There is a growing wave of pressure on AC Milan’s ownership regarding the position of the current CEO Giorgio Furlani.
Having joined the club as part of Elliott’s ownership in 2018, Furlani has always been a divisive character, especially since his promotion to becoming the Chief Executive Officer when his predecessor Ivan Gazidis left.
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From the reports that we read, Furlani is not confined to being a ‘corporate’ CEO, instead relishing the chance to have a say on matters related to the field. We wrote about some of the previous issues this caused back in May of last year and again recently.
There has been talk from reliable sources such as Matteo Moretto about potential changes within the management for Milan. He expects Massimo Calvelli to gain power in his role having joined last year, and his experience is being a CEO.
Petition launched
Now, a petition launched on Change.org is gaining some momentum. While we would not normally cover such fan pressure movements, the fact that it has gathered over 15,000 signatures in a short time is unavoidable.
The statement attached to the petition reads as follows: “Giorgio Furlani’s tenure as AC Milan CEO currently represents one of the main obstacles to the club’s sporting and identity development.
“The adopted approach appears rigidly oriented toward financial logic, systematically subordinating the sporting area to budgetary requirements. This approach, far from ensuring balance, has led to a progressive impoverishment of the competitive vision, transforming a historically ambitious club into an organisation perceived as lacking a clear sporting direction.
“In terms of leadership, management is characterised by a centralising, opaque model lacking real internal dialogue. Strategic decisions are often imposed from above, without adequate involvement of technical expertise, generating discontinuity, inconsistency, and a loss of credibility.
“From a communication and interpersonal perspective, he emerges as a figure perceived as cold, distant, and incapable of representing the club at key moments. This lack of connection with the AC Milan environment translates into a complete lack of empathy for the fans and the sporting environment, exacerbating a now evident rift between the club and its grassroots.
“The combination of managerial technocracy, weak sporting leadership, and a lack of vision is contributing to a progressive reduction in AC Milan’s ambitions, with the concrete risk of compromising the club’s competitiveness, identity, and attractiveness in the medium to long term.
“In light of this evidence, Giorgio Furlani’s tenure at the helm of the club no longer appears sustainable. His management is now perceived as incompatible with the needs of sporting revival and with the historical values of AC Milan.
“For this reason, we firmly demand an immediate change at the top of the company and the resignation of the current CEO.”
Pellegatti’s words
“As for next June, there could be important decisions. This morning I wrote that the situation is getting worse because I see that the goal, the focus of the fans who are tired of this situation, of having taken 80 points less than Inter in recent years, is Giorgio Furlani, the CEO,” he said (via MilanNews).
“I don’t know what will happen, I don’t know what measures Gerry Cardinale will take, but I believe Gerry Cardinale understands enough, and Cocirio also told me yesterday. Cocirio, who replaced Giorgio Furlani, [who was] at a panel organised just 24 hours ago with Lega president Simonelli, was clear that everything depends on the board.
“Gentlemen, it would have been enough to sign a striker, invest 20-25 million on a striker in January and these problems. It’s strange that Cocirio, who is on the board, is now saying that what matters is also the sporting result.
“I don’t know who’s to blame. Maybe because Cardinale didn’t have the money and didn’t want to give it, or Giorgio Furlani always has this policy. of attention to costs and never attention to investments.
“The result is that we are behind Inter, we manage to hold on to third place by not taking advantage of Napoli’s draw with Como to hope for a Champions League qualification.”
I gladly signed
I just did as well.
Where can we sign??
Just click on the “change.org” link in then article and it will take you there. Just passed 19,000 signatures now.
I don’t know if he’s the only one to blame but the fact that we made signings without the coach approval can only point on that direction. Signed and hoping for a real change
Two sneaky weasels, two s*upid dogs.
I don’t think it’ll change anything but I wouldn’t complain
Signed, almost up to 18k. He is incompetence embodied. Keep his nose out of sproting affairs and decisions.
Signed… He’s not the root of the issues, but he’s a big part, and a great place to start when looking to put heads on the block!!!
This was the reason Maignan avoided you lot, we have some of the most gullible fans in Europe.
