Massimo Moratti's Legacy

.h. · Oct 26, 2014

Probably quite a polarising and controversial article...

Massimo Moratti's Legacy

bandiera · Oct 26, 2014

Sure, but who says Thohir can do what needs to be done? His credentials are shoddy at best, and a year into Thohir's presidency, we still don't understand his strategy.

Inter is more than money, trophies, or success, which is why it was always wonderful to have a president who was a fan. It's discomforting to have an owner who doesn't give a shit about Inter as a club, but Inter as a brand instead - although Moratti's time had to come to an end.

I hope Thohir can be our Jean-Michel Aulas, and when the ship finally settles, he'll hand over the reigns to Zanetti.
I don't see him staying on for the next 30 years, for example.

.h. · Oct 26, 2014

What makes you think Zanetti can do it?

I've been pretty impressed with Thohir so far. We've seen boosted commercial revenues, the younger players who are more likely to attract the higher reputation and marketing deals are getting their chances now.

All I know is that, in my opinion at least, Moratti was a failure overall as a president. Misguided management appointments, squandered literally billions, etc.

Grateful for having had him here, but its li going out with the bad girl, you try it once but you realise its not a viable long term option

bandiera · Oct 26, 2014

I don't want to agree with you because I don't want to face the truth. Moratti's reign was not a success from a rational point of view - all our titles were won after Juve and Milan were crippled by calciopoli. As a fan though, I will always be thankful for what he gave to Inter.

I haven't seen anything particularly impressive from Thohir. Matchday revenues have gone down the drain and he doesn't understand football (but he's deciding what players to sign, what coach to hire etc). He has spent 70 million euros on Mazzarri's requests over 3 transfer windows, and is keeping him for the sake of not sacking him. Where's the new stadium? Instead he wants to renovate the Meazza to cut corners.

His goal is to market Inter as the best club in the world (globalize like United under Gill), and to make us popular in Asia. Has he given any indication of knowing how to do this? He seemingly doesn't realize it's more difficult to market a shitty product than a good product. Inter fans are even distancing themselves from the club (the ones that are still go to the stadium only jeer and whistle), and yet he thinks everyone else will be attracted by Mazzarri's "champagne" football?

.h. · Oct 26, 2014

matchday revenues have been going down in Serie A as a whole for ages, and its hardly surprising, with Mazzarri still at the helm. I think the one thing to criticise him for is that Mazzarri is still here.
Beyond that, though...

Sponsorship revenues etc have all increased substantially since Thohir took over, I actually believe in his plan, and I think if we can match that with performances we will see substantial growth from Inter in the coming years. He's trying to swim uphill at the moment. It'll be interesting to see what happens when he swims with the flow.

bandiera · Oct 26, 2014

Inter needs a businessman in charge, yes, but it's still a football club first and foremost.

I don't see how we will be able to match those new opportunities with performances with WM as manager. Even if he leaves, we still require a lot of investment in the squad if we want to go ahead with the 4 man defense.

Thohir knows nothing about football. We spent 15 million on a washed up, extremely inconsistent Hernanes, 9 million on a distinctly average Medel, 9 million on Dodo (who has been impressive nonetheless, but Roma still got a lot more than he was worth), and couldn't cough up a million for our best defender last season. He talks about us getting back into the top 10 clubs in Europe within the next two years, and yet he has no idea how to do that.

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and for example, the sponsorships will only get worse and worse if we don't get become more marketable on the pitch.

.h. · Oct 26, 2014

but even the best football experts dont get it right 100% of the time. I think it was Ferguson who said... 3 out of 5 is a really good ratio.

Yeah, I've also criticised him for sticking with Mazzarri, but that aside, we've done pretty well tbh.

bandiera · Oct 26, 2014

browha said:
but even the best football experts dont get it right 100% of the time. I think it was Ferguson who said... 3 out of 5 is a really good ratio.

Yeah, I've also criticised him for sticking with Mazzarri, but that aside, we've done pretty well tbh.

Have we though? Aside from the Osvaldo deal, none of our dealings under Thohir have stood out. Apparently he was also behind the first mercato under Mazzarri (which was largely a failure).

And you can't put faith in Thohir based on the logic that "Ferguson gets it right 60% of the time, so if Thohir has the same success rate, they have similar knowledge in football".

Jean Michel Aulas, probably the most pragmatic president in football, said that the way to build a good football club is to buy players for less they are worth -> add value to the squad -> get better results -> get more money -> repeat/invest in squad.

instead, thohir has hired a shitty manager -> pays a lot for average players (requested by the manager) -> aims high -> hasn't gotten results/shitty football -> aims lower -> qualifies for EL despite spending 50 million in the summer -> pays more money for more average players (requested by manager) -> extends manager's contract -> aims high again -> more bad results/shitty football -> gives manager time to reach that objective despite the amount of time and money he has been given

.h. · Oct 26, 2014

Since when did I say that was the logic here? All I'm saying is that just because a few transfers haven't worked out as we'd hoped, doesn't mean anything...

bandiera · Oct 26, 2014

browha said:
Since when did I say that was the logic here? All I'm saying is that just because a few transfers haven't worked out as we'd hoped, doesn't mean anything...

