Former Inter Preisdent Erick Thohir has looked back on his time in charge of the Nerazzurri, stressing that in his view he managed to bring financial stability to the club during his reign.
Speaking to Indonesian news outlet Idntimes, via FCInterNews, the former Nerazzurri President also expressed his happiness at the fact that the Nerazzurri are in a Champions League semifinal, and that Italian football more broadly is well-represented in European competition this season.
Thohir had been Inter President starting in 2013, before the majority of shares of the club were eventually acquired by Suning, before Lion Rock Capital eventually bought out Thohir’s shares to become a minority partner.
The Indonesian’s businessman’s time at the helm could hardly have been said to have coincided with a positive period for the Nerazzurri on the pitch, as the team did not win any trophies and struggled with some disappointing league finishes.
However, there was always likely to be a difficult transitional period away from the club’s ownership by Massimo Moratti, similar to the major bumps in the road for city rivals AC Milan in the period after Silvio Berlusconi sold the Rossoneri.
From Thohir’s perspective, the more positive side of the legacy that he left at Inter pertains to the degree of financial stability that the club had after his ownership, compared to the direction that it had been heading in during the later years of Moratti’s reign.
Asked about his old team’s presence in the Champions League semifinals, Thohir said that “I’m very happy with this milestone, I was in charge of Inter for five or six years, during which time I brought financial stability to the club.”
“The fact that Serie A has two semifinalists in the Champions League is extraordinary for Serie A,” he added, “which had three teams in the last eight of the competition.”
“Now it’s guaranteed that an Italian team will play in the final against either Manchester City or Real Madrid.”
