All good things must come to an end

I am sure that we can all agree that Milan’s season so far has been a disaster. Losing to European minnows FC Zurich at home in the Champions League is all but irrefutable evidence of this. So how did we get here? How has this most unwelcome situation been visited upon us?

First of the players can not be blamed, not even Ronaldinho. For surely a side largely unchanged from that of which won the 2003 Champions League campaign cannot be expected to keep on winning today in the year 2009. Nor a Ronaldinho that was well past his past before even arriving in Milan.

And it is frightening how much this team has not changed since way back in 2003. Both Alessandro Nesta and Kakha Kaladze, the two players that formed Milan’s central defensive pair last night against Zurich, were part of that Champions League winning side in 2003. As was Massimo Ambrosini, Rino Gattuso, Andrea Pirlo and Clarence Seedorf. These four players are practically the only midfielders we have still, Flamini the exception. Up front and things have changed a little however it is still Pippo Inzaghi, now at 36 years of age, leading the Milan attack on another European night.

Now, the formula of keeping essentially the same side worked extremely well for a long time. Milan won the Serie A title in 2004, appeared in two more Champions League finals winning one, and also collected the World Club Cup in 2007.

However since 2007, the side has struggled. Knocked out in the 2007-08 Champions League following a convincing Arsenal victory in the San Siro, Milan even failed to qualify for the Champions League in the 2008-09 season. Playing in the UEFA Cup, the Rossoneri failed to perform and lost out to eventual Champions Werder Bremen in the early knockout stages. Despite only playing in the UEFA Cup, Milan struggled to make the grade again for the Champions League but for a mid-season revival perhaps instigated by none other than David Beckham and the heroic performances of our once beloved Kaka.

The reason for Milan’s continuing struggles since that glorious night in Istanbul is purely and simply because the board have failed to bring in the necessary quality and youth to help an aging side. This is the reason why we are where we are today.

We cannot expect Gattuso, Pirlo, Ambrosini, Inzaghi, Seedorf and Kaladze to still perform like they once did. They are not the same players anymore. They are well and truly past their prime. They are on the wrong side of thirty, age is catching up with them. They simply do not the capacity anymore nor perhaps even the hunger. For these players have won everything and are not as hungry as the younger stars coming up through the ranks and understandbly so.

Alessandro Nesta is partly an exception. For he can still perform at the highest of levels however he is injury prone. Age has also caught up with him.

It is unfair that the board has so heavily relied on these players in the last two years when it is clear that they simply do carry the side anymore.

Not only is it unfair on them but it is a sure way to drag the club down to where it now finds itself.

The failure to bring in quality young talent is clearly the problem. The next question to ask is who then is responsible for this? Who is responsible for bringing in the players needed to keep the club performing at the highest level? Well, in Italy, it is the board who allocate the funds for the the buying of players and it is also the board who decide on which players to buy. This leads to one irrefutable conclusion and that it is the fault of Berlusconi and his most incompetent board.

Before I start I would like to emphasise as a fan my gratitude to Silvio Berlusconi. After all, it was Silvio who revived our famous club back in the mid 1980′s. Following a dark period which had seen Milan relegated to Serie B, Silvio bought the club and helped build a side that would go on to achieve unrivalled success. As I highlighted in a previous post A Rossoneri in both good and bad times, Milan became the most successful club of the modern era, so successful in fact that today we can arguably claim Milan to be the greatest club of all time. I firmly believe so and it is in no small part due to the efforts of Silvio Berlusconi. So once again, as any Milan fan should, I offer my gratitude to Silvio.

But times have changed. Berlusconi does not seem to have the same grand vision for Milan that he once had. In the last two years, for one reason or another, he has failed to deal with the problems that last night were ever so clear. He has not only refused to invest the necessary funds needed to keep Milan competitive, but he has also tarnished the reputation of the club due to his delusional, offensive comments and his inappropriate behaviour on both football and political fronts.

The reason Berlusconi continues to neglect the problems with this current side is because he is so evidently living on another planet. Just a day ago, Berlusconi was quoted saying “The team are not going through a positive period, but they are still the first in the world”. Not only was I absolutely gobsmacked when I when I read this statement, but at first I thought it was some kind of a joke. Like I had missed April Fools day. Still, I do not even know how to respond to this statement. Surely it is not even worth responding to because for Silvio to say this, perhaps we are beyond hope now. And this is not just a one off either. Earlier in the season Silvio was quoted as saying that Ronaldinho was the best player in the world still. It is not 2006 Mr. Berlusconi though you undoubtedly live somewhere in the past.
Silvio’s right hand man, Uncle Fester, also suffers from the same absurd delusions as evident when he recently claimed that Abate was the new Cafu. I can understand that as managing director, he may have only been trying to lift Abate’s confidence. And true the same can be said for Silvio. However, these statements are so absurd that I am sure the players, assuming they are rational to some degree, would also see these statements as absurd. Ronaldinho surely is aware that he is not he best player in the world whilst I am sure that if you ask the players if they felt like they are currently playing in the best team in the world they surely would not agree especially having just lost at home to the almightly FC Zurich.

Berlusconi is a President so clearly departed from reality, a President who does not offer any assurances to fans and players alike in times like these but rather insults everyone who know anything about football with utterly absurd statements. With and as long as such a President remains at the head of this great club, the fortunes of this once all-conquering side will continue to decline.

A new board is needed. That is unless Silvio and Galliani can improve our fortunes. If they can, for all that Silvio has done for this club, then another chance is warranted. However, if they fail to take decisive action and change the fortunes of this ailing club then it is in the interests of this club that they move on. It seems that the latter is more likely the case and if so then perhaps it is time to say thanks and goodbye to Silvio before we do end up back in Serie B.