Oettle explains how Milan had to rebuild after ‘badly managed’ post-Berlusconi period

Until 2017, AC Milan were owned by Silvio Berlusconi, and between then and when RedBird took over the club, there was certainly a bit of mismanagement. 

The Berlusconi era of Milan is potentially one of the most successful spells in European football. Under him, the Rossoneri won everything that there is to win in Italian football, whilst also dominating the continent.

However, towards the end of his time at the club, things began to stray from what had previously been the standard. Unfortunately, when he sold the club, things did not improve straight away, instead, they continued along that path.

To some, those issues have not been ironed out yet, even under the new ownership. Though the future undeniably looks brighter currently.

Oettle’s review

With plans to build a new stadium with Inter, extended record profits and a competitive team once again, the Diavolo can dream of those days returning, and the club’s Chief Commercial Officer, Maikel Oettle, spoke about the future in Hamburg via Calciomercato.com.

“First of all, we’re in an incredibly strong position, because we work for or represent a club that has had enormous success in its history. The second most successful club in terms of Champions League titles. It’s true that we haven’t won one for a while, but we’re still in second place.

“We also have the geographical advantage of being in Milan, the fashion capital, which also gives us a certain distinctiveness, even off the pitch. And a few years ago, we gave ourselves a new vision and established that, whatever we do, we always try to reinvent the wheel a little and set a standard that others can then follow.”

Bad management…

“Unfortunately, after the Berlusconi era, the club had been so poorly managed that we had to do something new. The idea was that best practices don’t usually come from your own industry, but from other fields: hiring talent from other sectors, approaching issues differently, and of course also partnering with brands that represent innovation and can bring us added value.”

The new stadium…

“The stadium is a huge issue. I arrived in 2019 and was immediately told, “We need to sell the naming rights for the new stadium.” Now it’s 2026. Infrastructure innovation is slow in Italy. But we’ve achieved a major milestone: we bought the stadium.

Now we’re planning the new facility next to San Siro. The old stadium will be largely demolished; it will remain a museum. We’d like to move faster, also for our partners. But the ambition is to build one of the best stadiums in Europe.”