Paolo Maldini has claimed that he fought against the original plans to build a new stadium for AC Milan that would be well below the capacity of the current San Siro.
Maldini did an interview with La Repubblica in which he broke his silence on his Milan exit and discussed a number of different topics from his conversations with the management to his attempts to sign Lionel Messi.
One of the things that he was asked about was the future new home of Milan and the capacity issue in particular, given that initially the plan seemed to be to cap it at a 60,000-seater stadium despite the fact the team have regularly been getting over 10,000 more than that at San Siro.
When Maldini was at the helm it also seemed that the Rossoneri ownership had decided to forge ahead with a ‘new San Siro’ plan together with rivals Inter. However, that has been shelved due to various bureaucratic and political delays with Milan now seemingly heading for San Donato and Inter to Rozzano.
“It was a cause for conflict. I couldn’t put my face on a project with 55 to 60,000 seats, almost all corporate and with very few popular tickets. I couldn’t leave such a legacy to the new Milan generations. I couldn’t support this plan.
“I fought to make it clear that we needed a bigger stadium with some seats accessible to all. The average of over 70,000 spectators at San Siro last season proves that I was right. A new, modern San Siro and welcoming is fundamental.
“The idea that the new stadium provides €80m more to invest on the market needs to be reevaluated, as demonstrated by last season’s numbers. When I talked about the potential and uniqueness that Milan has compared to other clubs, I probably caused laughter.
“But I know it’s like this. If there was the possibility, and the mayor is absolutely responsible for this, I would build the stadium at San Siro, perhaps again with Inter. After five years, not only is there no the first brick, but we don’t even know where the stadium will be built.
“It doesn’t seem like a great success to me. The new San Siro would also be a great opportunity for the revaluation of the area, it’s green intended for the citizens of an area of Milan that risks abandonment.
“Over the last 10 years, Milan have once again become a driving force in Europe because we have overcome old mental barriers. We must be afraid of degradation, not of the future. The current San Siro is iconic, but let’s realize that it was the great champions who played there who made it so.
“It’s still fantastic from a sporting point of view, but we need a new story, the past is the past, Milan have always looked to the future.”
Thank you Malini, you are the star on AC Milan badge
This is why he will always be our greatest our player in my book.
“Over the last 10 years, Milan have once again become a driving force in Europe because we have overcome old mental barriers. We must be afraid of degradation, not of the future. The current San Siro is iconic, but let’s realize that it was the great champions who played there who made it so.
“It’s still fantastic from a sporting point of view, but we need a new story, the past is the past, Milan have always looked to the future.”
100% agree with him.
After agreeing with his values… i wilk then say i am againt builsing a stadium with Inter. The share of capex does NOT compare the financial benefit over time.
Also nothin wrong woth San Donnato, and the complex milan plans to build is far better and econom8cally lucrative and would never have been able to built in Milan with that Mayor.
Forza Paolo
Forza Milan
So basically Maldini was the only one thinking about the city, the fans and the team. All the guys remaining are here for business and make their rich friends richer. Is Jerry’s dream to run a circus?
Damn. Maldini went in. Though I disagree with building with Inter, this is some interesting insight
I guess he wanted a new stadium at all costs, even if it means building it with inter.
He was really about Milan being in Milan. He also blames the ridiculous mayor too. After all, after 5 years not a single brick had been laid smh. The numbers he quoted there are actually interesting. It seems he thought (if I’m reading correctly) that an 80m return per year was a bit low. At 70kx65eur per ticket x18 rounds not incl UCL based on my calculations. And not factoring in merchandise and amenities sold on day of game.
Surprisingly as much as I hate Inter, I love our hated relationship with each other BECAUSE it’s OUR home. Not theirs. My guess is he feels that way as well. It’s a fight for whose home it really is.
I see what you’re saying but with their financial situation suspect and us being able to control our own situation the solo stadium appeals more to me. Besides the oroginal situation was us renting the stadium to them waaay back in the day. They were our tenants lol so they never really had an original home. We did
The greatest Milan player and fan ever.And anyone who thought and still thinks Maldini wanted the worse for this club,should definitely get their heads examined.I did not need to hear him speak to know this.#Maldini is more Milan than any of us#FACT.
It’s was so sad to see him go. But this interview reopened the wounds, the inside stories makes you realise how much we’ve lost with him gone. Such a pity.
It’s ok though, we have Billy Beane instead……… isn’t that an upgrade? And don’t forget, Furlani is cooking!!!…….
