Milan CEO Marco Fassone admits being excluded from the Europa League won’t have a huge financial impact – “it’s almost more of a principle than anything else”.
The Rossoneri have been barred from this year’s competition for Financial Fair Play irregularities, but are appealing that to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
“It's something that’s almost more of a principle than anything else,” Fassone explained in a Q&A with fans.
Milan CEO Marco Fassone admits being excluded from the Europa League won’t have a huge financial impact – “it’s almost more of a principle than anything else”.
The Rossoneri have been barred from this year’s competition for Financial Fair Play irregularities, but are appealing that to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
“It's something that’s almost more of a principle than anything else,” Fassone explained in a Q&A with fans.
“Clearly we’ll have a bit less money and that would force us to make a few extra savings this year, but the project doesn’t change.
“Having said that, we want to fight to the end to get Milan in the Europa League, because even if there has been a violation the sanction has to be proportionate. I don’t think a club like Milan deserved this.
“UEFA’s decision to punish us in this way refers to violations in the past three financial years, that’s not surprising and we knew it would be the case.
“What is surprising is Milan being excluded from Europe, which is different with regard to the others.
“I don’t want to irritate anyone, so I won’t dwell on that. The connection between the ownership and this sentence seems tenuous, even if within the UEFA reason there are references to the future of Milan, which may appear hazy and which we’ll try to make transparent.
“That way we can make sure Milan are judged and not the shareholders of Milan, whoever they may be.”
Fassone was then asked if the 2017-18 results are included in this UEFA judgement, or whether further sanctions will arrive next year.
“That’s a delicate issue, and one I don’t understand. UEFA’s investigation doesn’t include last year, and not for a lack of transparency, yet it’s part of UEFA’s analysis. I’ll return to it after July 20.
“Milan have started a project. You [the fans] can criticise it and are right to do so in football terms, but it aims to take Milan to back among the top 10 clubs in the world.
“It’s a long and tiring journey, it took Juventus seven years to reach revenues which are double that of ours.
“We’ve improved by €20m in a year and that’s where we start from.
“Milan and this city have extraordinary potential, if we work well. If we have the support of the fanbase and the owner then I think it’ll go well.”
Will CAS overturn the decision?
“I don’t know,” Fassone said.
“UEFA’s verdict on Milan appears unfair, so we decided to appeal. We’ve shown in the last 12 months that we intend to comply strictly with the rules of FFP.
“We’ve presented plans that show that in the next three years the losses will be more contained than in the past.
“We tried to bring all legal and directorial arguments to make sure of that, but it wasn’t enough.
“At CAS they could read the history of Milan’s last 12 months in a different way, but I don’t know what the percentages are. I can assure you though that we’ll fight to the 90th minute.”
Part of the problem is Yonhong Li, the owner, whose latest €32m injection had to be covered by hedge fund Elliott Management.
“That’s another question for the ownership. What’s important for the fans to know is that Milan received the €32m last week.
“What counts is that it’s in the bank, it’s very rich in cash, I don’t really care if one party or the other paid it.
“There is money there for Milan to be well run, to pay the salaries, to pay the suppliers, to guarantee a small transfer campaign. I’ve got that.”
As well as UEFA, Rossoneri fans might also like some more transparency on the owners and the transfer market.
“I’ll take any criticism, including transparency, even though I’ve tried to make Milan a glass house. If we don’t give information it’s because it doesn’t concern Milan. We [who run the club] don’t know anything about ownership negotiations.
“As for the transfer market, I think that’s a bit of a naive question. We can’t tell you who [sporting director Massimiliano] Mirabelli is meeting, which agents, which players we’re following.”