I said rarely, and certainly never in recent history.

Obviously I regard Carlo very highly, especially if they give him creative freedom and allow him say in who comes and goes


Serious question, you really believe that we'll have a strong budget for next summer?

@ x-off. I agree about Cavani, he's certainly not a poacher, but for him to be great and deliver great numbers he needs strong support behind him and if we don't bring that in, for me, it's pointless to spend a lot on a stiker

Again, your argument has no meaning. The syntax "recent history" implies the last 10-15 years, so roughly from 2000-2015. But in this period we didn't have any second spell manager. The last managers who had multiple spells at Milan were Cesare Maldini (we could argue and say he saved our cheek that season), Fabio Capello (three spells, first was good, second was even better, third was a disaster), Arrigo Sacchi (first brilliant, second very bad but it was a mid-season change from) and Niels Liedholm (first spell was solid, second he got us a title, third was bad).

So, let's be precise. If we're talking about recent history there's no real argument because we have not a single situation comparable. If we're taking Milan history overall or say the last 40 years, you'll easily find out that second spells usually went better then the first ones, while third spells went wrong.

What does all that mean? Squat. History remains history, only a possible mirror to future happenings. It's just telling us trends and fills us with interesting stats. Is this a decisively important factor? No. But it is interesting.

I'll believe it when I see us actually spending that kind of money (until then, I will remain very skeptical).

Also, I fear that 80M in Galliani's hands + Berlu's direction will be wasted (one "big name" signing - probably a striker, and probably in the "has been" category) and then some rather questionable calls in the areas where we are hurting the most (like, for example, midfield).

I have huge respect for Carletto, but I am not sure if he is the right man for the job, considering where he would have to start. He seems to do very well when he has a solid team to work with, but I have not seen him actually building a team out of nothing (and, sadly, that's our situation right now).

If we're aiming to get Ancelotti, you honestly believe that he'll accept the position without reassurance of a decent signing campaign?



Agreed. And just because there might have been a trend in the past doesn't mean it's going to happen again. I'll never understand people who rely on such logic.



Ancelotti was responsible for building his own glorious Milan team. Yes, he had a solid backbone in players like Maldini, Costacurta, Gattuso, Ambrosini, Shevchenko etc. but the squad he inherited (mid-season) was quite average and struggling, and yet he managed to get us 4th, then with a few more quality signings the next season (Nesta, Seedorf, Rivaldo etc.) he won us the Champions League. And that was at his beginnings. Now he's one of the best and most experienced coaches in the world. So yeah, I think he can do the job.

If that doesn't suffice, think about Parma. There's a team he built out of nothing.

I was looking at some numbers earlier, and Terhim had 4 wins, 4 draws and 2 losses before he was sacked. Compare that to the shtick we have to endure nowadays, when even our worst season since 97/98 won't get Silvio to fire Inzaghi, and it really gives you some perspective.

It seems like you're taking my once upon a time offhanded comment too seriously here

And I wasn't just talking about coaches, rather come backs in general over the past few years.

Also, comeback can mean 2nd, 3rd or 4th time, it's still a comeback

Anyway, no need to get technical about it. My point was mainly sometimes it simply does not work. And you get your hopes up because you know what this person has achieved in the past but it's even harder to swallow if the return is unsuccessful.


So sad but true

In fairness I did forget about Parma, tough I would like to think that Milan has higher ambitions than Parma (but perhaps that ambition is a thing of the past). BTW, I have nothing against Parma (my sister-in-law is from Parma and a Parma fan - not to mention that Parma has some of the best food in Italy ).


Yeah, but Maldini + Costacurta + Gattuso + Ambrosini + Shevchenko is a much, much better base than what we have right now (the present lot does not compare even remotely). Plus back then we had real money to spend (at least relative to other clubs - even 80M does not go very far these days).

Well if the club was to get sold, then duh. Otherwise whats the point?

Sounds like Mexes may renew with Milan (reduced salary and incentives based on "good behavior").

Incentives based on good behavior?

well it depends.

Silvio is within his right to pocket the majority of what he gets...

And new owners like Tohir for example are mostly just loaning money to the team from what I understand it's a double edged sward.

Anyway, I think if there really is an 80m budget lying in wait I really hope any new coach we bring in has a lot of input in who we bring and it's not left solely in Galliani's hands

Silvio said on Napoli TV today that if Madrid fire Ancelotti (which seems almost certain at this point) then he's coming to Milan. So, I guess we should say, welcome back Carlo?

Silvio wants to sell out of Milan altogether. All the push and pull in the media is to increase value, nothing more nothing less. Except new owners want him there.

And what about new owners? PSG and City have sovereign governments backing in someway. We have the Chinese govt involved in our sale, so that is something different altogether.

Then Galliani never was a problem when you had money. He is in fact an asset and it's not down to me or you, rather the new board of Milan to decide.

