Gandini: " I was in the U.S. with the club two years ago, and we played Liverpool in Charlotte, N.C. And probably two thirds of the stadium were wearing red jerseys in support of Liverpool. This was a very clear consequence of the [popularity] that the English Premier League has in the United States. Italian league has been good in the past, but all the changes in the TV in the U.S. has probably penalized the Italian league. We come from history, we come from tradition, we come from a successful 30 years of [Silvio] Berlusconi ownership. And all this silverware that we’ve brought back home gave us the opportunity to be recognized in the U.S. market. The ability to watch games on NBC is another big advantage. And you also have historical brands especially like Liverpool and Chelsea, that can compete with AC Milan on the traditional ground. It does affect not just Milan but it does affect European landscape, because there’s always the European giants. Bayern, Real Madrid, Barcelona—they feel the competition but they can afford to stand up to the competition. The problem we are facing now thanks to the new TV deals in the Premier League is that it’s not only the giants. that can be aggressive in the transfer market, but also the average teams are now starting from €120-150m."
Gandini: "We still work on the fact that Milan is a big brand even if we don’t come from a successful spell in the last 3-4 years. Especially among the players—the players understand what it means to be an Milan player. We went through a very difficult time, for various reasons. We changed in a way that we never did in the previous 27 years. We lost a little bit of our culture, and we became impatient to regaining right away our status. Don’t forget that we won the league in 2010–11, and we played Champions League in 2013-14. In life, and especially in sport, there are cycles. Over 30 years, during the 30 years of Mr. Berlusconi, we won 28 trophies. Personally, I was part of the team in six Champions League finals, with a 50% record. Every big player came to Milan. A lot of things changed. The Italian league is no longer a destination. The economy in Italy has not been very solid and this has affected the possibility of investing for the owners."
Gandini: "If you look at our neighbors for example, Inter Milan, [Massimo] Moratti sold the club when nobody expected him to. As far as we are concerned, we are going through the same process, which might be completed by the time we’re in the U.S. Mr. Berlusconi is selling the club after 30 years to a Chinese fund. Naturally, you need investors, you need the capital, you need fresh investments in the squad. We think that now with Vincenzo Montella as the coach, the way he plays, the way we’re going to work it’s going to have us regaining the positions that we lost over the last three years."
Gandini: "It will definitely be a cultural shock I think in a certain way, because the club has been owned by the same family for 30 years. It has been always a family club, and the culture and the tradition that we developed over these 30 years with Mr. Berlusconi. Now we have to face new shareholders, new owners, hopefully new capital investments and new ideas. [We’ll try] to regain with new investments the position that we think we belong to in the Italian and European landscape. We still need to learn what the new shareholders like to implement. We know there is going to be very strong investment plan. For the squad, commercial side, where new revenues are going to help the club regain position within the league. But the sale is just in the process, it is not signed yet and therefore the information there is not enough."
Gandini: "Nobody could expect four years ago that Inter was going to be sold to Indonesian investors as no one would expect Mr. Berlusconi’s family to sell the club after so many years. But in order to compete within this European scenario, you need to have big pockets. You are competing against monopolistic giants like Bayern, Barcelona and Real Madrid, who have the best players in their rosters. And then Paris Saint–Germain the Qatar investment, the Abu Dhabi investment in Man City, the Russian investment in Chelsea. We do expect to come back to the places we belong. So qualifying for the Champions League on a regular basis. And to have the opportunity to really expand the brand with domestic and international success. it will really require massive investments, and hopefully we have the potential to do so."
