I largely agree with your post until this part:
The management made this happen, not simply by firing Maldini, but by throwing mud at him. They did. It is not just Scaroni publicly bashing him, but how they kept leaking to the press all the horrible stuff Maldini was supposedly going to do, all wrapped up with placing CDK squarely on him. Pirlo rumors, and on and on. Making him look terrible.
They could have fired him, and just said "we appreciate him, he will always be our legend, but we are going to make a change in direction." They tried to mitigate the heat for their choices, by shitting on him.
Maybe it was all true? Maybe Maldini has fooled everyone for decades? Maybe he was power hungry, wanted Pirlo, and slapped babies in the face too?
Fine, you fired him, that was enough heat, you sold Tonali, which has aged well because of his stupidity with gambling, but it was a big decision. Why give him reason to respond? Whether you think he's defending himself or betraying the club, it was still something created by choices of the management, which again, isn't about firing him or not.
The choices the management made were big choices and they made it very clear that Maldini was the one holding the team back with his transfers and that he shackled Pioli. The reports are there, the comments from Scaroni and Furlani are there, the comments about directors not being at signings because of egos--all of that stuff is there, they made sure to pile on.
If they won, they'd be vindicated. Things don't look great right now, and maybe they will win in the end? I hope they do. Genuinely, I do.
When Berlusconi took over Milan, he made choices that were unpopular. Firing Liedholm and then hiring Sacchi, were daring moves but they worked. If they failed, Berlusconi would have been widely mocked, but his ability to create success was part of his entire branding and how he used sports to further his political ambitions and profile.
You know all these things, of course, but for me, Redbird made big moves that look... lateral, so far. Again, I hope Jovic becomes Sheva and Musah is Seedorf and Pellegrino gets his number retired, while Chuk becomes the next Salah and Robben combined.
But they chose this path. A brash path. One that required results. Whether you think our Scudetto was a fluke or not, whether it was lucky or not, it happened, it raised the bar of expectations. And so did the CL semi final. Same deal, lucky or not, fluke or not, these milestones have had a clear impact on how this team is discussed.
So what Maldini did, you're right. It was released at a time when Maldini looks the most right. If they go on to win the CL, Maldini will be mocked. If they finish outside the top four, Redbird will be crushed.
But the nature of his comments are a product of their choices. How they decided to handle it.
Maldini's words carry weight, but if the players cannot cope with some added pressure then we are fucked. If management can't deal with pressure, then we're really fucked, because they don't have the goodwill to weather storms, and they have acted in a way that ensured they didn't. Which is fine, if you win.
Larry Bird trash talking wouldn't be funny if he was terrible. Berlusconi being brash and bombastic wouldn't be endearing to his supporters if he had Moratti-like results.
Which is why I find comparisons to Mirabelli to be odd. Mirabelli has continued to talk a lot, but worse yet, he had one summer where he spent an insane amount of money... and the team was terrible. If Mirabelli built a squad who were largely great, people would listen to him more, but even more importantly--and correct me if I'm wrong--the club didn't go out of its way to shit on him. The fiasco of the Li era, and his squad, were on full display.
I wasn't thrilled that Maldini spoke out. I was expecting that it would take a while for us to hear his side. But, I get why he did it. Redbird put themselves in this spot. If we want to talk about Maldini talking to the press when he was our TD still, okay fine. Let's also look at Redbird management there: they asked him to write a plan to win the CL. That was their bar. They didn't communicate with him about it, and cut his budget, severely. If the bar for them is winning the CL (music to my ears btw) but they're cutting the budget and not talking to him, what do they expect their very famous and admired TD is going to do when you (the management) parade him to convince people of the viability of your project and the need to move from San Siro?
I see incompetence and a distinct lack of strategic thinking.
Again, let's assume Maldini was all the things they said, an ego maniac, who punched orphans. Your customers (fans) love him and listen to him and you sell his face to make money, if you treat him like shit, it's going to come back at you, badly.
All I see is mismanagement, honestly. Gazidis's reputation has been enhanced by his time at Milan, at Arsenal he is reviled. But Maldini talking about what he had to fight for, etc, fine, every organization has these stories, even prime Galliani and Braida and all them. Elliott seems to have been the most shrewd here, but again, what I see is ego-driven choices by Redbird.
Again, not about firing Maldini, I am assuming it was the correct decision for my point about the larger mismanagement of Redbird, the mismanagement here is in how you handled Maldini, as an employee (you could have let him go when you took over and taken that heat but you didn't want to) and how you handled yourself after you terminated him.
This was a predictable outcome, and if they were 1st in Serie A and the CL this interview probably doesn't happen. But you made choices that required you to show out. You don't make those moves to finish 3rd, while the underlying problems that existed before are still there or have gotten worse.
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