Milan’s roller coaster saga continues…both on and off the pitch

This past week has been, well, a somewhat more uplifting one perhaps, for AC Milan fans. Why? Because the Rossoneri finally have managed to do what they’ve failed to do all season: win a game on the road. And not only did they do it in the Champions League against Celtic, effectively knocking the Bhoys out of the competition and setting up a crucial tie with Ajax in a few weeks, but also in Serie A, where they came back after going a goal down to power past a Catania side that was hell bent on getting at least a point.

In the background, however, there’s the on-going conflict between Adriano Galliani and owner Silvio Berlusconi’s daughter Barbara Berlusconi that is rapidly becoming like one of those awful soaps that you wouldn’t admit to anyone you actually watch–although you’ve been guilty of having a peek at them here and there, especially when sick on the couch with a bad bug.

First Galliani, whom many Diavolo supporters jokingly refer to as “uncle Fester” due to his uncanny resemblance to the Adams family character, came out and announced that he’d be resigning imminently; “probably after the Ajax” game, causing some to spill quite a bit of ink crowing (and lamenting) the downfall of one of football’s highly regarded transfer gurus.

Then, not too long after, owner Berlusconi announced that the 27-year veteran was “going nowhere”, and again more chatter–some were relieved, others who were hoping that Lady B (as she’s known in the Italian press) would be instrumental in ushering a new era at the once-storied club–and in addition, the former Prime Minister outlined his plan for the club to have two sporting directors, with the long-time executive overseeing all sporting matters whilst his daughter would be in charge of “everything else”.

Now what this two-headed approach means for Milan remains to be seen. But whilst it’s often said that “two heads are better than one”, it’s often also said that “too many cooks spoil the stew”. And in this case, it’s already quite obvious, due to Galliani’s outburst and comments Ms. Berlusconi have made in the press that the two people responsible for much of the well-being of the club aren’t operating in tandem whatsoever. Indeed, if fans thought last season was bad this one is beyond their worst nightmares. Before their victory on Sunday afternoon, Milan were sitting on 14 points from 13 matches, just a few points away from the drop zone. More discouragingly, though is the fact that even with these much needed three points they’re a still a demoralizing 11  away from Napoli, who have a game in hand and are in that last Champions League spot that certainly, the seven-time winners would like to find themselves in come May.

Recently, captain Riccardo Montolivo expressed his satisfaction with his side’s progress this past week to Milan Channel, stating that “it had been a difficult week” for the side, but that “we’re all calm and are looking to build on our positive progress”. The 28-year-old Italian international also noted that the atmosphere in the dressing room, which teammate Kaka had previously described as tense had also taken a positive turn following Berlusconi’s announcement that Galliani would not be leaving the club he had served for nearly three decades.

So, what now? With their ducks seemingly in a row behind the scenes, will this be a sign for things finally to pick up for the Rossoneri? Or will the roller coaster saga continue on for another couple of rounds?

Hopefully for the club’s supporters, it’ll be the former. After all, roller coaster rides can be fun, but to be honest, after a while they just start to make one feel ill and wanting to get off as quickly as possible.

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