A fan's view of Inter: Sitting on the fence

With everything that has gone on lately at Internazionale- the mixed results, the transfer talk and all the talk of the club having no money, it really got me thinking about how I see things at our great club and what I think needs to be done in order for us to move forward.

We need to accept that the days of spending 30 million on players such as Vieri are behind us, at least until our revenue is sorted out, which I will discuss later.

There has been a lot of debate lately regarding Moratti and whether he is the right man to take the club forward. I have to admit I have a comfortable seat right here on the fence. I just don’t know what is best for the Nerazzurri, in an ideal world I want the club to stay within the Moratti family more than I want any foreign owners, as I think they care little about the club and they will all eventually get bored and leave behind a massive debt. Though the idea of investment from Russia sounds great, will it stabilize the club or cause friction? Do we really believe the Moratti family are going to listen or care about what the investors want for the club and for me? That’s a dangerous road to take. I don’t see the Moratti family as a sharing bunch really.

The thing with Moratti is he has made mistakes and big ones at that, but he has also taken us to our highest point since the ‘La Grande Inter’ of the 60?s, and let’s not forget, that was only recently.

Why am I sitting on the fence with my opinion? Quite simply I will have one by August 31st 2012. I believe (I say believe but really I mean hope) that between now and that date, Moratti will have a clear plan. I can only see us successfully moving forward if Moratti sits down and lays down a clear 5 year plan on everything at the club from top to bottom. By the 31st of August, Moratti will have revealed what’s happening with the manager’s role and we will finally see what he thinks of our current squad; whether Milito and Stankovic are still regular features, if Poli is not signed, if Branca provides more poor transfer window activity and most importantly if talented youngsters are not given a chance then perhaps we do need to move on. For me it’s too early to tell just yet.

I hope Moratti sits down during the Christmas break and looks over his career at the club and honestly evaluates it with an open mind, looks at where he went wrong and ensures there is no repeat of those past mistakes. Moratti is going to need to bring in 4, 5 or even 6 new players over the next two transfer windows without splashing vast amounts of cash and for the first time he is having to wheel and deal to bring the best players to the club. Can he trust Branca to find those deals and to negotiate well with clubs? For me, I see too many last minute deals and missed opportunities that make it harder for the club to stabilize. For me Moratti’s decisions between now and the start of next season will decide what side of the fence I am on and the choices he has to make may even have a big part to play in his future with Inter as I doubt I’m the only one who feels this way.

Every club has indifferent transfers, I get that, but for me we seem to make it harder for ourselves. For example, I love South American footballers – they are born with an edge and a style in football I adore, but not everyone needs to come from there. To help settle a squad do we really need several players that are adapting to the Italian culture and language? I’m not against it but just at this point in time do we need to make further purchases from that side of the world with players already in the team still adapting?

Nagatomo has come out and said recently that he doesn’t really speak to Ranieri because of the language barrier. Let’s be honest, that shows in some recent performances and then after a chat with his ex-coach in his native tongue, suddenly we get a better Nagatomo. Maybe we can go for one more import in the summer but all the rumours suggest a whole market from that part of the world. Sorry, but on this scale it will never work and can we really improve this way?

The club needs to settle and find a direction. Pre-season has shown some cracks in the club at the top – transfers dragging on and last-minute deals, Forlan not eligible to be registered for the group stages of the Champions League and Gasperini’s appointment tells me Moratti can’t, or doesn’t, trust the men around him. It’s hard to say actually who wanted him, there are rumours but we don’t actually know. Either way the club appointed a man who at Genoa stuck with 3-4-3 virtually under all circumstances, and when Gasperini said to his previous employer I need more wingers to help make Genoa stronger with my formation, the club didn’t listen and how did Gasperini adapt? Well, he didn’t and ended up getting sacked after poor results. So Inter hired a manager with a strict formation choice. Surely they should have asked ”do we have the players to play his way?” The answer is clearly no! Or “do we have the money to overhaul our squad to provide the players he needs?” Again, the answer is no. So why appoint him? For me that’s naive of everyone in charge at Inter, that worries me and says to me they don’t know what they want or need to take the club forward. Granted there is not a lot of options out there but you have to look at your resources when choosing a manager.

Sometimes what really frustrates me is that as fans we don’t know what’s really going on, what we are trying to achieve. We seem to hide behind a couple of good results and think its okay. Don’t get me wrong, our form has improved but without a clear agenda the next few years will be much the same as the last 12 months, which is much the same as the late 90?s and early 2000?s up until Mancini’s arrival. They were some dark days and after all that we have achieved I would hate to see us go back so far and if we did, you would have to really question Moratti’s leadership. Is Don Nerazzurri right? Has Moratti lost his drive? My money is on us finding out this summer, by what he does about transfers and the manager!

