When Elliott took ownership of AC Milan after Li Yonghong had defaulted on his loan repayment plans, they found the club in a dire financial situation, especially as the Rossoneri spent around 230 million euros in the summer of 2017.
Elliott's first plan was, and still is, to achieve a positive balance sheet. Giorgio Furlani, who is Elliott's portfolio manager and one of AC Milan's director, spoke of the situation to the microphones of Financial Business Forum:
"We started as financiers, but after a year Milan and its owner were in financial difficulties, so we had to enter and stabilize the boat. We found a disastrous situation, the club was going bankrupt from a cash point of view, the financial situation was very bad. We received the cup disqualification from UEFA, there was no leadership or management and the results were also rather bad. This is the situation we found when entering Milan."
He added:
"We (Elliott) have thus developed a plan around two pillars: first of all sporting results, for me there is no successful football project that does not start from sporting successes. Then we needed discipline from an economic and financial point of view, especially as regards the reduction of costs. We have chosen a fantastic CEO like Ivan Gazidis and with him we have transformed Milan and the road is to go towards the direction of a media business in the style of Real Madrid and Manchester United. We have also changed the sporting leadership to do well on the pitch as well. Finally, we pushed on the stadium project, San Siro is a historic stadium but it is not a 2022 stadium."
Giorgio Furlani, Elliott's manager, continued:
"In four years of ownership we have done many things, some wrong especially at the beginning, then we have done just as good. We made an important turnaround, considering all the problems that existed we had nevertheless seen enormous potential. Results and accounts are going on the right path, we may still make mistakes but the direction is the correct one."
On Minority shareholders:
"If we ever thought of minority shareholders? The short answer is no, we never thought about it. Many have contacted us because they had an interest in the club, but so far there has never been anything. We have not invested in equity in the club's coffers in the last year, we shouldn't do it even shortly, the boat has stabilized. In football, many choices are not chosen from an economic and analytical point of view, this is what we tried to do. For example, it would be stupid of us to keep our assets at any cost (Donnarumma), but we have to be objective and have plan B: we are happy with our new goalkeeper."
On the Super League project:
"Talking about the project is not the right question, the right question concerns the structure of an industry that loses money not only due to bad management but also because the structure is not correct."
Giorgio Furlani on the new stadium project:
" A long project, at the beginning we said: 'Milan is not Rome' but in reality the situation is similar. There have been delays for Covid, of course. Project in the hands of the Municipality which is analysing the situation with the main stakeholders. It is a very important project, the stadium is not going well today. We need to have the right infrastructure to sell the best experience to the fans. What is blocking now? There is a limited political will to move forward, there are several stakeholders who do not want to move forward, it is very Italian to love old things."
Credit: nuovostadiomilano.com