It was a poor analogy, yes, but my point is that even if a reputable transfer director has the same success rate as Thohir, it doesn't mean they both know the same amount about football, or that if you expand the sample size, they will continue to have similar rates.

Also, even if Thohir gets 3 out of 5 deals right, we can't afford to lose out on those 2 deals. We need to be much more stingy with our money (ie. 9 million on Silvestre, 9 million on Pereira, 20 million on Ranocchia, 7 million on Forlan, 9 million on Medel, 9 million on Dodo, 15 million on Hernanes, 13 million on Guarin, 11 million on Alvarez etc).

.h. · Oct 26, 2014

We can't afford it, but what do you expect? No one is going to get it right 100% of the time.. You dont get a successful 20m signing without actually making 20m signings.

bandiera · Oct 26, 2014

The economic and sporting sides of a football club are tied together. One is largely dependent on the other, which is a reason I remain skeptical of Thohir.

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browha said:
We can't afford it, but what do you expect? No one is going to get it right 100% of the time.. You dont get a successful 20m signing without actually making 20m signings.

We shouldn't be spending that much regularly when we aren't in any position to challenge for the title, or when we simply can't afford the risk! We should only get a player if we're getting them for much less than they are worth, and only then would it be worth it.

eg. out of form, expiring contract etc.

.h. · Oct 26, 2014

I dont really agree on that. Glazer at United was extremely successful without knowing anything about football coming in to it, for example.

It's the same as anything else. You can be a good manager/leader, 95% of it is hiring the right advisors and letting them set the directions. Which, I think, Thohir is doing as well as he can do.

bandiera · Oct 26, 2014

browha said:
I dont really agree on that. Glazer at United was extremely successful without knowing anything about football coming in to it, for example.

It's the same as anything else. You can be a good manager/leader, 95% of it is hiring the right advisors and letting them set the directions. Which, I think, Thohir is doing as well as he can do.

yeah, but Gill was the driving force behind United's globalization. Glazer arrived in 2003, and Gill arrived in 1997 (was promoted as CEO in 2003) when Ferguson and UNited were an already established footballing force in England and EUrope.

Inter, on the other hand, is completely different.

.h. · Oct 26, 2014

Yeah, but look at how the company has gone up in value since then? The valuation now - despite having smaller revenues than Real or Barca, and no European football - is still the most valuable club in the world (I believe?)

And that's the whole point. You can be a top chairman even without experience in the immediate sector, but rather, by hiring the right people who do.

Unfortunately at Inter we can't compete for the very best, but the guys we have signed seem damn good and are a clear and massive improvement on what we have already. It's a gamble for us on some of them, but if it comes off, it'll come off spectacularly

bandiera · Oct 26, 2014

But that's my point. Do you think that growth could've been possible in that time period had Glazer/Gill arrived when Ferguson came to the club from Aberdeen (and United were a midtable side)?

The thing that facilitated their globalization was their success and the players that they had. eg. Cristiano fucken Ronaldo, Giggs, Van Nistelrooy, Scholes, Ferdinand, Keane, Barthez, Neville etc. It would've been impossible without that.

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browha said:
Unfortunately at Inter we can't compete for the very best, but the guys we have signed seem damn good and are a clear and massive improvement on what we have already. It's a gamble for us on some of them, but if it comes off, it'll come off spectacularly

Disagree entirely. We have signed players and built a squad that is suited to Mazzarri's system. It won't come off anytime soon, unless we splurge some MORE cash when Mazzarri is fired (which will not happen).

.h. · Oct 26, 2014

Maybe it could have, maybe it couldn't. But what *DID* happen was that a chairman who didnt know anything about football bought the club, and trusted the RIGHT people to do the job. And they did.

Regarding the talent, I was talking about our new marketing managers and CEO etc

bandiera · Oct 26, 2014

browha said:
Maybe it could have, maybe it couldn't. But what *DID* happen was that a chairman who didnt know anything about football bought the club, and trusted the RIGHT people to do the job. And they did.

Regarding the talent, I was talking about our new marketing managers and CEO etc

Oh

my bad.

I still don't see how it would be possible to make a midtable/EL side one of the most popular clubs in the world. It has never happened in the past, for example.

You've made your points, I've made mine. Lets just agree to disagree, and hope for the best.

.h. · Oct 26, 2014

We obviously cant survive long term with that strategy as we are now, but there's no harm in developing our marketing and so on now. Without success on the football pitch nothing else will fall into place, but its good to build foundations and stuff anyway where possible.

Plus, you might as well have good staff than mediocre staff. I use the word staff there loosely, I mean more like... family and friends who are paid to sit around

JJM · Oct 26, 2014

Let's fire ET get a Arab sheikh make him spend 100m€ in the next mercato and wave UCL goodbye for the next 10 years due to a UEFA intervention.

:challenge:

people should be pleased then!I'm mean we finally get to spend right?!

blivious:

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