[Danny]

Every club has this, but as we know, Milan are not every club.

Basically the most illustrious teams in any club's history are usually what fans would describe as a class befitting the club's name. The standard they expect.

For Barca they will always expect Messi/Iniesta/Xavi/Ronaldinho/Eto'o type quality. Won't settle for less now. Man Utd expect Giggs, Van Persie, Ferdinand etc.

For us it's clearly the quality of Maldini, Baresi, Boban, Pirlo, old Kaka, Gullit, MVB etc etc.

Question is will we ever see 'Milan class' again?

Right now we have debatably one player who comes close to being uttered in that kind of breath, Balotelli. And truth is he isn't the finished article, his attitude is often disgraceful and that's now 5 matches we've lost him for through poor conduct.

We have very good players like De Jong (imo arguably one of the top 5 DM's around), Monto (out of form at the moment admittedly) and Kaka (nowhere near convincing anyone he's back to the old Kaka) but other than Balo we basically have no 'Milan class' players at all.

Right now this Milan is a new breed, a team we're not familiar with. We're having to be content with Abate, Mexes, Zapata and DS when it used to be Cafu, Maldini, Nesta and Jankulovski.

Times have changed and it may be decades before the true Milan class returns.

[Rossoneri7]

Well Danny, you need to examine the reason why Milan had such class and at what expense to maintain that class. There, you will find your answer.


It is a fact that Milan could not afford the teams it had from the turn of the millennium onwards. This created a gap, which the president had to fill every year. People used to complain that the president lost ambition etc, but truth be told he had to pump in anywhere between 70MM and 50MM per year to keep the books in check (not inclusive of player purchases).

As a brand, ACM is world renowned and a powerhouse of European football. But that was all down to the owner and not the club. The club, AC Milan is not rich, quite the contrary, it had filed for bankruptcy the same summer Silvio came in and rescued it.


Now that is out of the way ...

Milan today is different than the Milan we ALL came to know and love. Today it is a project under-construction. Focus on youth, with the odd deals here and there to meet certain requirements (be that sponsorship clauses to have x number of WC players and/or coach's requirements).


The quality of this Milan team is below our expectations, the club no longer can compete with the top clubs of Europe. Strictly due to FFP constraints. As without the owner's funding Milan never was a WC club, nor will it be, until this 'project' is complete.

Barcelona had years of dry spells until it found the perfect blend of players to achieve the success they had. The same is down to the club maintaining a healthy financial position in the past and a dependency on its youth project (which we had recently adopted).


Moreover, and more importantly, it is not a guarantee that Milan will get back to its glorious past, as the club could regress (with or without Berlusconi) and match the fate of Leeds United and the likes.

Why? - Income.

I could take a sample just from this very forum, many of our regular posters don't pay to watch Milan, and instead use online streams for free. Of-course we all do it at some point, but to support the club you would have to contribute to it in some sorts. At the same time, the same sample, even if they did subscribe to Milan games with their local TV providers, there is still a weak fan base in comparison to Juventus or Madrid.


In short, Berlusconi is the only reason why Milan 'was' a class club and under FFP he can not provide for the same. Simply Milan has got a lifeline in its youth project, some smear at it, but that is ok, as not everyone would excel like DS or Maldini. And it could take a decade before we could claim a Scudetto, maybe more.

This post has been edited by Rossoneri7: Sep 24 2013, 12:44 PM