Furlani cannot be the reason we play with a low block against small teams. Eliminating our wingers and forcing them to be CF at all cost.
Misplaced priorities, channel that energy to ask Allegri to leave the club, I just read that management will continue with Allegri and you gullible fans are busy signing a very stupid and senseless petition when we should be mounting pressure to make sure we have a good attacking minded coach next season.
You guys are despicable.
Maresca
Xavi
Arne Slot
Even Sarri are all there to be signed, you senseless fans worry about Furlani, really? Really?
Oh my words!
John 100% I’m with you
It doesn’t matter what offensive minded coach you bring in when a coach asks you for certainties and the club gives him Nkunku and Fulkrug.
This management will never properly reinforce any coach. Be it Allegri, Klopp or Guardiola, because its priorities aren’t to win anything. It’s to stay afloat and meddle as long as it’s at a profit.
What you mean?
Fullkrug only came in after the Mateta deal went off.
Would you blame Furlani for releasing €40m to sign a striker and these guys got Nkunku? Yet they still released more funds to sign Mateta for the same position? That is €70m combined.
Look, for context with that €40m, Chelsea signed Estevao, Man City signed Cherki, Liverpool signed Frimpong so let’s channel the blame strictly to the sporting guys.
€40m could have gotten us a quality CF instead of Nkunku, Fullkrug came in January due to lack of availability of CF after they squanderd the entire summer waiting for Jashari when we clearly should have sorted our CF position.
You’re talking about reinforcement? Ac Milan has the third most valuable squad in Italy at €483.5m but we were trashed by Sassuolo with a squad valuation of €184.1m.
Does buying €100m players guarantee better style of play? Even if we sign the world best eleven, Allegri will make them look bad.
How did Berlusconi hire Sacci? After doing wonders with Parma and outplaying our team which was richly reinforced.
80-90% of Ac Milan’s problem is the sporting side, all these players are good but they immediately look bad when they come to Milan. A coach who knows his job will play an identified style of football even with the so called cheap players at his disposal just like Sacci did with Parma.
In case you forgot, Klopp was not always a Liverpool coach. He was the coach of Burrusia Dortmund and we know they spend really cheap on players, in fact, I just looked it up and was astonished by the fact that in Klopp’s seven years at BVB, the spent only €157m to recruit players. Now if you want to define a coach then Klopp is then definition. Today we spend over €200m in one season and some gullible fans still claim that we don’t reinforce.
How on earth do you blame Furlani for this if not share foolishness.
You guys are a foolish bunch, disgusted.
Sempremilan.com, please let me post my comments.
No one cares what you think lol 😂
Furlani is massive part of the problem, but as you correctly point out, Max and his archaic tactics and formation is the main reason we’re faltering so much against certain teams.
We could also blame Moncada and management for their inability to construct a squad.
Starting with that little maggot Furlani is a start at punching up… But yeah Max needs a slap as well, so to speak.
I fear that unless the national team come calling, he’s here next year.
A thumb to consider though, Max has taken us from 8th to fighting for 2nd, that’s an improvement, but his inability to mix things up has hindered us greatly.
S common denominator in our failings though has been upper management and their need to meddle and look at algorithms and opportunities.
We need help on many fronts, it’s really sad.
Missed this,
JGMack, balanced take, and this has been my point.
At least, I thought I was being crazy to know that Furlani alone cannot be the fault.
Who signed the coach? Who fired Maldini? Who approved the expenditures on the many signings that have flopped? The buck stops with the CEO. That’s their job.
Change Furlani and the coach changes. Change Furlani and the DS changes, which changes the signings. We’ve changed managers, coaches, players and continue to underperform. The common denominator throughout? Furlani (and Cardinale, but he’s going to be much harder to change). It’s not hard bro.
This gotta pass for one of the lamest comments I’ve got to reply to in a while.
Real Madrid sacked Alonso purely because of a sporting breakdown, did they go ahead to fire the Director who hired him? Geese.
Sometimes, even the best management make wrong choices, that doesn’t mean they didn’t do it in the best interest of the club, even coach recruitment is a gamble. And when you see clearly there was an error of judgment, simply let him go.
