A hundred thousand will talk about the derby before and there is no need to add more blah blah to what has already flooded us. On the sensitive, very sensitive topic, it is only necessary to add a reflection referring to Stefano Pioli. He has a not very exciting curriculum: only one draw, the 2 to 2 with a goal in ’97 by Zapatone, on the Inter bench and then defeats to Milan and one, to Lazio, very heavy (4 to 1) which even cost him exemption. Just as at Inter that 2 to 2 was defined as the decisive episode to establish his farewell to Appiano Gentile. The derby with Ibra has already had a completely different beginning: at that point the work of Zlatan and all the others had not yet been completed and therefore that comeback suffered was the sign of fragility that were about to be eradicated. Pioli current is not the Pioli of Rome nor that of Inter: he has matured, he has become more confident, as he himself says “after Davide’s death I understood many things”. He took on greater professional maturity and felt valued by the reconfirmation of Gazidis and Maldini. It will be up to him, although he will not have the best of the squad at his disposal, to prepare a derby that in some way marks the reversal of the very sad and melancholy past.
Same reasoning on the accounts of Milan. The meeting for the approval of the financial statements is near, which closed with minus 195 million. To read the figures, it is a substantial deficit that does not reconcile with the purpose of recovery, self-sufficiency even or in any case the sustainability of the club. It is only partially true, especially if you compare it to that of Roma, which in recent years received the substantial bonus of the Champions League and signed a streak of incredible gains. Elliott’s AC Milan has injected something like 140 million into the club’s cash in recent months, which is a flood of liquidity, demonstrating that fans should consider themselves lucky to have a fund like Elliott in London as owner. Anyone else at the helm of Milan would have suffered financially. Especially if you take into account that in addition to the negative results (no cups), there was the tactical renunciation of the Europa League which in its small way however guarantees a nest egg of 18 million per season at least. And from 2020-2021 there are. Then the sponsors are arriving, in small doses of course, and it is not the latest contracts that can make up the difference compared to Juve in particular. Gazidis recently said that “turning Milan around is like doing it with an ocean liner, it takes a lot of time”. That’s right, you can’t improvise an u-turn like you would with a sedan or even a scooter. But this is the year in which we need to give the ship greater acceleration. It’s true: there will be a lack of box office revenue, season tickets and sponsors are on the run. But this is the year in which we need to change pace and standings. And in January it will be necessary to intervene decisively if the team needs reinforcements and adjustments. Gazidis is also convinced that Gigio and Calha will be renewed. All the AC Milan fans hope so. Otherwise that transatlantic would remain in the shallows!
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