Neah. Galliani may have been an asset a decade ago, and even back then he was overshadowed by the much maligned Moggi (who, IMHO, did much better for his club). These days he appears to be rather clueless, and I do not believe that will change if all of a sudden he has money to spend (assuming that even happens).

And yes, of course it is up to the BoD to decide, and yes, of course we have no say whatsoever (you do not need to state the obvious). And, unfortunately, the BoD will have to take into consideration various factors such as the "golden parachutes" Galliani no doubt has put in place over the years, so it may turn out to be too expensive to get rid of him (regardless of how clueless he is).

This.

Galliani has made some seriously terrible decisions over the past decade or so. Personally I wouldn't trust him with that kind of budget as he'd screw it up on random players and a big name has-been striker

@ R7. I was talking about in the event of Mr. Bee taking over instead of the Chinese, don't know if this is right but I read that with Inter and Tohir he loans the club money with interest to make signings, so in the long term he's screwing the club over. These types of "investers" only see what profits they can make from clubs.

With City and PSG it's completely different though, hopefully the Chinese investors are more like them than Tohir.

As for Galliani, we obviously will never see eye to eye on this, but I personally do not agree that he's always done well when he had money to spend

Milan signs Emery? Apparently Sevilla is "not confirming or denying". Would be nice if true.

OTOH, this says Galliani is off to Madrid to "bring back an Italian, not necessarily Ancellotti". Couple of other articles on this topic.

Love Carletto, but at this point I would prefer Emery.

Yup, would prefer the Chinese investors over Mr. Bee.

Which Italians are in Madrid that are not Carlo?

Yup. Typical Galliani statement.

Berlu: I am not selling Milan, just looking for investors. Hmm.

Cerci for one.

What do y'all think about Mastalli? Is he ready for Serie A? Seemed to do OK in the 15 minutes he played yesterday, and this compares his style of play with De Rossi in his early days.

Considering Carletto's statements, it may well be Cerci.

Yeah, he looked fine.



Doubt it's Cerci. He's going for Ancelotti, one last tentative to convince him. Otherwise, I guess we'll go for Emery.

But ... is he ready for a regular role in the team?

Mind I say we played a team that completely and collectively gave up after conceding those goals. So Mastalli's impact cannot be assessed properly.

Hold your horses, no-one said he's the next Pirlo, just that he looked fine for those 15 minutes he played, regardless of everything else.

Yes, but considering the occasion he played, it offers you hardly any insight for more then an educated guess. You see, the question was is Mastalli fit for Serie A football. Since Torino played sub-par we really cannot tell.

Totally forgot about him, considering how utterly terrible he's been for us one has to wonder why we'd even bother with him. Taraabt was 10 times better

Is Cerci the issue, or is his performance related to the rest of the team? (That said, I am not impressed either.)

As for Taraabt, it looks like he played sporadically and still has "fitness problems". Sounds like he got serious motivational issues, not sure we really want him.

I've obviously been outspoken against Carlo in the past, but I would bite my hand off to have him back.

Apparently that is not an option. Also, if I was Ancellotti, I am not sure I would want to come back (operation or not).

We are linked with Darmian and Mandzukic.

This claims Conte will take over Milan and Carletto will take over the NT.

I think this is unlikely to happen, though I really would not mind Conte. He has done wonders at Juve (starting with a team that was not much better than ours). On the down side, he has struggled in European competitions, but hopefully watching Allegri taking "his" team to the semis has taught him something.

That would be very odd, Allegri at Juve with Conte at Milan.

I'd be very happy with both Darmian and Mandzukic, but can we really afford them?

Cerci has always come up short when playing for bigger sides, and he's mostly a one season wonder, let's face it. His numbers were impressive for Toro last season but he's simply not good enough

I mentioned Taraabt not because I want him back here, but simply to show how utterly bad Cerci has been throughout his stay. Trying to sign him permanently would be idiotic, but that's come to be expected from this management


Apparently he's not an option...

Sounds like B&G haven't given up yet ...

Looks like Atletico is blocking Mandzukic. But yes, not sure we can afford either of them.

Carlo meeting with Galliani for dinner as I write this. Last chance to convince him.

"Berlu: I can coach Milan"

No comment.

I really hope we can bring Carletto back. Because realistically speaking, he's miles away from any other possible candidate.

True.

Didn't even know he had surgery, and he's still young to be getting spinal stenosis also, it must be difficult for him and could be why he wants some time off

That made me laugh.

MvG: will go back to Chelsea then decide my future. Also includes some comments from Bonaventura.

Apparently, we are still after Mandzukic and Suarez.

Made me cry . I know much of what Berlu says is carefully crafted to improve his image in Italy, but I have a feeling he actually believes this.

Still after Carletto. Another dinner tonight. And apparently, if he joins he will get a transfer budget of 120M.

Looks like we are trying to unload Cerci.

Isn't he with us on loan? Why would we need to try to unload him?

And these rumours are making me cackle. Suarez, Mandzukic...

What's sad though is that once again, we're being linked with strikers only when our problems lie so much deeper than that. Galliani and Silvio at their best right there