AC Milan supporters are pointing fingers at the club’s ownership after the Rossoneri suffered their worst league season for a decade.
Banned from taking flags and banners on to the Curva Sud, Milan’s ultras had to improvise to get their point across during the final game of their club’s crisis season. “Go home,” read the message sent to the Rossoneri’s American owners by thousands of supporters choreographed into giant letters. RedBird Capital aren’t welcome at San Siro.
By every measure, Milan’s 2024/25 campaign was calamitous. They finished eighth in Serie A, their lowest league finish for a decade. They changed managers midway through the season, after hiring Paulo Fonseca only last summer, and considered making another change in March, according to reports. Questions over Sérgio Conceição’s future persist.
Supercoppa glory at the start of the year counted for something, as did the run to the final of the Coppa Italia, but the failure to make it past Feyenoord in the Champions League round of 32 was a season-defining flop. Even worse was that Feyenoord made it through despite selling their top scorer (Santiago Giménez) to Milan in January.
Antonio Conte reportedly wanted the Milan job only for the decision makers at San Siro to pass him over in favour of Fonseca who only lasted until the end of December, and was only hired because fans rebelled against the club’s first-choice candidate, Julen Lopetegui. Conte, meanwhile, led Napoli to the Scudetto with a less talented squad than the one he would have inherited as Milan manager.
Over and over again, Milan have made bad decisions, leading to the breaking point reached in the last few weeks. “There is anger and frustration among the fans, feelings we share,” Milan CEO Giorgio Furlani explained. “Today a season ends. The next one will start right away tomorrow. There can’t be just one reason if we’re so far below expectation. There are several things we need to sort out because next season can’t be like this one.”
Since taking over three years ago, RedBird have done everything possible to paint themselves as methodical, modern owners. Gerry Cardinale, founder of the New York-based investment firm, has spoken about “winning smart,” but AC Milan aren’t winning and they certainly aren’t doing much smartly.
Sacking Paolo Maldini as sporting director wasn’t smart. The legendary former defender had played an important role in building a title-winning squad that included the likes of Rafael Leão, Theo Hernández, Fikayo Tomori and Olivier Giroud. When Maldini publicly insisted that Milan needed to spend more to stay at the top of Italian football, he was dismissed. For many fans, this made him a martyr.
Zlatan Ibrahimović arrived as Maldini’s replacement, but not in any official capacity. Instead, the Swede has operated as a consultant in a way that has caused confusion over his true influence over transfer strategy and other front office matters. Ibrahimović has been blamed for many of the bad decisions made recently. His presence at Milanello is murky. Nobody really knows what he does.
Of course, Milan are far from the only Italian club under American ownership. Atalanta, Hellas Verona, Fiorentina, Inter, Parma, Roma and Venezia all have American owners with Canadian Joey Saputo in charge at Bologna. Serie A has significant upside and has welcomed North American investment to keep up with the other Big Five leagues.
Milan fans, however, are sceptical of RedBird’s true intentions as owners. They aren’t in it purely for the football, they’re in it to make money as an investment fund with over $10 billion of assets around the world. Success on the pitch might be a byproduct of this focus, but many question whether RedBird will ever be able to find the right balance.
“For my investors, who focus on terminal value appreciation, my job is to position AC Milan to contend for the Scudetto every year, qualify for the Champions League every year, and go through the Champions League competition as far as possible every year,” said Cardinale in an interview. “That’s what maximises cash flow and brand value.”
Things could get even worse for Milan this summer. Manchester City are interested in Tijjani Reijnders and have opened talks over a summer move for the Dutch midfielder, one of the few Rossoneri players to come out of this season with any credit. Leão and Hernández are also being linked with clubs in the Premier League and Saudi Pro League.
RedBird have rejected suggestions they could sell up or reduce their ownership stake at the very least, reiterating their stated plan to restore Milan as a genuine force at the top of Italian football. The reality, however, is that the Rossoneri haven’t been so far adrift of Italy’s elite in a long time.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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