And that is what we should be clamouring for at this time instead of asking an investor who spent €1.2bn to let go of his employee who serves in a department where it does not directly connects with the fans, he is a finance man. You lots left the entire sporting guys to ask for Furlani’s head, comon that’s stupid.
Directly, Allegri and Tare and the players are well within our scope and not some board member.
Speaking of lame comments. The director who hired Alonso is called Florentino Perez, who runs that club with an iron fist. The only way Perez can be removed is by vote of the Madrid socios. Given that Madrid has won a sh*tload of titles with Perez, he’s not going anywhere soon. Was Alonso a mistake anyway? How do we know how they would have ended up in the long run? Madrid can’t win every single year, even if they aspire to.
Meanwhile, you’re saying Allegri is the problem and that directors make mistakes. Ok. So who is responsible for Fonseca and Conceicao and that 8th place finish? Allegri? The tooth fairy?
PSG sacked Galtier, was the sporting director also fired?
In fact, the same Director who hired the coach was the one who personally told him to go, these are decisions to be made.
Extending Pioli’s contract was one of what cost Maldini his job. Granting job because he won the Scudetto without putting certain factors into check on how we came about that Scudetto.
Do you know, that had we been lucky enough to scoop results after beating Inter Milan this season that we would have been top of the table and would have earned Allegri the coach of the season? That was exactly how we won that Scudetto, because Inter slipped again this season, but we lacked the spirit to capitalise. Spirit has been our winning edge rather than a good coach for a very long time.
Fonseca was a mistake but I fail to believe that Conceicao was. He only lost because he fell out with senior players and they betrayed him, and I think he also stated that the management failed to support him during that period.
No one cares what u think lol 😂
Very narrow-minded point of view, I don’t believe this kind of thinking and reasoning, how can you
be so uninformed and (metaphorically speaking) blind?
I don’t do metaphor my friend.
Talk to me, I will respond.
I’m waiting.
For starters both Allegri and Tare disprove of signing Nkunku. You have many reports about that. That’s your 40 millions wasted for a much needed striker.
And before you start all that word diarrhea, here’s a report from Il Giornale shared on both milannews and here:
Regarding the signing of Nkunku, Il Giornale (via MilanNews) report that Allegri was surprised by the €40m move, given that for weeks he had asked for a more typical striker and instead found himself with an attacking midfielder.
Sporting director Igli Tare was also ‘unimpressed’ with the deal, which was ‘completed thanks to CEO Giorgio Furlani’s excellent relationship with Chelsea’. It suggests that Furlani went against the wishes of the coach and director, just to keep things sweet with the Blues.
furlani & his algorithm guy did purchase some players behind the coach & SD, 1of them is nkunku,
it was reported that Allegri don’t want that (kind of ST) & Tare also disappointed cz he has diff idea to spend those 40m
It’s Arrigo Sacchi, not Sacci. I don’t have the strength, I wanted to go on with this but then I read one more of your comments in the meantime and was, frankly, totally appalled by it. You, my friend, seem to completely exonerate furlani, I can’t continue, sorry.
Yeah, Sacchi.
If you follow, I’m a very liberal person and somewhat opposed to sensationalism, I often prefer a balanced and well informed conversation and decision taking, and I do get it, if you aren’t liberally minded you would easily find my take appalling because I may not mix in the crowd. But this trait of mine has made me very somewhat indispensable virtually in every single place I’ve worked or found myself.
When everyone in the management is saying yes, my boss secretly wants to know my opinion, because he says I know how to give a balanced opinion. So it has become my identity which I’m very proud of and I’m sorry but not honestly sorry you find it appalling.
Ok, let me agree without conceding, Is the signing of Nkunku the reason of our poor style of play?
Same Furlani brought Pulisic, did the fans see any good in that?
It’s baffling to me that a useless petition would be signed that doesn’t affect the coach.
President Berlusconi insisted on signing some players despite not being in the sporting side, was that the problem why milan failed, he insisted on certain formations and style of play and even player selection, was there any petition then?
No one cares what u think lol 😂
Fulrani isn’t incompetent. The club is in it’s strongest position financially and keeps posting profits. So in that sense he knows what he’s doing.
