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.

But Danny all this is because Silvio is not allowed to spend money. Neither is a new owner, just take a look at Thohir and ask why Morrati sold out? What has Thohir done since he came in, except emphasis on rebuilding, etc ?

We can have tons of threads and posts about how cr@p Milan has become; pointing fingers at B&G or at Allegri and maybe in a months time at Seedorf. We can also stress on how bad the management is and that they have all gone mad. Also add to that mix that they just don't care anymore.

Truth is, we are not a top club, we are suffering because we are overly dependent on the president's funding which has become illegal under FFP.

We go back and forth with this as if to dodge the main reason why we are where we are. Maybe to find comfort in pointing fingers? Vs contemplating how significant FFP is on us?


Now without CL, we loose 60M, meaning our revenue would fall to approx. 160M from an avg. of 220M. So 160M in revenue, what type of wages would we be able to pay? Meaning, this is going to get worse and worse if we keep banging our heads on the wall in a pointless debate. The sooner it sinks in that this is a transitional period and a looooooooooong term project for the future - Instead of looking at the short term results or the next transfer market for something significant - the better it will be, than to expect a miracle. That miracle being FFP being scrapped so Silvio can pump in the funds again.

Funny, I recall you saying a year or two ago that this was a deliberate 'youth project and rebuilding project'.

Now you're saying it's because Silvio can't spend money.

Can't have it both ways.

PS: Abramovich still spends big money for Chelsea, why is he allowed under FFP and Silvio isn't?

Well if Silvio cant fund the team directly, then obviously it will be through youth development, where the club focuses on developing players rather than bidding against Europe's elite for top players.

Abramovic is not funding his team, EPL teams have very lucrative TV rights contracts, their revenue is much higher than Milans.

City have the same TV rights deal as well as an Etihad deal of sponsorship.

PSG has a sponsorship deal from Qatar Tourism authority, where by they are given HUGE amounts every year.

Madrid have revenues to the tune of 650M.


Milan, since the passing of the new TV rights deal, were reduced to peanuts in comparison to those above.

You can only spend so much, otherwise you get banned from Europe. The Premier League has it's own FFP rules in place too. Chelsea spent around £65m this season, but they also recouped around £55m in the form of De Bruyne and Mata. £10m on transfers is acceptable in FFP I would imagine.

That's fine, because we have a LOT of horror in this squad I'd be happy for the club to sell.

But how many times have we sold marquee players and not reinvested it in players of similar quality? Too many times, and that's my fear. That despite FFP compliance Silvio will remain too obsessed with politics and not enough focus on spending what needs to be spent.

Horrible, admittedly, but football's pace-setters are about money. And managing incoming and outgoing. Going by the last year and figures recently released, we're making a 100M Euro loss.

So PSG are owned by Qatar Investment Authority and get huge money from Qatar Tourism Authority... how is that fair play? What stops any club owner from having a company he owns or controls "invest" money in his club?

About FFP, Mediaset posted an extensive study a couple of weeks ago which captured the situation of the most important Italian and European clubs.

Link

At the end of June, all clubs will be revised by UEFA. The deal here is to have a compounded loss for the last two years (12/13) of no more than €45 million, otherwise punishments will be undertaken.

The study shows that we are the healthiest club in Italy. In 2012 we managed to break even, whereas last year we managed to make a profit of €2 million, the only club to make a profit alongside Napoli.

Furthermore, from what I understand, FFP regulations allow clubs with a loss beyond €45 million to deduct from the loss of 2012 all personnel contracts signed before 2010, plus other non-relevant costs. Therefore, the only Italian clubs "in trouble" at the end of the first monitoring period will be Roma and especially Inter.

Now, I don't know how this translates for us in terms of spending budget, but I gotta ask myself: how can Juventus and Napoli spend so much money during signing campaigns whereas we keep accumulating free agents and crap players despite the fact that we are the financially healthiest and richest club in Italy? I just don't get it...

It's the FFP... or rather the excuse of the FFP.

Yes they are owned by Qatar investment authority and are sponsored by its touristic arm.

UEFA will have a 3rd party check all these transaction this April, if these deals that PSG and City have signed are not at fair value to what is the norm in the market, they will be at the receiving end of punishment, fines, disqualification from UEFA comps etc.

If not, goodbye FFP.

The figures here are pretty clear. We're making 50M loss (I thought it was 100M) and we're absolutely not the financially richest and healthiest club in Italy.

2012/2013 figures show incoming at 275 but outgoing at 324 - highest overheads in Italy. Whole host of clubs are now, sadly, ahead of us in this department.

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 doesn't take into consideration all revenues and costs. The table you posted shows aggregate results from the income statement. The first table in the link I provided is the one that really concerns FFP.

If not and no action is taken, then yes bye bye UEFA football credability for me

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.



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.