Champion returns home

Where did Berlusconi get this one out from?? I was going through soccernet pages just before buzzing off to sleep and saw a small article in the left bottom of the screen saying "Sheva returns to Milan". I quickly shuffled across my bookmarks towards the AC Milan home page and then what I saw was unbelievable. Yes its true. The true champion of Milan is returning back to his REAL HOME. Welcome back Andriy!! After failing for 2 years at the Stamford Bridge he has rectified that mistake and realized what his true home really is. And Chelsea too, having realized that there is no need for him in Big Phil's plans have agreed to send Sheva back to Milan.
Just when you thought that we have made enough transfers for this season, Berlusconi has again managed to surprise one but all. What a move this could turn out to be. This was a fantasy and we will be seeing Pato run with Sheva with Pippo and Borrielo as the Reinforcements. I can't imagine watching Kaka giving throughs to the Champ with some Samba magic of Dinho. Milan have undoubtedly made the best transfers this season. Can't wait for the serie A to start now. Forza Rossoneri!!

Family Affair

Milan are well renowned as a family club, but Steve Wilson thinks their latest nepotistic signing has taken things too far
How far should you go to keep your employees happy? For Milan the answer appears to be to throw money at the friends and families of their superstars in order to keep them with a smile on their faces. The Rossoneri have recently offered a contract to Chedric Seedorf - the younger brother of midfielder Clarence. But is this really the way to run a successful club? For me this tendency is starting to become something of a joke.

The best punch line has already been written though by the Diavoli, and once again it involved Seedorf. Back in 2004 his close friend Harvey Esajas was offered a contract by the San Siro side while on a visit to the Dutchman, at the time he had been out of the game for three years and was working in a Spanish circus. With the signing of Kaka's brother Digão last term as well it has become something of a bizarre and all too regular trend at the club.

In 2007 the fear was that Real Madrid would tempt away Kaka, so the arrival of his sibling was a way to keep him sweet. This year the arrival of Ronaldinho reportedly put Seedorf in a spin, so again the resolution appears to have been to do the pouting primadonna a nepotistic favour. Shouldn't the honour of playing for Milan be enough for these men without having to get little treats to keep them happy? And how much self-respect can Seedorf Jnr have?

The 25-year-old has been through the youth systems at Ajax, Real Madrid and Inter - notice the common link between that trio - and his previous spell in Italy saw him at Legnano, where the chairman is his big bro's former Milan teammate Marco Simone. You can count the number of games he has played professionally on a polydactyl's hand. There can be absolutely no question at all that he wouldn't be in the Milan squad based on his own merit.

Most likely he will follow in the footsteps of Esajas and Digão and will make a cameo appearance when Milan enter the Coppa Italia in November. But what does that say to the real Primavera players who have worked hard to get within touching distance of the first XI? When pulling out of the Dutch Euro 2008 squad Seedorf spoke of wanting to protect his integrity. Where are those oh-so-important principles now as he makes a mockery again of the institution that pays his wages?

The Brazzilian Dream..R10(R11??) is ours!

A dream called, Ka-Pa-Ro! has come true. We have finally had the 'Best Transfer' of the season come our way. Hats off to Barca. The way they handled Ronaldinho is to be admired. You can have many offers for a player like R10, 2 time World player of the year, but at the end what matters is where he wants to go and not the biggest offers. No prizes for guessing he chose AC milan over Manchester City:-).. They should try for R7 instead, but they'll have to tackle Madris this time..Lolz!! Dinho is a Rossoneri and the fact that he was received by more than 4000 fans at the airport and a press confrence with 40000 people waiting to catch a glimpse prooves the excitement of Milan fans. The Ka-Pa-Ro mania is gonna take the Serie A by a storm and to Mr.Seedorf- Drop all your issues->Give No.10 to the man of the moment->And make this formation possible-:

Dida(GK)

Zambrotta(RB) Nesta(CB) Kaladhze(CB) Jankluvoski(LB)

Flamini(RDM) Gattuso(LDM)

Pirlo(CM)

Kaka(RF) Ronaldinho(LF)

Pato(ST)

Hope to see this after the first 7 or 8 games though.. Cheers!!

From The Memories

He's no longer the team manager, but Ramaccioni remains a historical reference point for the club. The accompanying manager of the home games, at Milan since 1982, talks about himself and his Rossoneri world.

MILAN - Forty-six years in the football world, forty-four years on the bench, twenty-six at Milan. We will no longer call him team manager, but we will continue saying his name and associate it with the Rossoneri colors and the club he has collaborated with since 1982. Silvano Ramaccioni is a member of the family and he will remain in the family in the role of accompanying manager of the home games. His passion is the same as on the first day, the enthusiasm is the same as always. Of who feels a total love of football, which is perfectly perceptible when reading his words during an interview given today, Sunday 13 July, to 'Corriere della Sera'.

'To tell the truth I am covering a role I had already covered in the year of Zaccheroni's scudetto. Sundays without football would be very sad for me. I'm proud of my career: in 46 years of work, I have spent 44 on the bench. I'm sure no one has seen as many games as I have.'

Silvano Ramaccioni, 'Rama' for his friends at Milanello, remembers his arrival at Milan in 1982:

'I came to Milan in May, the team was already relegated. I came in as sporting director. We won the Serie B league but those were tough years, the club was close to failing. Until Silvio Berlusconi came.
I was at the end of my contract. If the new management wanted to send me away they could have. But Berlusconi told me: "Everyone talks well about you. If you want to you can stay." And he came up with the idea of the team manager.

