If we do sell Pato and buy Tevez and don’t reinforce our midfield with an Eriksen, Gotze, Oezil or similar I will simply have to learn to care less about Milan and football in general. I began to think of myself as a hardcore supporter in ’02 after we got Inzaghi and I simply fell in love with our family atmosphere most notably the treatment of Albertini. This was after years of wandering around, supporting clubs on the basis of my favourite player.

But now, the rumors facing us in this particular mercato might be the final straw. I don’t mind my favourite player(s) leaving. The fact that I’m still a Milan fan after Ronaldo’s and Kaka’s departure to me underlines my commitment to the club as I love not just those players but the persons as well. Losing $heva was tough too but his kissing the Chel$ki badge and the bs about his wife wanting the kids to speak English pissed me off.
Getting Tevez and tossing Pato who, for better or worse is at present close to the Berlusconi family to me is indicative of the erosion of these family values. The commitment to youth can go to. From now on (please keep in mind that this entire rant is contingent on how we deal with the Pato-Tevez saga) any talk of “family atmosphere” will be seen as a poorly disguised attempt to save money by keeping senators past their due date in order to save some ca$h that is needed on new transfers.

Additionally the excessive attention played to media attractions that generally have NOTHING to do with improving the team shows that we might have lost the plot entirely. We have been begging, pleading and bleeding goals at the left back position. This issue has not been addressed adequately and one is forced to wonder if a player of Taiwo’s stature hadn’t been free whether we’d have made any genuine serious effort at all. Instead of plugging the HOLES in the team that we’ve had since ~2008 we have sought to build a cheap quick fix scudetto winner…slowly we are turning to Inter….fugly destruction football with technically average players (god help us if we really do get Muntari) who are physical bullies…..is this what I used to think was Milan philosophy? Because everything from the unimaginative unambitious coach to the players he loves, to the RETARDED TRANSFER MOVES screams PRINTER.

Then too football is, at least to me in a general decline. The quality of the game, the purity of it is getting lost. It’s becoming mechanical and robotic. I’ve been one of the fiercest critics of Pirlo, but it pains me to see the gradual extinction of players of his ilk ( thoughtful, technical) disappear in favour of ridiculously specialized players, bodyguards, sprinters and powerlifters. I remembered the not too distant past when our Pirlo-Seedorf-Gattuso-Rui Costa Mildield played the ball on the ground, down the middle with ruthless efficiency and at will. Now, Barcelona aside the whole world is becoming the Premi3r$#!t turning the beautiful game into a kind of 11 a side pingpong. But even this would have been bearable if the REASON for this in part would have been the teams becoming the plaything of the rich, instead of the actual fans of the game. Their interest in ONLY the bottom line filters right down to the pitch. Player values become different and you get the mechanical, mass produced armies of mercenaries demanding their pound of flesh for 90 minutes at a time. As much as I like Balotelli, if Man City wins the title this season it will bring some sadness for me because it would mean that now, football is ALL about money and you can legally buy your credentials in yet another sphere of human existence.

Well, yes, it's a hell of a lot easier to like a club when they're winning a lot, coming off the back off CL success etc. Unfortunately you do have down periods too, even though we are Serie A champions...

It's part of being a fan to be honest.

Without even reading your post (which I will surely, with my night coffee), I agree. The end surely is nigh. When you get this much money involved in anything, it's sure to go down. Particularly sports. Just go 10 or 20 years back, and the whole landscape was different - fans, media, players, clubs, sportsmanship, everything.

Grace was gone for good, a few years back. The values most of us grew up on, have set sail for the west already.

I shall bring the wrath of this forum upon myself with this comment, most likely, but it doesn't change the fact that it's true.

Gullit. Papin. Lentini. 3 transfers in the space of 5 years that broke records. It's easy to point fingers at other teams and say it's not fair or its not right when they're doing it. But had Milan not spend silly money between 87-92 do you honestly believe they'd be the club they are now? Check the rest of the 80s before we started throwing cash around and you'll have your answer. It's pretty clear the money pumped into the club was why Milan suddenly became a force again.

I think you'll do well to find a team that gained success without spending. Even teams who didn't have success over a large period (Blackburn, Lazio, Napoli, Leeds) broke records or spent big money.

As Ash said, just be thankful and enjoy that it happened to your club in the past and continue supporting them while other clubs do it, rather than complaining because it's not always your team on top or with the most money.

Nah, I know full well how it went in the 80 and 90s, we were the Chelsea of those decades. But things were still under control then. And it didn't affect the clubs as much. Even mid table teams had their chances at the cups and leagues. Just look at recent history and compare it with a few decades back. Domestic and Europe.

Now, everywhere you look it's bling bling, sting sting. Unless you have really deep pockets, you will fizzle. Clubs like Barcelona have their name written on the CL, in Serie A it's always between Juve, inter or us. Same is the case everywhere. And no, this is evolution and hard to put a lid on, but like I said it's affecting the game.

Couldn't disagree more with kurt's post. Milan won the CL twice before Berlu....putting us at least at the level of Printer before Berlu came along. Yes his ca$h injection did propel us to more successes but HE has gained quite a lot from his ownership of the team too. The Italian clubs have a lot of history and tradition and ALL the top clubs have always had wealthy owners.

Man City and Chel$ki are both good clubs but never have until the noughties been considered in the same breath as the big clubs. don't get me wrong I'm not some kind of football fascist bent on preserving an elite class....but at least Berlu, Moratti and De Laurentis actually LIKE football. What the F()@k do the Glazers know/care about the game? The owners of $h!ty and PSG? They care about their money and influence. And the WAY they have shown such is rather obvious. This overemphasis on the financial element dare I say has been exacerbated by this introduction. I will never deny that it never existed.....but comparing a nasty scratch (back then) to a gashing hemorrhaging wound (now) is utterly ridiculous

You DO understand that my complaint has less to do with actually winning and more about the SPIRIT of the beautiful game right? If I were some gloryhunter I'd be over the moon at the quick fixes of iBra and Mr Tevez and wouldn't care about the developement of Pato, El Shaarawry etc. I'd be in the "sell him and buy an inform player" brigade.

Wenger said that the prem has sold its soul to TV. I'd like to take it further in saying that FOOTBALL has sold it's soul a long time ago.

Wenger's a bit of an idiot, without the money from Sky TV the Prem wouldn't be what it is today. Absolutely 100%, no doubt.

It would just be another Football league, not one of the main ones.

Be sure to vote for option 3 sometime

Unfortunately or fortunately, whatever way you want to look at it. The inauguration and the money that's been pumped into the Premier League via Sky TV since the inception of it is what's made it this global league that it is today. Yes there are billionaires etc investing into the clubs now but Sky TV has paved the way.

I just can't see how managers, especially ones based in England can complain about Sky TV, I really don't. If you want absolute f ups, you should read into ITV Digital and what they did to our lower league teams, that's when I can see why people would complain about TV.

Sky have been nothing but great for English football, especially at the highest tier.

The Champions League is killing football.

There's a reason that there's been a 'big 4' in England for a while. Because the teams that qualify for the CL get so much more money than the rest of the league, they attract better players. They sign better players. Then these new signings help them get into the top 4 again - and repeat.

Chelsea/City coming in with silly money is actually good for the league for a few years, it breaks up the top 4 regularls and creates a little bit of competition.

Yep, could also say it about the Premier league with the Parachute payment crap they do. Looks after the old Premiership clubs, often giving them a big financial stronghold over anyone else in the Championship.