Inter Milan’s hiring of much-traveled Stefano Pioli (11 clubs in 14 seasons) in place of Dutchman Frank de Boer(fired after 85 days) underscores the decline of one of Europe’s greatclubs.
italyPioli is Inter’s ninth coach in the last six seasons and arrives with the Nerazzurri in seventh place after 12 games, already 13 points behind Serie A leader Juventus.
Grande Inter was a dominant team of European soccer in the 1960s. It won five straight Serie A titles as recently as 2006-10. Its 2010 treble — Serie A, Coppa Italia and Champions League titles –marked the high point for Inter. It’s the only Italian club that has achieved that feat.
Since then, it’s been all downhill for FC Internazionale Milano. You could call it the curse ofJose Mourinho. Since he left Inter that summer for Real Madrid, its only trophy was the Coppa Italia in 2011.
It has been a vicious cycle for Inter. It has suffered on the field asfinancial problems mounted. And its failure to qualify for the Champions League — five years and counting — has robbed it of the revenues it needed to stay competitive. (Inter’s travails are ExhibitA in the case of the “old guard” of European soccer pressing for a closed super league.)
Massimo Moratti, whose father Angelo, an oil magnate, built Inter into a giant inthe 1960s, invested more than $900 million into Inter but finally sold it three years ago to Indonesian businessman Erick Thohir, the owner of MLS’s D.C. United. Even Thohir couldn’t turnthings around. Losses hit $160 million in 2014-15 though they inflated by one-time charges for paying off guaranteed contracts to unwanted players and pension payments to former coaches.
But Thohir himself soon had enough, selling a majority interest in the team to Chinese electronics retailer Suning Commerce Group for $300 million in June.
Michael Bolingbroke, aformer Manchester United executive, was brought in to turn around Inter Milan. There’s a three-year plan to return the club to profitability and losses for 2015-16 dropped more than 50 percent toabout $70 million.
How realistic is the plan of Inter’s new Chinese owners? Bolingbroke
The on-field problems have been there for years. Yes, Inter won a treble in 2010, but it fielded an agingteam with an average age of 30 for its starters in the 2-0 win over Bayern Munich in the Champions league final. The turnover in coaches has led to a revolving door of players in and out of theteam.
Inter’s goal of eliminating its deficit was triggered by UEFA penalties imposed on the club for its runaway losses. But Inter Milan could not register new signings BrazilianGabigol, Portuguese Joao Mario, Frenchman Geoffroy Kondogbia and Montenegrin Stevan Jovetic for this season’s Europa League because it failed to meet one of the terms ofUEFA sanctions: it spent more than it brought in on the transfer market.
Without them, Inter had lost three of four Europa League games to Hapoel Be’er Sheva, Sparta Prague andSouthampton, not exactly a “who’s who” of European soccer.