Milan CEO Marco Fassone discussed their Financial Fair Play plans and insisted missing the Champions League “wouldn’t be the end of the world.”
The director was speaking at the Wired Italia Calcio Globale event this afternoon.
“Our fans represent a very important part of the club, as I always say. We’ve got the shareholders, the owners, and the millions of people who follow and love Milan,” said Fassone.
Milan CEO Marco Fassone discussed their Financial Fair Play plans and insisted missing the Champions League “wouldn’t be the end of the world.”
The director was speaking at the Wired Italia Calcio Globale event this afternoon.
“Our fans represent a very important part of the club, as I always say. We’ve got the shareholders, the owners, and the millions of people who follow and love Milan,” said Fassone.
“I maintain that we at Milan, especially after 31 years of extraordinary ownership which for 27 years won absolutely everything and took Milan to the top of the world, must be absolutely transparent.”
Yet questions remain over the exact nature of Milan’s financing with a loan from the Elliott hedge fund and they are to present a new Financial Fair Play plan to UEFA next month.
“In the first few years of FFP, there wasn’t the option to sign a voluntary agreement, and there was a revision of the UEFA parameters.
“All norms are created and then progressively adapt to the reality of events. Many clubs tried to find loopholes and ways around it with loans that had an obligation to buy at the end of the season, or sponsorships that are paying excessive sums compared to the real market value.
“We will be the first club to sign a voluntary agreement. We met the commission in May, just 20 days after we took over, and considered it opportune to postpone the presentation of our plans by six months so they could be more reliable.
“We have an appointment with the FFP commission in November where we will present our plans for the next few years. We made strong investments to get us back to a high level and respect the FFP parameters that predict a maximum of €30m losses.
“If we are able to write the voluntary agreement, it’ll be done by the end of 2017. I hope UEFA share the strategic choices that we made and sign on to this agreement too.
“The refinancing of the debt with Elliott is something we’d like to complete by the start of 2018. We have already begun a series of negotiations and meetings with the financial world, foundations, banks, etc, and I am confident this can happen by Spring on conditions that will improve the situation for both Milan and the holding company.
“I hope we can achieve Champions League qualification, either via Serie A or by winning the Europa League. However, if we don’t manage it, that doesn’t mean we’ll close the books and fold by the end of the year. We would obviously have to adapt, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world.”