A strong business head, taste for success and a solid knowledge of the club’s history and values: three things most fans would want from a chairman (and minority owner).
Poor Erick Thohir might be lacking the latter, though.
When asked this week why he inviested in Inter Milan in 2013, the Indonesian businessman expressed that he had been a fan since "they bought the Dutch trio" - referring to Milan's fabled line-up of Frank Rijkaard, Ruud Gullit and Marco van Basten, who joined Inter’s famous rivals in the 1980s. Oops.
Thohir, who is also the owner of MLS franchise D.C. United, may well have been thinking about the German trio of Lothar Matthaus, Andreas Brehme and Jurgen Klinsmann when he made his comment.
“Buying a football club isn’t just a matter of business – you have to love that team,” the club’s president told Metronews in his native Indonesia.
“I’ve been an Inter fan since they bought the Dutch trio, and then Ronaldo’s arrival.
“But I want to thank president Moratti for giving me the opportunity to become the club’s first foreign president.”
The €75m worth of new arrivals at Inter this summer will probably soothe annoyed Nerazzurri fans.
