Umberto Gandini has reflected on the cost of not making the Champions League, and the enthusiasm Silvio Berlusconi brings to Milan.
The President has set a new tradition this season to visit the playing staff at Milanello every Friday for a couple of hours.
“I think he went to visit the club six weeks in a row which he has not done probably since he went into politics in 1994,” director Gandini has reflected to CNN.
Umberto Gandini has reflected on the cost of not making the Champions League, and the enthusiasm Silvio Berlusconi brings to Milan.
The President has set a new tradition this season to visit the playing staff at Milanello every Friday for a couple of hours.
“I think he went to visit the club six weeks in a row which he has not done probably since he went into politics in 1994,” director Gandini has reflected to CNN.
“He didn't have so many opportunities to go weekly to see the club training, to talk to the players, to see the way the work is developing, which is very good.
“From a personal point of view he is dedicating much more time personally to be with the club and with the teams and the players especially which he hasn't done for 20 years now.
“It's very good – he brings a lot of enthusiasm. He has his own vision obviously, been one of most successful entrepreneurs we have in Italy, a great football President.
“He always says that he competes with [former Real Madrid President] Santiago Bernabéu de Yeste as the most successful President in football.
“Milan under Mr Berlusconi's ownership has been outstanding, I think.”
Berlusconi has so far given his backing to new Coach Pippo Inzaghi’s work this term with the team.
“It is very important he has the club backing him, Mr Berlusconi, and the results are on his side so far.
“We made mistakes in the past, rushing into decisions that Milan was not used to doing, and I think we learned from the mistakes we made.”
It is a rebuilding process under Inzaghi, as the club are without European football for the first time in many years.
“The cost of not being in the Champions League is very heavy, frankly speaking,” Gandini has continued.
“For an Italian club in the Champions League today we can talk about guaranteed money of €35-40m and if you have a turnover of €220m it's a big share of it.
“Luckily enough, we had provisions of variables into the salaries of the players, some of them can be amortized over time but on the other hand it is critical for us to go back to the Champions League, ideally this season.
“We cannot deny the fact we didn't qualify for Europe has been a turning point in a certain way.
“We had to regroup and try to improve the value of the squad and try to regain our position among the top clubs in Europe.
“It's very, very important even if it not going to be easy.”