AC Milan general spiel

[RomaShield27]

http://www.daylife.com/photo/0aDs9sS8zogh1/Roma



"How the fuck did I end up sitting beside this smelly fool".

[p_maldini_3]

galliani has no balls. neither does ancelotti.

its a fucking shame.

[San Paolo]

[RomaShield27]

David Beckham's AC Milan move an exercise in brand back-scratching
8:22PM GMT 09 Jan 2009 – www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football



How many shirts can a boy dream of wearing? David Beckham listed the Rossoneri as a boyhood yearning, which was news to the canny reporter who combed the autobiography in vain for a reference to the red and black of AC Milan.

The alignment with Milan, whether or not it prevails beyond the March 9 deadline, is an exercise in brand back-scratching. Beckham gets to make a plausible case for himself as a footballer still of global standing, Milan and associated partners to score a merchandising goal or two. Cynical? Already Adidas have rolled out boots bearing the number 32 alongside a diminutive tricolour on the heel. Dad, can I have a pair of Beckham Milans for my birthday? Only £120 in the sale.

Panini have distributed the first stickers of Beckham in the Milan shirt. That will cost you a pound (0.98 euro) the next time you buy a newspaper with little Gianni in tow. Alexi Lalas, who in the role of LA Galaxy general manager unveiled Beckham as an MLS footballer two years ago, fears Beckham may not be back to Carson. The argument is not without weight, despite the worthy counter rolled out by Beckham's spokesman Simon Oliveira.

Beckham sold his £128 million, five-year adventure as a pioneering move to conquer soccer's final frontier. In North America football remains mired in the margins, a minority sport, unless you are a young woman, in which case you are likely to play it and be watched. The Galaxy could not draw flies to a dump, an expression oft used by boxing promoter Frank Warren when dismissing the appeal of Lennox Lewis.

The three kings, Pele, Franz Beckenbauer and George Best, all had a crack at the American market in the Seventies when the New York Cosmos were the chosen battering ram that would knock baseball, gridiron and basketball into the bleachers. Only 19 Entertainment and Posh would give Goldenballs a game in the same team as that timeless trio. What had Beckham to offer that they did not, beyond celebrity? Giorgio Armani pants and a bottle of Eau de Cologne?

Beckham made his Galaxy debut in July 2007, a cameo as a 78th-minute substitute against Chelsea. ESPN had one of 19 cameras pointing only at Beckham all night.
Galaxy lost 1-0, a result that neatly summed up the plot. The match drew record ratings for an MLS team on ESPN and meant nothing. Galaxy have yet to make the play-offs with Beckham. On the pitch he isn't working. No surprise to old football heads. It was never about the game. The idea of Beckham has long outlived his usefulness in the middle.

The blond boy that pinned crosses to the heads of a generation of Manchester United strikers in the Nineties is no more. Accounts of his Milan 'debut' against Hamburg in Dubai did little to persuade us that the move to the San Siro has authentic legs. Italian scribblers focused on the Beckham error that almost led to a Hamburg goal. He did not appear for the second half. No point. There are those in England who choke on the thought of Beckham equalling Bobby Moore's record for an outfield player of 108 caps, should he make Fabio Capello's XI against Spain next month.

The Milan move is dressed up as a sincere attempt to prolong his international career. In his simple footballing soul, Beckham imagines that to be the case. It is almost eight years since he put the ball in the Greek net to take England to the World Cup in Japan and Korea. None could bend it like Beckham then. What a moment, England 2-1 down, seconds remaining, nails bitten to the quick in the Stretford End. Beckham addresses the ball. To miss would have condemned England to a play-off against Ukraine. The ball never looked like missing. Under the greatest pressure, on the highest stage with nil room for error, Beckham delivered, just like he did every time he pulled on a Manchester United shirt.

That was what made Beckham great. He was never a Best, a Bobby Charlton. He never claimed to be. But he was the goods in his own sweet way.
Not any more. He turns 34 in May. The legs have lost their lustre. Football is a young man's game. Good luck with the underpants and perfume. That's where the action is now.

[vtec]

so true. it tests my gag reflexes. fuck you berlusconi and galliani.

[ricky2882]

[Carlo Romano]

Guys, this Mexes thing isn't going to go away just yet...

Mediaset today seemed adamant there will be contact between Mexes' agent and Milan, as does French outlet L'Equipe, despite all the denials elsewhere.

Then again perhaps Berlusconi is trying to influence things?

[p_maldini_3]

[SuperPippo9]

[Carlo Romano]

[San Paolo]

[quote]The signs currently point towards young midfield prodigy Yoann Gourcuff remaining in Bordeaux rather than moving back to parent club AC Milan in the summer.

Ahead of a very important match against Paris Saint-Germain this evening, Girondins de Bordeaux will have received a substantial boost as Yoann Gourcuff, their star man this season, revealed that he is ready to remain with the Stade Chaban-Delmas club after his loan deal from AC Milan expires in the summer.

The 22 year-old has out-performed expectations during his loan stay in Aquitaine and Bordeaux, who have an option to buy the player for a fee believed to be worth between €12 million and €15 million, are likely to exercise this right should Gourcuff give them the go-ahead.

In an interview with JDD, it seems that Gourcuff is ready to do just that. “I have not heard anything from [Carlo] Ancelotti,â€

[p_maldini_3]

the gourcuff deal is actually a little over 20m euros; if bordeaux do activate the buy clause then we'll pocket quite some money... but i still don't want him out.

[The MAN]

why the fuck is Beckham starting? Why the fuck is he in this team to begin with?

This is fucking great, we're playing a tough away game with no fucking DM in the lineup when we have both Flamini and Ambro available. carlo's balance is killing us, either 2 DMs against some shitty team in San Siro or this

I've had it with the idiocy of BF and Carlo, fuck both of them

[San Paolo]

Donadoni in the summer for me, or Rijkaard, Carlo is really looking clueless now game after game baffling tactics, im sorry but this tinkering is killing us

[The MAN]

I dont even feel like watching this team anymore, this is not Milan, we've simply become a rotten version of the Galacticos experiment

[San Paolo]

and look where the galactico's has gotten Madrid? and look what they had to do to start winning again

[vtec]

i would even take guardalben, or whoever that palermo asshole who kept getting fired and rehired was at this point. beckham has no business being on the pitch but i had no doubt that as long as he is on the team, the money is too good to have him sit out and he will play. this is why i've been so negative about this team's chances. we have no chance this season.

[The MAN]

[vtec]

[The MAN]