The Last Thing Inter Needs....

...is this man, Massimo Moratti, returning to the club presidency. And yet he did so, today, replacing Giacinto Facchetti, who recently died.

The Moratti family made their money in oil. They squander it on Inter. Massimo's father, Angelo, at least spent his money wisely. It was under his presidency that Inter had their great teams of the 1960s. Since Massimo became owner in the early 1990s, they have only won a single scudetto and that only in the disgraceful circumstances of this summer's moggiopoli scandals. And the total cost of his transfer dealings in that time? A little north of half-a-billion euros (that's about equal to Grenada's annual GDP, for anyone counting).

Now let's be clear about the reason for his disastrousness. He's not a carpet-bagger like ManU's Malcolm Glazer. He's not a complete lunatic like Atletico's Jesus Gil. He doesn't try to pick the team himself like Hearts' owner Vladimir Romanov. And he's clearly not a tightwad like former Villa chair Doug Ellis.

No, the real problem is that he's a fan. The man runs Inter in the manner of a deranged fantasy league squad. Is there a good striker on the market? So what if the team already has six of them - buy him anyway! It's a complete nightmare for anyone trying to build a squad.

Moratti belatedly recognized his own baneful influence on the club he owns two years ago, which is why he actually stepped away from the presidency and allowed Facchetti to take over. Now, he's back at the helm - just at the time when the season should be Inter's for the taking what with Milan penalized and stuttering a bit and Juventus down in Serie B.

It's a recipe for disaster. Expect lots of buys in January (preferably older star players that will turn the neroazzurri into even more of a pensioners' squad than usual) that will undermine whatever team coherence currently exists. And another missed chance at the scudetto.