The Serb is the fourth Milan boss in just over two years to be sacked for poor results - it's now clear the real problem at San Siro is the club owner and his long-time lieutenant
When Silvio Berlusconi offered Arrigo Sacchi the AC Milan job in 1987, the then-Parma coach returned to his family and said: "He's either crazy or a genius."
As it transpired, Berlusconi's decision to take a gamble on a former shoe salesman with just two years' experience in the professional game proved inspired, with Sacchi going on to fashion arguably the greatest club side the game has ever seen. However, nearly 30 years on, the perception of the Milan owner has changed dramatically in light of his increasingly erratic behaviour.
On March 24, Berlusconi promised Sinisa Mihajlovic that he would keep his job as coach if he won the Coppa Italia. On Monday evening, the Serb was informed that his services were no longer required - nearly six full weeks before the Rossoneri's showdown with Juventus at the Stadio Olimpico.
Mihajlovic's dismissal came just two days after a Serie A loss to the Bianconeri yet the 2-1 defeat at San Siro was hardly a factor. Indeed, Milan had actually performed well against the league leaders and would have claimed at least a draw had it not been for the brilliance of Juve goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon. However, the decision to sack Mihajlovic had already been taken.
After the funeral of Milan legend Cesare Maldini last Tuesday, Berlusconi sat down with vice-president Adriano Galliani and former coach Sacchi. It was passed off as a gathering of old friends but the topic of discussion was not Milan's past but its future.
Galliani proposed former Italy boss Marcello Lippi as a potential successor to Mihajlovic, while Sacchi championed the cause of Sassuolo coach Eusebio Di Francesco. Berlusconi, though, had his heart set on Cristian Brocchi - which has been the case for some time now - and what Silvio wants, Silvio gets.
So it came to pass that on Monday night, Primavera coach Brocchi was offered the top job at Milan over the course of a three-hour meeting with Brocchi and Galliani at Arcore. For the third time in two-and-a-half years, the reins have been passed to a former Rossoneri player with no coaching experience at the highest level, after the previous appointments of Clarence Seedorf and Filippo Inzaghi.
Mihajlovic had known the end was nigh since last week and accepted his fate with good grace. "Like every coach in the world, I'm judged on results," he stated before the Juve defeat. "If the team does not perform, then it's right that I be sacked, even before the end of the season."
Certainly, Milan's recent form has been poor. After seeing a 12-game unbeaten run in all competitions come to an end at Sassuolo on March 6, the Rossoneri were then held by both Chievo and Lazio before losing to Atalanta and Juve, thus leaving them sixth in the Serie A standings, 15 points outside the Champions League places.
It is undeniable that Milan no longer boast the same quality of player that were once taken for granted at San Siro but Mihajlovic's men repeatedly underperformed this season. They proved their competence against quality sides such as Fiorentina (2-0), Inter (3-0) and Napoli (1-1) yet flopped horribly against the likes of Atalanta (1-2) and Bologna (0-1). A lack of motivation and lapses in concentration have been major issues all season long and Mihajlovic, as he himself admitted, must accept the blame for such basic deficiencies.
"I don't have any problem holding my hands up, if there isn't the right spirit then I'm the first to take the blame and I have to transmit certain things," he confessed. "If I can't do that, then I've failed."
Still, the fact remains that the former set-piece specialist was given an imbalanced squad with which to work. Some €87 million was spent last summer yet glaring gaps in the squad - particularly in midfield - were never adequately filled. That was obvious to everyone connected with the club, most of all the fans, who were calling for Galliani to resign even before the season began.
So it came to pass that on Monday night, Primavera coach Brocchi was offered the top job at Milan over the course of a three-hour meeting with Brocchi and Galliani at Arcore. For the third time in two-and-a-half years, the reins have been passed to a former Rossoneri player with no coaching experience at the highest level, after the previous appointments of Clarence Seedorf and Filippo Inzaghi.
Mihajlovic had known the end was nigh since last week and accepted his fate with good grace. "Like every coach in the world, I'm judged on results," he stated before the Juve defeat. "If the team does not perform, then it's right that I be sacked, even before the end of the season."
Certainly, Milan's recent form has been poor. After seeing a 12-game unbeaten run in all competitions come to an end at Sassuolo on March 6, the Rossoneri were then held by both Chievo and Lazio before losing to Atalanta and Juve, thus leaving them sixth in the Serie A standings, 15 points outside the Champions League places.
It is undeniable that Milan no longer boast the same quality of player that were once taken for granted at San Siro but Mihajlovic's men repeatedly underperformed this season. They proved their competence against quality sides such as Fiorentina (2-0), Inter (3-0) and Napoli (1-1) yet flopped horribly against the likes of Atalanta (1-2) and Bologna (0-1). A lack of motivation and lapses in concentration have been major issues all season long and Mihajlovic, as he himself admitted, must accept the blame for such basic deficiencies.
"I don't have any problem holding my hands up, if there isn't the right spirit then I'm the first to take the blame and I have to transmit certain things," he confessed. "If I can't do that, then I've failed."
Still, the fact remains that the former set-piece specialist was given an imbalanced squad with which to work. Some €87 million was spent last summer yet glaring gaps in the squad - particularly in midfield - were never adequately filled. That was obvious to everyone connected with the club, most of all the fans, who were calling for Galliani to resign even before the season began.
Indeed, this is nothing new. Massimiliano Allegri, who led Milan to the title in his first season at the helm and has since further proven his worth at Juventus, saw the heart ripped out of his squad by the summer sales of his two best players, Thiago Silva and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, as it became clear that the seven-time champions of Europe had become a selling club. Seedorf and Inzaghi were subsequently expected to somehow get Milan back among the continent's elite with sub-standard squads. "You can't make fine wine out of turnips," as coaching legend Giovanni Trapattoni famously said of SuperPippo's attempts to reinvigorate the Rossoneri last season.
Sacchi has described Berlusconi as a great "innovator" but despite all of the talk of creating an 'all-Italian Milan', there has also been a contradictory lack of imagination about the way in which he and Galliani have gone about their business this term - and nowhere was this better illustrated than by the January return of Kevin-Prince Boateng.
Whereas once Berlusconi was leading Milan forward, now he is holding them back. He has always seen himself as the most important person at the club. "They speak of the Milan of Sacchi, [Alberto] Zaccheroni and [Carlo] Ancelotti and never talk of the Milan of Berlusconi," he lamented in 2004. "Yet it is I who for 18 years has been picking the team, stating the rules and buying the players!"
However, it has to work both ways. If Berlusconi wants all of the credit for making Milan a dominant force in Europe, he must now also take the blame for allowing them to become Serie A also-rans. It is clear that the 79-year-old no longer has neither the resources nor the nous to restore the Rossoneri to their former glory. His proposed sale of a majority stake in the club to Thai businessman Bee Taechaubol has been lingering on for so long, it has now become farcical.
And the more Berlusconi changes the coach, the more things stay the same. Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is certainly not the sign of genius; it is the definition of madness.
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