Repositioning: the specialty of politicians. But also of the teams, when we move from the offensive to the defensive phase. Of the fans, if a coach or a center forward, a goalkeeper or a president changes. Repositioning: the specialty of managers. And the number one among managers: Beppe Marotta.
Pay attention to his statements. Last weekend, at Zhang’s desperate statement, he spoke of a “terrible day for financial issues”. The tremendism derives only from the Chinese threat of legal action, intended to slow down a possibly rapid and operational handover. Few notice it. For a few hours Marotta seems to have defended Zhang. But then, already at San Siro close to the Scudetto celebration, the best (and most political) of the managers broadens the concept. There is nothing terrible anymore. Indeed: “Inter is a solid company, I challenge anyone to check our accounts.” We arrive at the party at the Castello Sforzesco, where Marotta’s dialectical flamboyance reaches heights that were unthinkable until a few hours before: “We will raise the bar, we are not afraid because we are Inter”. Applause.
Beppe Marotta, for the very few who haven’t noticed, has been the de facto president of Inter for over a year. He commands, directs, guides, indulges, scolds, protects, speaks, contacts and bargains. All the verbs imaginable for those who “exercise the functions of”. Communication is also fundamental. Zhang was supported in the more social and youthful (and harmless) demonstrations, with the reasonable certainty that the Oaktree fund would eventually intervene, finding, in order:
1) excellent team and Scudetto; 2) stadium project expanded in the right time; 3) contracts dated 2027 for all management that matters. A masterpiece of strategy and diplomacy. And communication, even more so. In this, Marotta was truly incomparable, because – well supported by all his references and knowledge – he allowed the time until May 20 to pass peacefully, without any anxiety for what turned out to be a desperate final countdown of the Chinese ownership .
In this sense, the celebration of Zhang was also exaggerated, even being compared to Angelo Moratti. The chills come. It’s a childish comparison. Better to leave it alone… And perhaps forget that the young Chinese president was involved in the Ambrogino d’Oro. Here you are. In short. Mayor Sala could have done better. It certainly won’t do the same in the coming years, because awarding a fund would be even more difficult than a president exiled in China. With a background there is the object (Inter), but the subject (the president) is missing. “How can I wave a flag without a face,” said Diego Abatantuono many years ago, referring to the Milan that passed from Berlusconi to the Chinese and then to Elliot. But we are now in the future. Or maybe in the contemporary present. Wanting to exaggerate and exasperate, the owner fund of a football club even resembles a popular shareholding. Agnelli, Moratti, Berlusconi and then again Moratti and Agnelli. There is no longer the football of fairy tales and patrons, those who, no matter how passionate they were, were even mocked as too rich and too fans. Milan is RedBird’s descendant from Elliott and Juventus, although geolocalized like Casa Agnelli, promises to be managed with financial logic that is not at all romantic.
Sustainability. This is the password, not respected by Zhang himself. Because the pandemic and the particularity of China agree, but Oaktree intervenes both three years ago and today precisely because the young Steven is unable to produce a profitable balance sheet even with large sales and market miracles, nor with a final of Champions League and Italian cups and not even with two Scudetti. The company must be reviewed and corrected. Which will not mean giving up Lautaro to the highest bidder. Indeed, if anything the opposite: renew the contract even at 10 million net, but with an intact technical and financial value rather than expiring. It will mean identifying the route to make Inter a boat that goes without taking on debt at every wave. A healthy company. Where the president acts as a manager there as elsewhere, with the passion of his professionalism but without flags.
For a fund, the team of managers is like that of footballers. And here we are again with the somewhat superficial narration of recent times. Those who maliciously joked about the AC Milan managers transferred from Elliott to Red Bird will now applaud Marotta&co’s move to Oaktree. The new proprietary fund will put only a couple of super managers on the next board of directors. Then he’ll let it go. Single objective: create value and resell. Repositioning. Quick and fast. What fans and influencers, managers and professionals, VIPs and more or less social commentators have already started. But Zhang certainly didn’t end suddenly.
And applause to Marotta, who managed to pass off the final countdown as a walk of health and the Scudetto, rather than – as it turned out – a Titanic foiled by Oaktree.
