Even angels have
something to learn, and football has a lot to teach. And as Angelo knew all
too well, the game can provide a good lesson for any industrialist. The world
in the 1960s was an industrial one, and Milan, coming off of a war
and a reconstruction, was the capital of that world. Angelo Moratti, who was
born in Somma Lombarda on 5 November 1909 and became Inter president on 23 May
1955, learned to choose: players, managers, investments and coaches – Helenio
Herrera, in particular.
Together they won two
league titles, two European Cups and two Intercontinental Cups. In less than
four years – a vertiginous rate – they climbed to the top of the world. This is
the saga of the ‘Grande Inter’ side. He handled human resources, as the term is
used today, and the budgets. Because it was him, the players signed blank
contracts, and within the family they remember when the saga began, one night
when he declared,"Now we’ll do this for real." And from there they went on to
win everything.
You often hear that
football has changed a lot since from the 1960s to today. And many things
certainly have changed. It was at the beginning: Adriano Celentano was singing
‘24,000 baci’, the Beatles were ringing in the British musical revolution, La
Scala was hosting the first productions of many famous operas, and Milan was a
symbol of elegance.
But some things never
changed over the years: the intuition to seek out a foreign coach and players
such as Suarez or Jair; to invest in the youth academy with players like
Mazzola or Facchetti; to choose a leader like Picchi as captain; to hang on to
talents like Corso. And other things, such as his generosity in negotiations
and his total unwillingness to compromise, never changed either.
Certainly the pace of
the matches was anything but calming. Just look at the trio in September of
1964: on the 9th against Independiente in Argentina (with the hosts winning 1-0);
Inter’s 2-0 victory on the 23rd; then the Nerazzurri’s 1-0 victory in Madrid on
the 26th, thanks to a goal from Corso.
Angelo was that door to
the future. And Inter would never have become what they did without their
guardian angel.