The problem is that the Sporting sector is an afterthought. Furlani won’t stay out of it even if he understands very little about how to build a winning club. But what he does understand is that there’s money to be made on player trading among other things. So instead of build on our strong pillars, he sells them for capital gains and brings in the next crop of “maybe’s” to flip at a profit.
You can’t build sh*t like that. The problem isn’t even Furlani, because if it’s not him it’s someone else who does Gerry’s bidding. Gerry runs a fund, so he’s in this for the money. The real profits aren’t the ones he gets year-to-year. The real ROI is when he offloads the club. But for that you need to 1. Hve a stadium, 2. Have a club running at a profit and 3. added value of NBA participation and income streams. Then you sell it all in a package and double the 1.2 billion you invested.
You know what the problem is with that plan? It’s that running a WINNING club costs a lot more money than what they are running now, and Gerry can’t have that.
So year after year we’ll meddle in the same BS we have been …
And yet it’s Scaroni that’s in charge of the commercial side. Furlani IS in charge of the sporting side. A fish rots from the head. Furlani out.
You are right about the Gerry formula, but that works in U.S. sports where there is no relegation, no champions league (i.e. the NBA IS the highest and most lucrative league in its sport, as is the NFL, MLB, etc.), and the the teams in those leagues share league profits, meaning sh*te teams/clubs still make money despite lack of investment in players. It does not work like that in sports outside the U.S. To make Milan a “valuable asset”, it has to win, and to win you need to spend money on players.
What?! scaroni in charge of the commercial side? He is a chairman/president of the club, furlani is
in fact the one who is (for years now) in charge of the commercial side and that financial part. The old guy speaks about the new stadium from time to time and that is all, he is merely a “front face” for the media but a puppet in reality.
Scaroni was brought in for the stadium. He has nothing to do with the commercial sector. And even at that, he couldn’t get us approved for our own stadium – still have to share it with Inter when San Donato was right there.
In fact i’m sure Scaroni was the one who leaked the ownership doubts to the prosecutors to halt the San Donato developments so him and Marotta could get in on the Real Estate around the stadium. Just a thought …
“And yet it’s Scaroni that’s in charge of the commercial side”
LOL! Now we’re getting into the level of US Government when it comes to BS & fakenews. 😀 😀 😀 😀
Scaroni? Commercial side? 😀 😀 😀
I’d like to see Furlani removed from sporting duties but he’s done wonders for the accounts which from 2007 to 2019 were more devastating than any sporting decisions. Maybe a CFO rather than CEO…
Wasn’t it gazidis who’s done wonders before furlani replaced him?
Yes but Furlani was there the whole time and has continued to grow the biz.
I’m merely saying and pointing out that the main merit for that period probably goes to ivan (even though I didn’t like that guy either), not to furlani.
You must admit, it’s so much easier to work (well) when somebody sets you the foundation.
I’m just thinking out loud, can you be more specific on the sporting duties you would like for Furlani to be removed from?
Signing players like Nkunku, seems like there’s always two visions of how the club is arranging the squad. Idk I think Furlani catches too much blame a lot of the time but he’s not impeachable.
In Longo’s interview with MilanVibes, he revealed that Furlani was not convinced about signing Nkunku for €38m, because he said “it’s too high as an investment, we’ve already done Jashari”. For Milan, the risk of making two €40m purchases was too high. Tare and Nkunku’s agent convinced the finance man. Tare is the sporting guy. Furlani opposed that deal.
This was even carried by Sempremilan.com this blog here, I wonder how you missed that.
Let’s have the Furlani conversation in perspective. I’m still waiting. But I’m surprised you guys can’t see the propaganda unfolding just so Allegri can keep his job, they claim that “he knows what to do”.
The link below:
https://sempremilan.com/tare-nkunku-agent-buyer-furlani-against
In Longo’s interview with MilanVibes, he revealed that Furlani was not convinced about signing Nkunku for €38m, because he said “it’s too high as an investment, we’ve already done Jashari”. For Milan, the risk of making two €40m purchases was too high. Tare and Nkunku’s agent convinced the finance man. Tare is the sporting guy. Furlani opposed that deal.
