Is Gennaro Gattuso the right man to make AC Milan great again?
The fall and fall of AC Milan in recent seasons has been unprecedented, coinciding with the rise of rivals Juventus. At a time when Juventus have won five Scudettos back to back making history in the process, AC Milan have struggled to challenge for the title. The club has not even been able to qualify for the UEFA Champions League.
Talking about the Champions League, no team in Italy has achieved as much success in the competition as the Rossoneri. In fact, AC Milan remain the most successful Italian club in Europe with seven European Cup/Champions League titles to boast of. That is an Italian record. Their next-door neighbours, Internazionale, come a distant second with three titles.
The four seasons from 2013/2014 to 2016/2017, Milan finished 8th, 10th, 7th and 6th on the Serie A table.This is a far cry from the success of most previous seasons where the club either won the league or finished around the top of the table. The club appointed and sacked over seven managers within the same period of poor performance.
In a bid to improve the club's fortunes and bring back the glory days of "rubbing shoulders" with the top teams in Europe, several changes were made last season. Milan became a subsidiary of Rossoneri Sport Investment Luxembourg in April 2017 which acquired over 99% of the club's shares. Li Yonghong became the new chairman taking over from Silvio Berlusconi.
Vincenzo Montella was appointed as the new manager in 2016 and some key players were also signed. But despite winning the 2016 Supercoppa Italiana, the first trophy in 5 years for the club and returning the club to Europe, it proved not to be enough as the team continued to struggle. A run of poor results led to his sack and he was replaced with club legend Gennaro Gattuso.
Gattuso has had a short career in football management having started in Sion as player/manager in 2013. He takes over Milan at a time the club is in dire need of the winning mentality and attitude that heralded his own era as a player with the club.
But having won several major titles in his playing career with the club, can he replicate same as a manager? That remains to be seen.
It will be unfair to judge him solely on the basis of his past performances with other clubs he has managed so far. This is because none of them are in the stature of AC Milan. Club legends like Pep Guardiola and Zinedine Zidane have shown that you do not need to achieve managerial success elsewhere to succeed with a big team.
Before Guardiola and Zidane took over Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively, they had not achieved any significant success in their coaching careers.
In fact, much like them, Gattuso was promoted from the club's youth team to take over the senior team.
The passion to win, a necessity
Even though Gattuso failed to win his first two matches, he has demonstrated a unique quality that has been lacking in the dugout for some time: passion. This is one of the most important qualities that produce positive results. Watch Guardiola on the touchline when his team is playing and you will understand what I am talking about.
And if you think Zidane is cool and calm, wait till his team misses a chance in front of goal. his trousers got ripped from the back last season in one of those spins that follows a missed chance. Such is his desire to win.
Gattuso's fiery attitude is well known and like an analyst joked, he will slap his players into winning if need be. His recent comments after the team's loss in a Europa League match tell us about a man who is not ready to take anything but a superb performance from the Milan team.
But this is not all that is required. He must be ready to back up his passion with the necessary technical and man-management ability. A unique combination of these qualities will create a winning team that will bring back the glory days to Milan.