[Danny]

My road to being a Milan fan has been a very gradual and solid process. When Channel 4 in the UK used to broadcast Football Italia thanks to Gazza moving to Lazio, I found myself fighting with my sister every Sunday - she wanted the Eastenders omnibus, I wanted the Italian football. When I got my way, one match stood out, and that was the quite beautiful and passionate Milan derby. Despite my Glaswegian blue Rangers allegiances, it was the red and black AC I found myself siding with, an AC endowed with Van Basten, Gullit, Rijkaard, Bierhoff, Baresi etc. Some of the all time great footballers, never mind just of their own generation.

I lost touch with Italian football a little in my later teen years, but came back with a vengeance when Shevchenko came along, and that was it for me - AC Milan were firmly my second team only to Rangers, and I started watching every match I could on whatever dodgy Internet stream I had to if no tv channel had it.

Those two periods saw players like Shevchenko, Bierhoff, Kaka, Seedorf, Baresi, Maldini, Costacurta, Boban etc - yet nowadays we simply cannot attract the truly elite players like these that the club deserves.

AC Milan, imho, is one of the top 4 clubs of all time - Barcelona, Man Utd and Real Madrid are the other 3. Yet while they can bring in C Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, and David Villa, Milan have to make do with a surplus to requirements Ronaldinho. Now, don't get me wrong, I've supported and loved Ron from day one, while many of you did not till this season, but there can be no doubt that it wasn't a signing we made because we're so massive and can attract the top stars. And don't even get me started on our inability to sign Fabiano...

Finally, I get to my point: if we struggle to bring in top brass players who are befitting of the club, do we really have any hope of getting the best quality manager to replace Leonardo?

Leo did a great job for a rookie boss with an average squad, but if we are to improve as a club and become an Italian and European juggernaut as we're supposed to be, it starts by bringing in a world class manager who truly inspires the fans and the club.

But my fear is we simply don't appeal to anyone like we used to.

The only reason Dzeko is seemingly still interested is he personally supports Milan, and it was the same for Fabiano. Take a passionate reason out of the equation and you're left with a club, once a giant, now quite ordinary and struggling to get anything like the same status it once proudly boasted.

Am I wrong?

[Boban10]

I for one was very sad to see Leo go, i have the utmost respect for him as the player he was and the man he is. I had hoped that with his appointment that the management were looking at a long term solution, a coach who knows Milan and was part of a lot of enterprises with the club in his time. I hoped that he would be given the time, especially since the lack of FINANCES (berlu), that Leo would have been given time to bring through youth. I dont know what the ending was, i do know that Leo has hardly been home in 13 years and time away from family IS hard so best wishes to Leo and his family.

As to spending big, i dont recall us spending massive amounts (compared to other teams...ever) and i guess that was down to our "draw" as one of the top three clubs worldwide. I remember when we were selling on players to barca. Reiziger, Davids, Kluivert! (Who should all have stayed in my opinion (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif) ). Before that i think our biggest transfer was Lentini, who was on top of his game, had a bad bad car crash and was never the same, physically or mentally. I dont recall what the fees were for Weah/Bierhoff and Sheva was a deal tied up before his contract at Keiv ended. So i cant remember us ever breaking transfer records, someone might be able to refresh my memory.

We bought potential stars and made them stars. Boban, Savecivic, Desailly or we cultivated home grown (maybe poached a few) i dont remember ever being excited by the amount we spent but rather the players we had identified and invested in. Not like Real.

As far back as i can remember we have been a team built on a strong italian basis with a few "other" class players mixed in, these "foreign" players were identified early and bought before their stock went stellar. We are not Inter we are Milan. Check Inters team sheet for the champions league final......how many italians started???


Forza Milan

Bring on the next chapter.

[kurtsimonw]

So i cant remember us ever breaking transfer records, someone might be able to refresh my memory.

One (or two) of our Dutch players in the late 80s/early 90s broke the record. We spent an awful lot of money back then, certainly outspent the competition.