Dude it’s like what you told me about Pioli earlier.
If they can sack Paolo fucking Maldini, they will sack Pioli if he fucks it up.
Right now he’s being kept for diplomatic/relations reasons
Diplomatic relations with... who?
Successful businesses have smooth transitions. They orchestrate this, they take months or even years to do it--and this fantasy world of "ruthlessness" is a waste of time and resources of your best executives.
Your most volatile and important assets are your players in this instance, and you're fucking with the guy who sold them a project that they are a big part of.
This isn't about diplomacy or not diplomacy, this is about risk management for me. It honestly might be cheaper to give Maldini an extra 40m to shut the fuck up and run it back another year, rather than create this level of turmoil around your team.
If he fails again, then you can cut him loose.
If Redbird think they did that sort of scenario with the last 12 months, then... I think they have miscalculated, especially as they have chosen to put their faith in Pioli. If you want to dissect Maldini's transfer choices, then Pioli’s management has even larger holes, by far, in my opinion.
At the end of the day, this isn't about emotions or my love of Maldini, I just think this is bad business.
There is a huge value to stability, and while I know there are other business strategies that prefer "shaking things up" I find those strategies tend to fail. This is rooted in my professional experience involving related industries to those in question.
When it comes to sports, I prefer the way the Steelers are run, for example.
I think Redbird relied on Maldini's name to cover up their own incompetence. You can't fault Maldini for extending Pioli and then put your faith in him, that's not "ruthless" that's making a choice, and how Redbird have to face their customers (fans) with that decision. Fans can be turned away, you can lose money, and your revenue streams aren't as guaranteed as in American sports insulating ownership from fan decisions.
If they fired Pioli too, then I'd get it. But they haven't. Cardinale is not a billionaire, this isn't his toy, which means he has investors to answer to. If I'm the manager of the fund that gave him 100m, and this blows up in his face, now I would haul his ass into my office to ask him what the fuck he was thinking.
Like if we want to talk about the logistics of this, if I was the little errand boy tasked with observing this investment for the billionaire oligarch who owns my life and family, or if I was the one in charge of making this investment for the fund, I would be calling Gerry to demand answers and explanations.
At the end of the day, Redbird own Milan on credit, so... and they would not be the first private equity guys to fuck up in sports. James Pallotta did at Roma. Friedkin looks primed to follow in his footsteps.
Cardinale isn't Jerry Jones. He has borrowed the money for this, and if there weren't salary caps in the NFL, Jones would have bought himself a Suoperbowl by now. Cardinale doesn't have those constraints of a salary cap, but he does on what he can do with the money he borrowed, that's why he has minders from Elliott watching him. Elliott, the actually ruthless people who put their faith in Maldini, by the way.
I know you'll say Furlani made this decision, and he's Elliott's guy. Maybe. Could also be that Cardinale had to make a big play and sacrificed Maldini, since money is hard to get these days. So he is betting on Moncada and Pioli, because that is what he's doing, objectively.
I genuinely hope it works.
If people want to have a more technical discussion over the corporate world, then let's have that but let's be honest about who Redbird is beholden to themselves when we talk about corporate culture, because Cardinale is not in full control here. I have said that I believe Cardinale is being tasked (by Elliott) with pushing the value of Milan to even higher stakes based on his expertise in sports. I do not think his handling of things so far inspire confidence.
So if we want to talk about who is an employee of who, as things stand, Cardinale works for Elliott still since he borrowed 600m from them.
I was one of the people who preferred Redbird's plan over Investcorp, and I don't think my current stance is influenced by some love for Maldini, but I think I have articulated valid concern over larger issues.
