Interspac Founder Carlo Cottarelli On Discussions With Suning: “This Time There Was Not A Negative Response”

The founder of Interspac has stated that Suning are now more open to discussions around fan ownership at the club than they were in the past, according to a report in the Italian print media today.

Speaking during an interview with Tuttosport, Carlo Cottarelli explained that when he first approached Suning there was a negative response. On his most recent contact though, he said it was not the same.

“There had been an approach with the company and they had replied in a negative way. This time it wasn’t like that.

“If Inter had not been interested in listening to us, they would have also communicated it publicly.”

The Interspac project is going to be officially presented in Milan tomorrow and that is what will eventually be presented to Inter in November by Carlo Cottarelli and others.

“It will be the first seminar on the subject. I don’t want to create too big expectations. I won’t be the only person to attend the event, of course.

“In this way I will give some indications on our path. We have almost completed – I hope – the selection of our consultant, in order to prepare the business plan and all the detailed program that will then be presented to Inter.

“The times are slightly longer than I expected, which means that we will postpone to November.”

A questionnaire was sent to Inter fans in June of 2021 in order to gauge the fan base’s interest in a shared fan-ownership model. The feedback was reportedly very good and Carlo Cottarelli says they could have doubled the amount of people who did the questionnaire.

“More detailed data will only be provided tomorrow even if unofficially we are talking about over 100,000 people who have expressed their preferences.

“What I can say is that, on a personal level, I found half of Inter fans did not know about the questionnaire. We can therefore double the impact compared to the numbers that will emerge.

“We have practically not made any promotional expenses. There are many Inter fans that we have not yet reached.”

When asked why popular shareholding is good for football teams, Carlo Cottarelli said: “Simple, it would replace debt with the capital of the fans that does not want to be remunerated.

“In practice, Inter would receive money through their supporters. And through these liquidities, exactly what the debt is would be repaid.”