This was even carried by Sempremilan.com this blog here, I wonder how you missed that.
Let’s have the Furlani conversation in perspective. I’m still waiting. But I’m surprised you guys can’t see the propaganda unfolding just so Allegri can keep his job, they claim that “he knows what to do”.
The link would not allow for sending, I would have pasted it.
Regarding the signing of Nkunku, Il Giornale (via MilanNews) report that Allegri was surprised by the €40m move, given that for weeks he had asked for a more typical striker and instead found himself with an attacking midfielder.
Sporting director Igli Tare was also ‘unimpressed’ with the deal, which was ‘completed thanks to CEO Giorgio Furlani’s excellent relationship with Chelsea’. It suggests that Furlani went against the wishes of the coach and director, just to keep things sweet with the Blues.
That’s a report from Il Giornale posted on millannews and here.
Oh, come on Ted… you should know better.
You counter Longo’s expose with a report by Il Giornale?
I shouldn’t have responded, but maybe you truly need some talking to, but my feeling tells me you know better than what you just did.
In sport journalism who’s word would you take, Longo’s or Il Giornale?
Come on Ted.
Longo is more trustworthy (take that with a grain of salt) but the reports are many and varied. Regardless I’d like to see Furlani stay away from squad construction and stay focused on the biz side of things. As his involvement in the sporting side of things, perceived or not, is generating a lot of toxicity and noise the club would be better off without.
As for Tare jury is out but I’d say mix bag so far. Same with Allegri… it’s hard to believe they are all operating without talking to each other but obviously the lack of an Allegri style striker is a big miss on their part.
Regardless, this dude is attacking Allegri for taking us to the top 4, while Fonseca and Conceicao (who were hired by who?) had is in 8th place. I guess Allegri “plotted” to plant them at the club so he could get a job? Who is behind the “propaganda” for Allegri? Don’t get me wrong, Allegri was not my choice, but FFS, the evidence against upper management grows longer by the day.
It’s funny when someone who thinks so highly of himself (being cringy narcissistic) as you do, believe any of the reports out there. But no worries, I’m only showing you the reports are contradictive and in the end it’s your choice to which you’re sticking. If it fits your conviction, that’s all that matters but don’t confront and put down people when they show you a different report. In the end, we don’t know what’s what.
Then hold your peace. After all I was having a conversation with Nieli before you interrupted.
And for your information, you really don’t want to know what I think about you same way I care less what you think of me Ted.
Italian bigot.
@Nielli
I don’t share your sentiments about Allegri though.
His problem has never been not having his “style” striker.
He was sacked for his defensive style of play even at Juventus which was his most successful club despite having Mandzukic abd Higuain and even Vlahovic suffered too.
I wonder, who can be more “Allegri-style” striker than Zlatan, yet he struggled severely under Allegri and showed his frustration and criticised Allegri’s defensive style of play.
Listen, this ain’t no joke, Milan is severely gonna crumble and humiliated next season if Allegri were to remain.
I have said my piece, but it appears some bigots find it offensive.
I wish I could cheer for another team, this really hurts badly, and we’re more interested in a board member than this nuisance of a coach with his old defensive Italian tactics? Oh comon now, I’m loosing it.
@Vero Rossonero
Real Madrid sacked Capello after winning La Liga because his defensive and pragmatic style of play was deemed unacceptable to the club’s philosophy, despite the successful lifting the trophy.
This is the problem in Italy, even if Allegri earns us a top 4 finish or had somehow won the league, an assessment should be done on the style of play and if not good enough, he leave regardless.
Milan cannot known as a club who plays defensively in this modern day era, it is sharply against the club identity and the DNA we always clamour for.
Allegri style is detrimental to our club identity, can’t you guys see this?
It’s gotta be Furlani to blame and no one else.
Italian job.
CARDINALE DAN FURLANI HARUS MENINGKATKAN MILAN SEKARANG JUGA
Fans wasting their time signing useless petitions.
Also, its like 22000 in 48 hours. Shows how little Milan fans care about the useless petition
Only saying that the main merit for that period probably goes to ivan (even though I didn’t like that guy either), not to giorgio. It’s much easier to work good when somebody sets you the foundation.
*work well