Watching the Uefa Champions League last season was odd without Manchester United in it. It will be strange that neither of the Milan clubs, AC and Inter, who between them have won 10 European Cups, will take part this term.
AC Milan finished 10th in Serie A last season, Inter, my old club, were eighth. It is not good enough for two giants of world football to not be playing in European club football’s top competition, or even the second-tier Europa League, but they are playing in a league which has slipped well behind England.
When I was a boy, Serie A was the best league in the world. Even as a young player, the Milan clubs were as desirable as England’s biggest or Spain’s big two. Not now. Italian clubs do not buy the best players any more because they cannot afford them. They buy top players who have had a difficult time at other, richer clubs, such as Mario Balotelli (Liverpool) or Stefan Jovetic (Manchester City). Both returned to Italy this summer, where they did well before moving to England. Returning to Italy will be good for them, and they will play in some incredible games. Whatever you think of Balotelli, he will be at his best when he is playing at home, closer to the people who helped him become successful in the first place.
I loved living in Milan and saw how much football matters there. Of course, there are other things to do in a city famous for fashion and theatre, but football dominates daily life and if you are a first-team player then you are recognised everywhere on the street, though the people are not in your face like in Naples. I loved playing Napoli away, the noise was so loud in the huge bowl of San Paulo, but life as a footballer would be tough there if your team are not doing well.
Fans have power in Italy. In some ways, it is a positive; they support their team home and away. The banners they make for matches are some of the best I have seen in football, real works of art and the displays they put on for derby games are awe-inspiring for a footballer. San Siro for a derby is one of the greatest places in the world to be, the stands reaching into the sky. It is a great venue for the 2016 Uefa Champions League final, yet stadiums have been a problem in Italy and the fans can have too much power.
I had no problems in Italy, but does a player deserve to be threatened at the training ground because he is not playing well? It does not happen every week or even every month, but fans have a lot of sway with their clubs.
Italian fans can be like South Americans, passionate and a bit crazy, yet when I played in Italy there were too many empty seats. San Siro was too big – 80,000 seats – more than twice the size of the crowds for both Milan clubs last season. Inter averaged 37,270 for home games, Milan 36,661 – a dramatic fall on previous years.
The average crowd in Serie A in 2014 was 23,335, only 1,000 more than France. In La Liga it was 26,702, in the Premier League 36,691 and in the Bundesliga 43,502. Roma, the best-supported Italian team last season with 40,000, was less than the average in Germany. Crowds are going up in other countries, but down in Italy.
Italian football is not dead, far from it. Juventus, probably the most popular team across the whole of Italy and the best team in Europe for parts of the 1990s, are successful. They have won the league three years in a row and reached the Champions League final last season. It helps that they have a new stadium, which has brought fans closer to the pitch and made it smaller and more intimate. Crucially, they actually own the Juventus Stadium and keep the money from ticket sales and corporate hospitality. Other clubs are following suit, making their grounds more homely and getting rid of running tracks, which neither players or fans like. It is about time. Many of the big, old council stadiums were last developed for the 1990 World Cup.
Italy is a great football nation and their national team remains one of the best in the world. They consistently produce fine footballers, but Serie A will need more than that to get back to the level of the English and Spanish leagues.
Already we are seeing the best Italian players such as Matteo Darmian move from Torino to England rather than one of the biggest Italian clubs. And could you have imagined Stoke City signing one of Inter Milan’s best players a decade ago, as they did with Xherdan Shaquiri?
I do not think Serie A will catch up with the best European leagues any time soon, but both Milan clubs are under new ownership and they have spent money to try to rebuild the teams. Milan bought Carlos Bacca for €30 million (Dh122.6m), one of three strikers recruited this summer; Inter bought in Geoffrey Kondogbia from Monaco for €28 million, as well as Marc Montoya from Barcelona. They also have Roberto Mancini back in charge at a club where he won three consecutive titles before moving to England.
A start would be getting both Milan teams back into Europe next season.
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