Milan’s step backwards compared to the choice of Julen Lopetegui as successor to Stefano Pioli on the Rossoneri bench it is sensational but not unprecedented. It is not the first time in the history of football that pressure from fans, often guided by logic that is not entirely rational, convinces clubs and owners to change direction. Coaches, players and even crucial political decisions made and canceled in a matter of hours. In April 2021, for example, it suffocated the nascent Super League, overwhelmed by the protest of some groups of supporters of the Premier League clubs who had joined.
Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad. Examples? In hindsight it was no harm for Inter and Juventus not to exchange Guarin and Vucinic (January 2014), a deal now finalized and skipped via text message from the then Nerazzurri president Thohir frightened by the ultras’ protest under the headquarters. He who was thousands of kilometers away.
In most cases, however, the managers were right and held firm even in the face of external pressure. Moggi brought Ancelotti to the Juventus bench despite the environmental aversion (“A pig cannot train” the welcoming banner), Marotta took Allegri after Conte’s escape despite insults and slaps on the car entering Vinovo with the coach on board chosen, Inzaghi wanted Acerbi at all costs, overcoming the ‘niet’ of the Inter fans just to name a few.
In short, the clubs have almost always exercised the right to choose regardless, even running the risk of unpopularity to defend their positions. Milan are taking a different path on Lopetegui. Gerry Cardinale was not insensitive to the first social and then real revolt of those who saw in the former coach of Seville, Real Madrid and the Spanish national team a profile that was too weak for a team that must grow quickly so as not to suffer from the city opponent who is in the midst of a cycle of victories.
Everyone wants Antonio Conte and here lies the paradox, even a risky one, of the story. Because Conte is not part of Milan’s plans anyway, not even after the no to Lopetegui who in the social campaigns had hastily been renamed NoPetegui. If the casting is reopened, it will still contain profiles in line with the overall strategy of the owners and the company: gradual growth, no step beyond leg length on the market, young people to be valorised and a competitive but not necessarily immediately successful positioning.
A line from which Cardinale does not seem willing to move away regardless of the name of the coach. At stake is the organization of the company itself, the balance within the management and the medium and long-term business plans. The conclusion is that a battle was fought over Lopetegui that personalized a question of principle. The fans won it and perhaps they will have also done themselves and the Milan of the future a favour, but they will hardly prevail in the war over what the team that won the Scudetto in 2022 but which does not seem obsessed with idea of repeating itself in a short time. No to Lopetegui, who knows what the response will be on “the Lopetegui”. Also because history teaches that strong owners with clear ideas do not let curves dictate their agenda and today’s Milan aspires to be so.
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