Paolo Scaroni has outlined the differences between Elliott Management and RedBird Capital as AC Milan’s owners, while he also responded to a question on Stefano Pioli’s future.
The future of Pioli is a divisive issue inside the fanbase at the moment with some believing that he has plenty of credit in the bank after the Scudetto win and reaching the Champions League semi-finals, but others think the peak might have already been reached and the risk is a very sharp decline.
Scaroni spoke at the Milan Football Week event put on by La Gazzetta dello Sport this afternoon and he was asked for his thoughts on the job Pioli has done and what his future might be, with his comments relayed by MilanNews.
“The results with the Scudetto speak for themselves. I am a great admirer of Pioli, Maldini and Massara because they embody the Milan style which means: we don’t complain, we don’t protest, we behave like gentlemen by following the rules,” he said.
“We behave like this and our fans behave like this. It’s a world of people like that. Pioli, Maldini, Malssara, Gazidis, Furlani are gentlemen. Good people, well educated, there isn’t that climate that I see from time to time in other stadiums and that doesn’t belong to our style.
“Pioli makes no excuses. We are hit by injuries in unexpected ways, like Florenzi, Kjaer, poor Bennacer… we’ve had many. Not complaining seems to me a test of our style.
“Will he stay? He has a contract until 2025. These are technical decisions that I don’t make but a priori [as a theoretical deduction] I don’t see any problems.”
Scaroni also explained why Gerry Cardinale – the number one of RedBird Capital and owner of Milan – is a good man to take the club forward because of his sporting expertise.
“He has a small group of people who are bearers of skills and experience that we do not have. Elliott were a financial investor who then trusted Gazidis, today we find ourselves an investor with sports skills. For the stadium we have a gentleman brought by Cardinale who built 40 stadiums around the world. I feel very reassured.”
