(10-11-2016, 04:35 PM)somedevil Wrote: This for me id the key point- I can totally see this happening if things don't work out well or we make bad signings. I can understand his reasons and given the kind of person he has been throughout his career, this makes me worry a bit about the way things are going.
What is he not saying that he knows of? Clearly he doesn't think much of the new structure that is about to be put into place. Coming from someone as experienced in this sport as him, especially someone who is a successful businessman and now a team owner, it worries me.
From a personal point of view, he has every right to reject a new job if he doesn't feel that it is right by his standards. If Maldini would've come back, it would have been a big deal and his reputation would've been at stake. If he didn't feel that he could do his best under such circumstances, then hs is right to decline the offer.
From my point of view, it does seem like the new management just want to get a legend back to get on the good side of fans. The way they have been trotting out names. I just hope that they can appoint competitive people in the right positions.
I disagree.
I love Maldini myself, but he can't get all the breaks here. If it was Galliani we were talking about offering Maldini a spot...I can see the skepticism, but we literary know almost nothing about the investors (apart from the fact that they are spending half a billion Euros on Milan + signed a document to invest a further 350mil) so at the present time, I really have no ammunition against them. I can not just criticize them because they didn't give Maldini what he wanted.
Whether he deserves it or not is not the question. If you ask me, I would have given him the DS role with the primary focus on transfers and player acquisitions. He knows enough about the sporting sector to do this. Than, I would have hired another guy (Mirabelli) to take care of the sporting sector that is internal to the club....meaning the integration of young players, loans out, link between all the squads and the coaching staff, etc. But, for whatever reason, Mirabelli (who has more experience in a similar role) was chosen for a DS role. I don't necessarily agree with this, but it's done.
The fact remains that he was given a role that ranked really high within the organization. In all honesty, it looks like it was going to be: 1. owners 2. CEO 3. Mirabelli/Maldini (with perhaps Mirabelli ranking slightly higher on certain things). That's absolutely an acceptable position for someone that has never held a management spot. Like Reza said, nobody would have blamed Maldini for failures if everyone knew that there are 2 guys (Fassone and Mirabelli) that are on top of the "food chain". I think this is a baseless statement from Paolo. He had the opportunity to start working with the club and have a big say along the way. Sure there may have been some disagreements along the way, but you gotta see how they pan out first.
He also went on to say that rumors about money have been put out there from people that have known him for 30 years. I wonder who he is talking about. I personally don't buy the money part. I don't think that this was the issue....although he has every right to ask for a respectable salary and nobody should be expected to work for little money compared to the market....just because he loves the club.
I think we all love Maldini so much, that it's easy to defend him. He is our legend. Our face. Our hero. But there is no denying that throughout the years he has proven to be somewhat of a difficult character. He speaks his mind (not necessarily a bad thing, don't get me wrong) and it was no different this time. There was absolutely no reason to go to the media last week to release that statement in such detail. Let the rumors be rumors, and handle the business quietly and privately. You can always clarify things after it's all set and done.
Again, the biggest problem imo is the "power aspect". Maldini is a strong character, and he wasn't given the power that he wanted. He did not want to work in accordance with Mirabelli and wanted autonomy. He says that he respects the CEO, but when he was told that in case of a disagreement between himself and Mirabelli, it will be the CEO that has the final say....AND HE DIDN'T LIKE THAT! How? Does he want the final say? It's ok if he does, but clearly the Chinese weren't prepared to do that. And surely, being pretty much appointed as the 4th highest executive in the club is no small feat...so I can't imagine what it was that he exactly wanted.
Also, on his comments of:
“I told him I didn’t think that was the basis for a winning team. I’ve been part of teams which have made football history, and I know that to achieve resultsthere has to be great synergy between all the corporate bodies and major investors, in addition to well-defined roles."
I'm sorry....but I call bullshit on that. "I know that to achieve results, there has to be great synergy between all the corporate bodies and major investors, in addition to well-defined roles"???? What "well defined roles" were there in Milan fort 30 years? I'll tell you.....only 2 roles were well defined. That of Berlusconi and Galliani....and those roles were defined as "dictators". Simple as that. Braida was here, but never had power. Others were here, but never had power nor say. It was always the final word of Galliani in accordance with Berlusconi. There was no synergy between corporate bodies. There was only Berlusconi and what he wanted to do. He either wanted to pour millions into Milan or not. Until he did, Milan was on top of the world. When he decided to stop, a bunch of shady deals started happening and we fell off the world map. So this whole statement by Maldini is a bunch of shit!
I've said many times....it's wrong to have one person have all the power. I am really sad to see this, and I am really sorry that this happened.....but to me, it looks like this is exactly what Maldini wanted. He wanted a defined role which enabled him to make decisions as he saw fit. No checks, no balances.
Maybe he was scared that Fassone will always side with Mirabelli, and the Chinese will always back Fassone....which ultimately gives Maldini's opinions (if they differ) no credibility. It's a fair point.....but like I said earlier....you've never worked with these people so how do you know if disagreements will be handled in that way. Why not give it a go for a year and see how it goes. Maybe the collaboration would have been a great thing.