sacchi departed for the Italian National Team, former player and Primavera coach Fabio Capello was entrusted with the reigns. Again, doubt was in place about his abilities to manage the club, given he had not managed at a senior level. Did this matter, though? No.
Capello’s job was difficult from the start, and the odds were stacked against him, partially due to his CV, and partially due to who he replaced. In that sense, you always will struggle. Regardless of the stature of the next manager, taking the reins from a legend will always be a task, and when you add the facts, this difficulty rises.
Nevertheless, the volume on the outside did not matter, after all, it never really does for the truly elite managers, and he delivered four Scudetti in five years. That was not all, though, they were accompanied by three Supercoppas, the Champions League and a European Super Cup.
The foundations for success may have been laid by the prophet before him, but he added his ideologies, intricacies and talents, leading the invincible side of the 92-93 season, and delivering that night in Athens.
You can create arguments about whether Carlo Ancelotti was an unknown in the managerial sense when he took the reigns, but he had not won anything as a coach before Milan. However, he left the club with his legendary status further cemented and several trophies in the cabinet.
It does not end there, though. You can also seek the tenures of Alberto Zaccheroni and Massimiliano Allegri, whose legacies are perhaps not as rich as the others listed but are further examples of the reputations that the Diavolo have trusted in the past.
The proof from Pioli
As the title suggests, there is one more figure to add: Stefano Pioli. Whilst his reputation within Italy was on the rise, he was not near the status of some of the names being suggested for his replacements.
After four years working in youth football, he was eventually given a chance by Salernitana. It took until 2014 for his stocks to begin to rise, and with Lazio, he earned a third-place finish in Serie A in his debut season.
Following this, he was given a job by the Nerazzurri, where he stayed for a year before becoming Fiorentina’s manager, but there were no fruits for his labour. Then, Milan came knocking.
Whilst his early seasons did not bring silverware, he returned the Rossoneri to a previous level of sorts, as he picked up several firsts that had not been achieved in years, such as scoring in consecutive games and most goals in a season.
We know what comes next, the 2021-22 season, the season when the Scudetto returned after 11 years. Pioli’s first trophy was delivered by the club’s highest point tally in 16 years. And how can we forget the Champions League run of the following season, regardless of how it ended.
However, as this season has shown, it has not always been sunshine and rainbows for the 58-year-old. #PioliOut has been a trend across his tenure, and he has survived situations where it looked like he was gone on more than one occasion.
It took time for him to truly be accepted by the fans, and it is understandable why due to the success, or lack of, under managers who had come before him, he joined the club at a time when guidance and safety were needed, and he delivered, whilst also bringing historical nights, and hope.
Of course, that has its positives, but it also has its negatives. With hope comes expectation, and with him leading Milan back to a place where Champions League football is once again the normality and to challenge for the Scudetto is expected. Therefore, perhaps it’s fair to say that his successes were also his eventual downfall, but that could be disrespectful.
Instead, he has brought the side, and arguably the club, to a point where it cannot progress further under his guidance. His squad are ready for new ideas, new inspiration, and maybe just a new voice.
Hope for the future
By all accounts, Paulo Fonseca will take the reins, and this now poses the question of what the future holds.
We can suggest a few things: that the Rossoneri will look to further grow their young players, something that is a must in the eyes of RedBird, and the fans, given the young talent threaded through the senior and Primavera ranks.
Looking at his principles, they are relatively unchanged from his days at Shakhtar Donetsk to his time at Lille – high-intensity attacking football to dominate possession, and whilst his formations may differ slightly at times, the ideology remains the same throughout.
At Lille, he was entrusted to rebuild the side slightly after their title-winning team of 2020-21 had been dismantled, something Milan played a part in with the signing of Mike Maignan.
Whilst he may not have replicated the success of that season, he quickly turned the club around, and as he said in an interview with The Athletic, he built a squad that was his, finishing in fifth place last season and earning a fourth-place finish in the season just gone.
The Milan job, therefore, looks like a perfect match for him because the Rossoneri are not a side that needs rebuilding, rather they are a side that needs a reworking, given several areas require changes during the mercato.
Similarly to Lille, the current squad has a young core, and he has been regularly praised for his work with the younger players at his former club. Personnel-wise, the squad has the makings to be fascinating over the next few years, but it is clear to see there are areas where investment is needed, and they have been identified.
However, he will arrive at the club when toxicity is present for several reasons, and maybe this is why there has been such an outcry when the club have looked for managers of his calibre rather than those with big names and even bigger price tags.
No disrespect is meant by that, it is simply stating a fact, but perhaps looking back into history, this is the truest appointment the club can make, at a time where questions are directed everywhere, both on and off the pitch.
Therefore, if we want to reminisce, we must do so with a full view of history, and if the trend of success is to be the argument, we must look at those who have brought it.
After all, trends do not exist in one era, and Milan are proof of this. The Rossoneri, historically, are one of the footballing superpowers. Yes, this is their identity. This is our identity. However, our way of doing it might not be by hiring the best coaches but rather by making them, and perhaps the romanticisation of nostalgia has affected that.
Regardless of the options and the suggestions about the management taking the ‘cheaper’ options, this might be the clearest form of them understanding the football club and staying true to historical tendencies rather than becoming something that the club has rarely been.
Stefano Pioli’s tenure has taken the Rossoneri back to a place where expectations are high, and we must now look to the past and see how the club have continued their successes, and without being cliche, trust the process.
After all, Fonseca is one of the most established replacements the club have ever made, even if his name is not among those at the top of the managerial hierarchy.