[Danny]

Milan are out the Champions League. A capitulation at the hands of the admittedly excellent Atletico Madrid made sure of that, and Rossoneri faithful are left to lick their increasingly deep wounds at the widening chasm that is growing between Associazione Calcio Milano and the rest of Europe.

Reversing back 10 years and it is pretty clear that the marquee clubs in Europe were Manchester Utd, Real Madrid, AC Milan and Bayern Munich.

These four have dominated domestically and continentally combined for as long as the memory can recall, but bringing it up to the present day and only two of them remain at the head of the European table.

Milan are in a mire, a club in absolute turmoil. From the late 80's and the Sacchi glory days to the admittedly underachieving Ancelotti era, Milan was always a name feared by any opponent. This was a club that achieved what few have, and turned round a last 16 deficit to overcome Man Utd in 2007. It is a name peppered with idols, with legacy, heritage, and is chock-full of history and world-class players who have plied their trade here.

That, sadly, is becoming an increasingly distant memory, and Milan have tumbled into mid-table obscurity thanks to so many factors. One of those being resting on their arrogant laurels in 2011 and not using the Scudetto triumph as a springboard to recapturing European and domestic dominance. Instead a couple of half-hearted signings were brought in and we blot Zlatan's CV as being the only year (2012) he hasn't won the league with since 2003 at whatever club he was with.

Slowly manager Allegri started to take the heat - our failures were being pinned on the manager, who undeniably made errors, but was made the complete scapegoat for a club in turmoil. As the descent into mid-table obscurity intensified, the sniping at the boss went into overdrive, and while Allegri is no Mourinho, he got castigated for every single thing which went wrong at San Siro. It lifted so much pressure off the players, players who, by and large, were not performing at all, be they Balotelli or Mexes.

So the fans got their wish and Allegri was gone. And yes, his replacement Seedorf did show signs of some promise. But 3 defeats in a row, including one to the atrocious Udinese, with the same (and new) players making the same (and new) useless mistakes and it becomes clear that the upcoming summer transfer window is one of the most important events in Milan's history.

Seedorf has shown some good signs - the high pressing in the first half has been very good at times, but the loss of intensity in the second 45 has become a regular feature and the source of many defeats.

But he cannot work miracles with this abject group of players.

None of them come out with pass marks over the past 2 months, save perhaps for De Jong, Taarabt, and Abate. And I'm being generous.

It just is nowhere near good enough, and a mammoth overhaul is required in June, otherwise the Milan we know and love will be gone forever, replaced by this empty shell of a lost giant.

You cannot take a midtable quality squad and turn them into winners. You can't throw in a rookie manager and expect instant results. You can't blame Allegri for everything, nor can you blame any one player.

If Silvio doesn't dig in deep to his pocket, or sell the club to someone who will, Milan will turn into Leeds Utd.

[Rossoneri7]

If not, goodbye FFP.

If not and no action is taken, then yes bye bye UEFA football credability for me (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Bare in mind Arsenal has complained to UEFA about City's sponsorship deal, except City have used most of that funding to invest in developments around the Etihad stadium. City might have a valid justification in that.

PSG however way I look at their deal, they are bound to get disqualified! If not, then there will most likely be a riot in Europe, as the money they have been spending astronomical amounts during the three first year period under revision, the question of fair value to market will be asked by European clubs who will demand explanations and expecting PSG to be punished. However, some might take this idea seriously, yet I don't because all other sports teams in the world can not get such deals, but if it does turn out that way then we need a filthy rich benefactor who has the WC coming up to invest through these creative sponsorship deals.

Not a chance in hell. PSG and City have become heavyweights. They make UEFA way too much cash in CL participation to be banned from it.

IMHO FFP is a theoretical notion. A PC way of making it all look like there's a level playing field when there isn't. And I don't even mind tbh.

We just need to start fixing our fiscals and our squad in order to catch up with it...

FFP is only valid if the sponsorship deals are at fair value, if PSG is given a dodgy pass score by the panel in April, I expect heavy criticism from ALL clubs in Europe.

Milan has decent sponsorship deals, lower than Arsenals or Bayern. Remember bwin, Madrid had a bigger sponsorship package than us. But that is because fair value for Madrid is larger than ours, yet nowhere close to PSG deals.

This post has been edited by Rossoneri7: Mar 13 2014, 09:40 PM