The Big Four: Mid-season review of Milan’s directors [Bonus Article]

AC Milan’s failure to challenge for the Scudetto in 2024-25 has many culprits, and the fact that we are saying this at the halfway point highlights just how bad it has been. Above all, excluding Gerry Cardinale, I would like to talk about ‘the big four’ within the management: Giorgio Furlani, Paolo Scaroni, Geoffrey Moncada and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. So, what are the mid-season reviews of these?

The appointment of Sergio Conceicao will hopefully result in some sort of turnaround, at the very least making top four in the league, but the truth remains that none of the managers are to blame. The Curva Sud have already made this notion clear, respecting Fonseca for his professionalism whilst criticising the management for not making the right decisions.

Fonseca certainly could have done a better job at times, but he also wasn’t helped enough by the management. Furthermore, it was the management that identified him - and bragged about doing so - as the best solution for Milan moving forward, which evidently wasn’t the case. The biggest error in judgement was thus made before the Portuguese coach even arrived, the rest after that matters less.

In the same vein, Conceicao arrived with only a few days’ notice and was thrown right into the fire. The January window could help a lot, with the keyword being could there, but it’s equally true that it will take time for him to implement his style fully. Whether he can implement just about enough to achieve success remains to be seen, but no blame can be placed on him if he fails.

Frankly speaking, there have been far too many ‘we told you so’ moments from the fans this season. Almost everyone wanted Conceicao over Fonseca in the summer, the lack of depth in midfield was highlighted time after time and not signing a ‘bomber’ also frustrated the Rossoneri faithful. For a person like Cardinale, who runs a very tight ship, this is nothing short of embarrassing.

His job is to make sure that the right people have the right roles, whilst keeping the club afloat financially, and he clearly hasn’t succeeded with the former. So, without getting too bogged down in the context of the complicated situation, let’s take a look at each of the four big directors and how they have done so far. And most importantly, what do we know about their respective future?

Reading time: Around 11 minutes (2,200+ words)