Re: the most influential person behind the success

by M99 Wed Feb 05, 2014 6:54 am

guest_07 wrote:
Lord Spencer wrote:For Milan I am going with a top 5:

1- Berlusconi and Galliani:

Despite all the hate these guys get now, with the first's money and influence and with the second's transfer intelligence, Milan had their most successful period in history.

Also, since the period coincided with the rise of TV viewership, Milan are now set as a powerhouse traditionally without actually being one at the moment.

2- The Maldini family:

The Maldini's can actually get first place if any of Paolo's sons become club legends. As it stand now, Cesare Maldini won 4 Serie As and one CL.

Paolo in the other hand won 7 Serie As and 5 CL among other trophies. Here is hoping his son follow in their footsteps.

3- Nils Liedholm:

As one of the famous Swedish trio Gre-No-Li, Nils was the mastermind behind Milan's first Serie Title in 50 years, and also their first period of dominance. Not stopping with his sport career, Nils went on as a coach for Milan in a semi-successful stint with a CL final to his name both as a player (losing against Di Stefano's Madrid) and as a Coach (losing to the famous 80's Liverpool on penalties).

4- Arrigo Sacchi:

Sacchi did not only evolve Milan, but also football as a whole. His style resonated with Milan throughout their Berlu era, and it is the reason Milan were more successful commercially than other teams in that era. If his era was just five years ahead, Milan might have become a powerhouse to rival United.

5- Carlo Ancelotti:

Carlo first made his print as a player in the Sacchi era, and then came back as a manager.

IMO, Carlo could have been much more successful with the team he had. Milan from 2003-2007 had the strongest spine in the world, and it were Carlo's mistakes that not cost us 2004's match against Deportivo, 2005 Final againt Liverpool, and 2006 Semi against Barca.

While it can be said that Ancelotti lost the plot too many times to be in this list, he still assembled a Milan team that managed to dominate Europe for five years.

Arguably, Carlo's greatest achievement is turning Pirlo into a DLP, which payed dividends for Milan, Italy, and now to Juventus.

i'm curious, no trio of van basten, gullit & rijkaard?

Yeah and the too. My list would be in chronological order.

1) Herbert Kiplin: Founder of Milan and our best player in the infant years of the Italian league. Won us a set of trophies which we would not win for nearly 50 years, designed our iconic red and black jersey too and also gave us the nickname of Il Diavolo.

2) Cesare Maldini and Gre-No-Li: The faces of Milan for our period of dominance in the 50s. Made us a powerhouse in Italy.

3) Nereo Rocco and Gianni Rivera: The coach and player made Milan the European powerhouse and household name we know today. Rocco, the mastermind of cantenaccio won us 2 CLs and made us the strongest team in Italy. Rivera meanwhile was our best player and best player in all of Europe. He was the face of Italian football and one of Europe's biggest superstars whose name was synonymous with Milan. 2 CLs and Ballon D Or to his name, it's not a coinicidence Milan fell in decline after he retired.

4)B & G: Berlusconi's money and influence and Galliani's management and transfer dealings made Milan the most successful club in the world. They made Milan one the very best and successful clubs in the history of football.

5) Sacchi, Capello, Baresi, Maldini and the Dutch trio: The coach who revolutionised football and the mastermind behind one of the greatest teams in football history. Two of the very best defenders in history and servants who player for Milan for almost a combined 50 years. Three of the very finest players of their generation. Then you have the person who inherited the team and bought even more success.

6) Carlo Anceolotti: Made the Milan side that dominated in Europe and raised our stellar reputation and prestige even higher in the modern era.

by Forza Wed Feb 05, 2014 7:39 am

I really do dislike the "most influential" tag being given to any one person. For a club with such a long and distinguished history, like Milan, there were many influences on different parts of the club. Each has a different contributions. How can you quantify the coaching contributions of Kilpin, Rocco, Liedholm, Sacchi, Capello, Ancelotti, etc. compared to the financial contributions of Berlusconi or the playing contribution of Paolo Maldini?

by guest_07 Wed Feb 05, 2014 8:12 am

Forza wrote:I really do dislike the "most influential" tag being given to any one person. For a club with such a long and distinguished history, like Milan, there were many influences on different parts of the club. Each has a different contributions. How can you quantify the coaching contributions of Kilpin, Rocco, Liedholm, Sacchi, Capello, Ancelotti, etc. compared to the financial contributions of Berlusconi or the playing contribution of Paolo Maldini?

if we can choose 1 best player among gk, cb, sb, wb, dm, cm, am, ss, st

why not in this case?

by rwo power Wed Feb 05, 2014 10:00 am

guest_07 wrote:if we can choose 1 best player among gk, cb, sb, wb, dm, cm, am, ss, st
why not in this case?

Because the development of a club is a long process, where every era had very different needs and different rules. Up to the 70es or so, commercial deals with football clubs were unheard of, for example. In Germany there were strict caps on what any one player was allowed to earn etc. In such an environment, you needed completely different structures and thus different kinds of people to bring the team forward.

Moreover - what exactly do you define as "success"? Just trophies? Or how to position a club economically to build a proper foundation to obtain the coaches / players to gain that success?

E.g. when Uli Hoeneß took over as Manager in Bayern in 1979, they were 7 million DM in debt - a very high sum at that time. In his first year as manager, Hoeneß then obtained commercial deals and made 12 million DM so that Bayern suddenly earned a profit, thus laying the foundation that Bayern could become as wealthy as they are now, so that they are able to contract the best coaches and players.

So are the coaches and players more influential or the manager who made it possible to get them in the first place?

by Lord Spencer Wed Feb 05, 2014 10:22 am

What I tried to do is mention the prime names for each era, and the importance of that era for subsequent years. I intentionally limited myself to five in order to really think about the question at hand:

1- Berlu and Galliani were the custodians for Milan's most successful period in history. Obviously, under them are all the players, managers, and staff on those eras.

2- The Maldini Family, because they span three Eras (two with Paolo) and represent the Family tradition and close knit tie Milan has with its players over time. They also represent the emotions fans put into the team as the Maldini family continues to be fans of the team as well as players.

3- Nils Liedholm was arguably the most important player in the Gre-No-Li trio, as he not only assisted most of their goals, but also scored many himself. His contributions spanned another era as he put in the groundwork in terms of tactics that Sacchi later used. Under Nils would be the contribution of the trio as well as the players in both eras.

4- Sacchi comes in and makes Milan the strongest team in the world. Under him would be the legandery work of the Dutch trio as well as Donadoni, Capello later as coah, and Capello's players from Boban to others as well.

5- Carlo's era, which is underscored by amazing players such as Seedorf, Kaka, Pirlo, Gattuso, Cafu, Nesta, Maldini, Inzaghi, Sheva, Rui Costa, Serghinio, etc.

Each of those represent at least two eras in Milan's history, with all but Sacchi and B&G being both players and coaches of Milan.

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