Italian businessman and Inter supporter Massimo Moratti has weighed in on Inter’s financial situation, and expressed cautious support for the idea of popular shareholding.
In an interview with journalist Peter Gomez for Italian site il Fatto Quotidiano, Moratti gave his thoughts on the struggles of Steven Zhang and Suning to maintain their control of Inter, and what the future may hold for the club.
On the overall financial situation at the club, Moratti stated: “There is necessarily concern. They managed to make a very strong team that won the Scudetto, but then something very serious must have happened in China. Steven [Zhang] is trying to keep Inter but the question is: for how long?”
One proposed solution to the difficulties faced by the Nerazzurri has been given by businessman Carlo Cottarelli who advocates for shares being owned by supporters.
The idea of this plan is that the fortunes of the club will not be dependent on the situation of foreign owners, but rather can be stabilized by funds raised by the selling of shares to supporters.
On the feasibility of this initiative, Morratti did not seem overly optimistic, but he expressed admiration for the plan and compared it to the ownership situations of other major European clubs: “I think there are many Inter fans, many of whom are very rich, but the most difficult thing is to raise a lot of money. There are a lot of intiatives of this nature abroad, for example in Germany and Spain, but they have political origins such as those of Barcelona.The figures that Inter need are not easy to reach, and doing so would certainly be a beautiful act of will.”