What I would do

Sit-down with a nice cappuccino and make some serious choices, not worrying who gets upset but instead do what’s right for the club and the fans.
- work out what we have to spend- terminate Branca’s contract and hire someone I trust to deal with clubs for players my scouts find from all over the world, someone who has links with various countries and won’t let a deal go by.
- decide on the type of manager I want and find him (with my new transfer director I can be sure to find what I want).
- increase revenue.
- ensure my youth team players get a chance at the club or are loaned out (the new manager me and my new transfer director hired believes in the impact youth players have in a team).
- get rid of players earning loads of money, but give nothing and stop others (that’s you Milito and Stankovic), thank them for their invaluable service but inform them its time players on a quarter of your wage are given a chance but are more likely to perform.
-come out and tell the fans exactly what’s going on, set a standard across football with the relationship between club and fans.

Manager

Ranieri is not a long-term solution

Why do teams like Porto have sense in deciding a style of football and finding a manager that would suit and we don’t? The Gasperini situation mentioned earlier is a clear sign of lack of consideration taken. I get that there are not a lot of options but why are teams around us finding managerial gems and we hire what’s free. Make a decision and say I want a manager that has X, Y and Z. It might be a gamble but it can’t be worse than what we have been through. Or second option replace Branca with someone that could approach Hiddink and make him realise that this job is a great opportunity that shouldn’t be missed. We are Inter Milan and we are picking from the bargain bucket, going from Mancini and Mourinho to Gasperini and Ranieri.

Revenue

This subject really gets me wound up and it’s not just Inter’s fault, it’s Italy as a whole. Two things – ban fake merchandise and stop renting the grounds off the council. I read a statistic that said we make about 8 million a year on match day revenue after paying the council etc., where top BPL clubs make about 1.5 million per game. So you talking about 40 million a season if they get around 50 thousand and have a small cup run and Champions League run. We need to bridge that gap and fast.

Merchandise has improved in Italy. When I went 10 years ago there was hardly anything and now we have a great site and shop and run these winter stores (that’s what it was called when I went a couple of years ago) so we are moving in the right direction but really feel we are behind other countries. For anyone that has been lucky enough to see Inter, you know you turn up at the amazing theatre that is the Giuseppe Meazza and there is a sea of fake goods stands – get rid of them and you can make the cost in the shop more friendly and get more cash in our pockets.

Fans, that’s one way to get more cash. Make me happy and I’ll spend money as many would agree. So do more for fans – run a membership directly from the club with newsletter emails, links to membership only footage of players etc. Inter need to bridge the gap from club to fans worldwide. And with technology these days there is no excuse.

The club needs to connect more with the fans

If you go on ‘inter.it‘, the site has a YouTube section that has footage of players training and reports discussing all things Inter, interviews etc. That’s great but why not have it in several languages instead of just Italian? The club know they have a following all around the world so why not give them something back. It would clearly bring in more fans and make current ones happier. I would be on there everyday if I knew what they where saying. Why can Inter not pay out for a membership site or application for fans devices android/apple or even a channel that you can access world-wide? A site that has a small monthly fee, in various languages, behind the scene footage, news reports, tactics discussions, history of the club, footage of the youth teams, a site full of so much just on our Nerazzurri that you can’t get anywhere else. It might cost a bit more than it makes (don’t know the figures but wouldn’t be much difference I’m sure) but surely that would increase the number of fans which would mean more tickets sold, more shirts and other merchandise sold. I don’t think in Italy teams do enough for fans which is something many other clubs around the world are better at.

Finally, on merchandise, why do we never have DVDs? Many of us would buy a highlight DVD each season from every game. They do it in England so why not in Italy? How many of us would love a treble winning DVD. I can’t find anything anywhere, and I would love to have a pile of inter DVDs going back over the years to have a look at over dark days or to give a little smile during pre-season. I have seen the recent plans on the new stadium and it looks amazing but as usual nothing official has come out. How long are we going to have to wait? I know stadiums are expensive but it will virtually pay for itself with the revenue increase, sponsorship increase and with the new financial fair play rules the debt of the stadium is not a factor in the yearly figures UEFA care about. But last I heard, the Milan council would not allow them to build on a new site (that was a while ago). If we want to go forward and reach the top and stay there, a stadium is a must, and I hate to say it but Juventus will really benefit from their new stadium and in a couple of years will be much further ahead than the rest of Italy.

I hope that Moratti does the right thing and learns from many mistakes made in the past and the fact he is a big Inter fan like most of us. It gives me a little hope he’s older and hopefully wiser and the fact big success has been achieved he may be more logical in his approach
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I hope to be on Moratti’s side of the fence next summer.

Next up will be my thoughts on current manager and players at the club.

Have a great Christmas and new year everyone and hope everyone cherishes every moment with their family of this time of year.

Forza Inter!