QUOTE (han2503 @ Mar 19 2014, 03:20 PM)
I think we've been resting on those laurels since that CL win in 07 and we've been going downhill from there. Sometimes I feel like that CL is more of a curse on us as it gave the management even further excuses not to re-invest and re-build when at that point the squad was already going through a rapid decline.
Instead he gave huge contracts to the veterans who had already accomplished everything and had nothing left to give to the side and kept trying to sell the notion that Milan was still the best around, when even then it was very clear how far back we were
Yup, in hindsight that was a huge mistake, which falls squarely on Berlu and Galliani. You can argue that Inter made the same mistake after they won "il triplete", but that is not really an excuse.
FWIW, I remember listening to Berlu on a TV show right after we won the WC in '07, when the signs of decline were already evident. When asked about his plans to renovate the team, he replied something to the effect of "why? we just won the CL and the WC, it's the other teams that need to get better". It has been downhill ever since, except maybe for the Ibra days. But even then we were horrible in Europe, and the clown managed to lose a scudetto we really should have won.
But back to the original question, at this stage we need to rebuild, and IMHO our new coach (Seedorf or whomever may replace him) could use one season where we can focus on fewer competitions. Revenue from EL is not that great, and is not as if we have world-class stars that well leave if we are out of Europe for one year (ok, maybe Balotelli, but at this point I am happy to see him leave - if we get some cash). Also, I believe that making CL last year gave management an excuse to keep ignoring our problems ("after all, 3rd place is not thaaaat bad, is it? we still get the CL revenue, don't we?" - easy enough to think in those terms). I am hoping that not making EL will be a wake-up call.