Ramaccioni also answered some trivia questions. Here are the questions and answers:

Which coach are you particularly close to?
'I had a particular feeling with Fabio Capello also in our free time since we hunted together and we traveled around the world.'

The craziest character who passed through Milanello?
'Three names for three eras: Filippo Galli, Di Canio who was very witty and currently Oddo.'

The biggest troublemaker?
'Contra was pretty extravagant, as was Davids.'

The most religious?
'Albertini. Each Saturday before a home game at Milanello we celebrated the Mass. Now we are just 3 or 4, but in the 90s there were 12-15. Baresi, Tassotti, Sacchi, Capello would all come. Taribo West prayed in the dressing rooms, and Chamot gave Bibles to team mates and journalists.'

How many times did you have to calm things down from the bench?
'I cannot count how many times I had to pull Sacchi's coat to make him sit down to prevent him getting a red card.'

Do you have any regrets?
'I'm sad that in football there is too much emphasis on foreign players. This way it will be tougher to find new talents in our youth squads.'

The Window and GOAL.COM

Everyone wants to leave. Everyone wants to go everywhere. Every Club wants everyone. Perhaps I used up too many of E,V,R and Y's but this Goal.com is making me sick. All of the transfer rumors that they post are insane. The Web-Manager ..eerrrr.. The Editor should give it a little thought before going wild with his fantasies. Its as if u deliberately think of the wildest transfers and post them on your site to even make the club scouts wonder. Chelsea wants everyone. They want Kaka?? To play with Ballack,Lampard,Deco and Essien?? They "Desperately want Eto'o?? When they have the likes of Drogba and Sheva?? Well if u beleive them, then probably by the end of the transfer window every club will sue Chelsea. Of approaching and signing up all the stars and depriving them of quality. What is Chelsea?.. Bill gates or what??.. And then the whole saga of Arsenal vs AC Milan. They posted articles in such a lude manner that a simple approach and signing by Milan looked like they snatched Flamini out of the Gunners claws. And now they are after Hleb. A/C Goal.com He wants to Leave Arsenal for the San Siro. Inter denies having approached Hleb and then Wenger goes nuts. He wants to sue them. Well he wants to sue the whole of Italy. For: 1. Beating France to win the World Cup. 2. Saying bad things About Zizzou's Sister and Mother. 3. For signing Flamini(AC Milan). 4. For approaching Hleb. 5. Adebayor.. do we need to mention?? Now for Mr. Wenger- READ THIS AND SUE ME:)

World Champions Ruined!!

With one win in 4 matches no team can hope to continue running in the European championships. It was no different for Italy. "we did lose to Spain but with heads held high" was what Donadoni had to say after Italy crashed out of the Euro losing 4-2 on penalties. To me the Italians didn't do anything for keeping their heads in the sky. No forward could score in any of the 4 matches. In all we scored 3 goals of which one was a header by the veteran defender Panucci, one a spot kick and the other a lucky deflection on a De-Rossi free kick.The biggest disappointment for the Azzuri was the much hyped Luca Toni. It was not as if the midfield was not creative enough or they didn't create enough chances. Toni just failed to convert them into goals. He wasted all the potentially goal scoring balls and i guess concentrated more on diving. Cassano did run well but enough chances didn't come his way. The Italian defense did pretty well barring the first game against the Orange. Cheillini stood out from the rest of the back line. Saint Buffon was miserly as usual. Pirlo was magical. I must say the rest of the team looked a bit tired and out of sorts. Donadoni??.. well, just the fact that he changed the team and his formations in every match baffled me. If the coach cant find the right team combination before a match in a big tournament like this then you don't have much time to try them out on the feild , do you?? He wasn't sure in his mind and that showed. We need Lippi back. Donadoni needs some time before he can make out the right tactics. Let the time be given. He's a creep and freaks me out with his plans. Though i may be violating the ethics of the blogosphere but this is one disappointed Azzuri fan. Italy's next match is a friendly against Austria in Nice, France, on August 20. Hope to see Sandro,Totti,Pippo and sir Lippi!!.. Cheers

Zambo is ours!!

After a whole lotta speculation, the deal is through. Barca full back Gianluca Zambrotta finaly belongs to Milan. Dare I say we desperately needed a fast and strong right back, more so , after the dissapointing season of Oddo. Reinforcements have finally arrived. But at the same time I cant evade this thought- why does Ancelotti get what he wants 2 years late. Be it emerson n now Zambro. He should have been there but perhaps Oddo didn't let the need felt. With this signing and that of Empoli left back Luca Antonini, the Rossoneri have more or less sealed the full back positions. But I hope we are not satisfied with this. Although Maldini has resigned on the golden paper he will more or less be a mentor for the central defence and we still need a word class center back to accompany Sandro Nesta. On the attack?? I feel with Borriello and Pato we have 2 good support strikers but here also we still need a world class goal scorer. A good playmaker, someone like a Pirlo will, though needed, be a great luxury and seems unlikely going by the previous transfer windows. It seems Milan are not paying attention to the crucial Goalie spot either. Milan should not be satisfied and go on to sign atleast 3 more if not 4, thats if we are going to settle for Dida this season, which we should not be. Dream on!!