[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.

[Danny]

I don't buy the income argument, sorry. AC Milan are the most wealthy sports club in Italy outwith Ferrari. We have a greater turnover than any other sports club in this country and as Kurt rightly puts it due to aforementioned FFP nonsense we'll be able to attract top class players again befitting with the revenue we generate. I must admit I forgot about that little point.

I find your argument R7 incredibly defeatist, negative, and it implies any success prior to Silvio buying us (2 European Cups, 10 Scudettos and a host of of other trophies are nigh-on redundant.

We were still a great name and side back before he bought us and while I admit our most fruitful overall period has been since 86, Associazone Calio Milano were not born that year with new ownership.

As for supporting via finance, I do agree with that - you're supporting the club if you put cash into it. It's just a pity Milan have historically overcharged for its services, rendering purchase as impossible for a great number of fans. There's also no online legal streaming I know of?

[Rossoneri7]

I don't buy the income argument, sorry. AC Milan are the most wealthy sports club in Italy outwith Ferrari. We have a greater turnover than any other sports club in this country and as Kurt rightly puts it due to aforementioned FFP nonsense we'll be able to attract top class players again befitting with the revenue we generate. I must admit I forgot about that little point.

I find your argument R7 incredibly defeatist, negative, and it implies any success prior to Silvio buying us (2 European Cups, 10 Scudettos and a host of of other trophies are nigh-on redundant.

We were still a great name and side back before he bought us and while I admit our most fruitful overall period has been since 86, Associazone Calio Milano were not born that year with new ownership.

As for supporting via finance, I do agree with that - you're supporting the club if you put cash into it. It's just a pity Milan have historically overcharged for its services, rendering purchase as impossible for a great number of fans. There's also no online legal streaming I know of?

Defeatist? Nottingham Forest have a CL trophy, and Leeds UTD was once a 'power house' of English football. Your very own Rangers went into administration. It is a reality one can not grasp unless you look at the numbers. Numbers don't lie.

But look, its fine and dandy if you like to base it all on assumptions Danny. I look at 'audited' financial statements of the club, if only you could take a peak, you will easily understand where I'm coming from.

There really is not a conspiracy, as some would like to have you believe. But then again, some prefer assumptions to audited financial about the situation at the club.

[Danny]

Defeatist? Nottingham Forest have a CL trophy, and Leeds UTD was once a 'power house' of English football. Your very own Rangers went into administration. It is a reality one can not grasp unless you look at the numbers. Numbers don't lie.

No they don't but if you're comparing Forest or Leeds Utd to either Rangers or Milan you're being slightly deluded. Rangers didn't go into admin because we were broke, we went into admin because HMRC discovered our (then) owner was breaking the law by with-holding PAYE, NI and VAT and they forced the admin call regardless of our finances. It was purely because he broke the law, not because the club was broke.

As for Leeds, they spent too much to over-take Man Utd - think they spent over £100M? That's not powerhouse - it's cash they didn't have. Not the first club to spend cash they didn't have and suffer the consequences.

Milan are nowhere NEAR struggling financially. Our owner just refuses to spend.

But look, its fine and dandy if you like to base it all on assumptions Danny. I look at 'audited' financial statements of the club, if only you could take a peak, you will easily understand where I'm coming from.

Maybe you should post them and show how they prove this club has no disposable profit with which to purchase players or how it isn't actually the top earning sports club in Italy as stated by

Forbes (2013, 27th top sports club overall on earth financially)

http://www.forbes.com/pictures/mli45ikdf/27-ac-milan-2/

Brand Finance (2013, 9th biggest earning brand in Europe).

http://brandirectory.com/league_tables/tab...ootball-50-2013

There really is not a conspiracy, as some would like to have you believe. But then again, some prefer assumptions to audited financial about the situation at the club.

I didn't say anything about a conspiracy? Yes, I prefer facts too, but you have ignored the ones I've presented you with.

You also totally ignored my point about how you can't be overly critical of people using 'dodgy' streams when there isn't actually a legal club-authorised service available they can pay for instead. Only Italian-based Milan Channel (Sky Italia 230) and that's it.

[Rossoneri7]

Milan are nowhere NEAR struggling financially. Our owner just refuses to spend.

Maybe you should post them and show how they prove this club has no disposable profit with which to purchase players or how it isn't actually the top earning sports club in Italy as stated by

2006 financials Balance sheet Pg. 24 & 25 - Income statement pg. 26 & 27

2007 financials Balance sheet pg. 25 & 26 - Income statement pg. 27 & 28

2008 financials Balance sheet pg. 29 & 30 - Income statement 31 & 32

2009 financials Balance sheet pg. 29 & 30 - Income statement pg. 31 & 32

2010 financials Balance sheet pg. 28 & 29 - Income statement pg. 30 & 31

2011 financials Balance sheet pg. 24 & 25 - Income statement pg. 26 & 27

2012 financials Balance sheet pg. 23 & 24 - Income statement pg. 25 & 26


These are the club's official audited financials (ie no assumptions).


PS Danny, Milan are struggling financially. I have done extensive research on this in several threads. I can not find the time to do the same, however I have provided the pages in which you can do your own.