Mayor Sala determined to push stadium plans through: “For my own personal dignity”

The Mayor of Milan Giuseppe Sala has reaffirmed his desire to continue the new stadium project with AC Milan and Inter.

The best advice we can give to catch up on the stadium saga is to read our Substack round-up of recent events. It is just over 100 years since the first brick was put down to start constructing the stadium, and its fate remains more up in the air than ever before.

In the last three weeks there have been numerous developments, such as an agreement over the sale price of San Siro and the surrounding areas between the clubs and the Council, the counter-notion that they cannot actually sell the stadium, and most recently talk of commemorative plaques.

All this is amid a backdrop of political instability given the investigations that are ongoing into the current administration within the city, which have led some to call for Sala to stand down.

Sala takes a stand

Speaking on a live broadcast on RTL 102.5, Sala again addressed the issue of the sale of San Siro to Milan and Inter, confirming that he plans to push ahead with things despite all of the noise.

“Now we’ll see what happens in September. We need to go through the City Council because transactions involving public property must be approved by the City Council,” he said (via MilanNews).

“San Siro is one of my goals, not the most important one, of course, but for my own personal dignity, I’ve been working on it for several years. First we considered leasing, then we tried restructuring, and now we’re selling.

“For my own personal dignity, I want to continue this initiative, but it needs to be approved by the Council. From my perspective, I want to have a clear conscience, I want to do my job until the end, and then we’ll see if the political system follows this path.

“What I’ve noticed, as someone who’s always traveled extensively around the world and who’s still very curious about what’s happening around the world, is that big cities usually have new stadiums.

“San Siro isn’t new, but I’ll stop here because I know it will be controversial, but contemporaneity must push for change. Milan is a city of change, so I’m voting in favour and will vote in favour because the City Council will vote too, and then we’ll see what happens.”