A team-company, pharaonic acquisition campaigns, the "good game" to build successes and sell entertainment : this is the philosophy with which Silvio Berlusconi has intertwined his entrepreneurial and political affairs with those of football since 1986 , first for 31 years at the helm of Milan , with victories in Italy, in Europe and in the world, then from 2018 as owner of Monza, protagonist of the climb from Serie C to A.
Always with his trusted friend and right-hand man Adriano Galliani by his side, even in his last time at the stadium, on 26 August 2022, at the beginning of the Brianza adventure in the top category.
The purchase of Monza comes just over a year after the sale of the Rossoneri club , his football creature, to the mysterious Chinese Li Yonghong, epilogue of the era of the " most successful president in the history of football", as Berlusconi himself liked to call himself .
A controversial conclusion, eight months after the preliminary contract, after two postponements because the Chinese did not have all the necessary funds. Not exactly in line with the glories of the Rossoneri history of the entrepreneur who is recognized as having revolutionized the world of football, since he took over the company on the verge of bankruptcy from Giussy Farina on 20 February 1986. At the time there was talk of political interference, of mugging the property developer Giuseppe Cabassi or the oilman Dino Armani who allegedly offered more than Berlusconi's 15 billion lire.
A save, "a matter of the heart" has always said the Cavaliere (denying a previous interest in Inter) who in 30 years has spent over one billion euros for Milan and won 29 trophies, scoring a 'pre' and a 'post' in Italian football, as he had done with TV and as he would have done with politics. Berlusconi introduces the idea of football as a show.
At the first meeting he lands with the team in a helicopter at the Arena with the Cavalcade of the Valkyries , asks for reinforced jerseys like in football to intimidate the opponents, and is satisfied with the acrylic ones, with more television colours. On the stage of the Manzoni theater he became president on 24 March 1986, set aside the Rossoneri icon Gianni Rivera and organized the club as well as its advertising and TV companies, with a marketing division, a novelty for Serie A. Winning while having fun is the mission. "We must become the most successful club in the world" he announced in the summer of 1987 at a convention at the Pomerio castle. Skeptics will reconsider.
