AC Milan general spiel

[p_maldini_3]

[stefano]

[p_maldini_3]

[stefano]

[Mohammad Shukri]

[Mohammad Shukri]

[stefano]

[RomaShield27]

Milan refuse to budge in Beckham talks
Sat Feb 21, 2009 11:18am –

MILAN, Feb 21 (Reuters) - AC Milan do not want to increase their offer to sign David Beckham permanently from Los Angeles Galaxy, club chief executive Adriano Galliani has said. The England midfielder has been impressive during a two-month loan at the San Siro and Milan made an initial offer to keep him full-time earlier this month. Galaxy rejected the bid, which media reports have put between $3 million and $6.3 million.

The 33-year-old wants to stay with Milan and has a get-out clause in his Galaxy contract for the end of the next Major League Soccer season. Milan therefore do not see why they should pay more, with Galaxy hinting they want $12 million.

"I don't intend to cause controversy, I thank Galaxy for having let us have Beckham on loan in these months. I absolutely won't (increase the offer). I have the experience to know the price of a player," Galliani told Gazzetta dello Sport's website (www.gazzetta.it) on Saturday.

"Milan made an offer that was right for a 'loan' of around eight months because...on November 30 David can free himself from his contract for nothing," Galliani said. MLS originally said a deal had to be done by Feb. 13 but Milan ignored the deadline and said last Friday could be the decisive day.

However, a Milan director's trip to Los Angeles was cancelled on the request of Galaxy and the Serie A club instead began to hope that a deal could be concluded early this week. If a compromise is found then Beckham is likely to be offered a Milan deal up to June 2010. His current loan is until March 9 when Galaxy expect him back for the start of the new MLS season. However, technically the loan is until June meaning a deal can take place outside of the January transfer window.

[shingai]

I think it says something about the nature of football today that a transfer saga over a player (who isn't at the level of the very very best in the world) gets a club more attention than appearing in three champions league finals in 6 years and winning twice, as well as winning the "World club cup."

If anything I think football itself has become bastardized, and to survive as a big club, you have to bastardize yourself. Quality and success alone, apparently, are not enough to catch up with the Manchester Uniteds and Chelseas in terms of fan base. For whatever reason, probably commercial/financial reasons, Berlu has targeted a fan base expansion as a key to Milan's long term strategy for financial independence - probably not a bad move from a business perspective. Obviously the transition is a bit uncomfortable for the original Milan fan base, who have different values from the (fairweather) fans gained through marketing, and for the club itself, which is used to getting fans through simply the attractiveness of its football - that's how I became a fan of Milan; I enjoy their style of play more than that of any other club.

You also have to have name brand players on the side (and of course, win trophies consistently). Obviously, Beckham is the ultimate name brand. So I can see where some think his move was purely for marketing reasons. But then again, you still have to win games to get the audience...look at how the Galaxy could not really take advantage of Beckham's image because they were a shite team. hence, I think that there was still a sporting element to the transfer. I can't say what percentage, and at the end of the day it doesn't matter since he does make a meaningful contribution to the team (for all of his limitations). He's certainly consistently playing better than Pirlo, an automatic starter.

[The MAN]

[Mohammad Shukri]

[p_maldini_3]

[shingai]

[p_maldini_3]

[The MAN]

[RobHood]

Our medical team went to shit after the previous director retired; don't remember the guys name or anything but it seemed weird that his retirement coincided with the constant injuries.

On the bright side, we got three points we badly needed to keep ahead of the rest of the pack...the last thing we need is to get involved in another CL spot dogfight. Speaking of which, how will Berlusconi react to our season so far after expecting us to "be champions"; I don't think Ancelotti should keep the job unless we end up in 2nd place (or win the UEFA with a CL spot).

[The MAN]

2nd place and 3rd place make no difference as far as I know when it comes to CL, I thought UEFA changed the rules so that top 3 are automatic CL spots and 4th goes an extra round of qualifiers no? Somebody might want to look this one up just to make sure

[p_maldini_3]

top 2 are automatic CL spots, 3rd and 4th place have to go through qualifying.

i think irrespective of our position in the end, unless its first place (which i highly doubt), carlo has to go. i read somewhere that if carlo wins the uefa cup, he might be allowed to stay. but thats not enough, we need a league title.

[p_maldini_3]

carlo's post-match comments are certainly interesting:

Ancelotti: Fans are fed up
Sunday 22 February, 2009
Carlo Ancelotti insists Milan did what they had to do today, but concedes the fans might be “a little fed up with me.â€

[maro]

Mouldyknee, I heard something on the radio today which suggested that in the Premiershite the top three will now get automatic qualification to the CL for next season. I don't know if that's true and if it also applies to Italy (the English 'co-efficient' is presumably at an all-time high, though that may not be relevant here), but it might suggest the Man's version is more up-to-date than yours (and mine - I'd no idea the set-up might have changed).