“I fought to make it clear that we needed a bigger stadium with some seats accessible to all. The average of over 70,000 spectators at San Siro last season proves that I was right. A new, modern San Siro and welcoming is fundamental.”
Where he butted heads with Muricans. They care more about making us a club for the bourgeoisie, corporate companies, making progress on balance sheets for shareholders instead of on the field. They did it at Arsenal by letting icons go, tanking the team and raising ticket prices to the point everyday people can’t afford to attend games.
Sustainable is a word used to say “we only spend the bare minimum to achieve results that keeps money coming in for us and shareholders, not to strive to be the best”.
The only people praising Cardinale were clueless idiots that make money off of us getting profits with minimal investment. Sempre Milan published an article about one of them claiming Bankers and computer thumperz had a better understanding of where this club needed to go with a vision that would “justify getting rid of Maldini” if they deemed it appropriate.
Love and follow Arsenal. We’re in an amazing place because of Arteta and the leadership that believes in him!
Awhile ago someone critiqued my comments saying we’ve lost our souls, our history and that we are becoming Man U.
This is it. This man bleeds our colors.
When you care about this team you see quite a lot of vultures picking at remains. But here is the one man, with the backing of Elliot, that brought us back.
Having a sound is about winning.
Having a soul is about winning.
I agree with Maldini. How is it possible to even think of a new stadium with less seats. It’s the people that support Milan that need access to the stadium.
When you fire a Milan icon like Maldini you’re heart is in the wrong space and doesn’t belong at the peoples club.
Sempre Milan
Maldini have a clear objective: to make Milan strong and competitive but also have stable income.
But Cardinale only see Milan as another sheep to milk until it’s dry and dead.
Fvck Cardinale and his puppets Foolani and Scaroni.
Maldini the legend.
Now we’re stuck with liberal loser Cardinale and the biggest loser and terrible manager Pioli the salam and his lover.
“It was a cause for conflict. I couldn’t put my face on a project with 55 to 60,000 seats, almost all corporate and with very few popular tickets. I couldn’t leave such a legacy to the new Milan generations. I couldn’t support this plan.
I fought to make it clear that we needed a bigger stadium with some seats accessible to all. The average of over 70,000 spectators at San Siro last season proves that I was right. A new, modern San Siro and welcoming is fundamental.”
55-60k with mostly corporate tickets.. Purposefully lowering the supply, hence that would make the tickets way a lot more pricey. Sure it would generate more income, but the common fans won’t be able to afford that any longer..
Maldini fought to have more seats for the common people, the residents of Milan and of course that would include the Ultras too. Yet, he got no support from them. Oh the irony.
The cold irony indeed.
I remember that in the berlusconi era some fans would settle for a 50.000 seat stadium which was beyond questionable in my view.
The point is pretty clear that with less seats it propably also would make prices increase and at best would limit common people from entering the stadium.
Considering the current plans there is still some limitations considering that 10-15k seats will be reserved for cooporate business partners that is still a limitation in my view as football is the peoples sport.
70-75k stadium is nevertheless better than some of the previously proposed stadiums but i would prefer one at 80-85k with the cooporate section in mind.
Yeah sad and irony indeed.
I just never understand the Ultras problem with Maldini, like the way they insulted him on the day he retired back in 2009 with silly chant “only one captain, Baresi” and a big banner that makes Maldini really angry. That day the Ultras lost my respect.
He always thinks for the best of Milan and its fans. How does the Curva feel about this?
Eh, the Curva disrespected Maldini the day he retired. They rarely support Maldini even when his back to Milan and became technical director.
Fortunately, Cardinale had a change of mind recently and increase the new stadium capacity to be at least 70k. Does he finally realize that he should have pick Maldini over Furlani?
Maldini the gift that keeps giving 😀
Bless you Paolo. The man bleeds red and black.
I cant believe we went from him to people who know nothing about the sport nor seem to care about our clubs history and more importantly its fans. SAD.
But unfortunately I’m not surprised. I have said it a million times the Redbird model is about PROFIT not titles nor the fans. 55k stadium with predominately corporate boxes?? That is how it is done in the USA. The only sport that is still affordable in the US is baseball because they play 182 games and it’s so boring they give some tickets away but your in the nosebleed sections. I don’t want to share anything with Inter either but I get why he would be open to it (cost splitting) esp with the economic constraints Redbird/Elliot has on us and if that also meant staying in the San Siro region then he would do that again for the fans.
LEGEND
Forza Maldini!
Forza Milan!
Get out Redbird, Cardinale & his stooge Furlani!
It’s AC Milan, your home! ✊✊