Very weird seeing you talk about context and then praise Marotta for the Icardi saga. He did what exactly?
Came in and blocked his contract renewal? Yes.
Then took Spalletti's side in the conflict when he wanted to sack the guy at the same time. For him it was a pride issue, not anything more. You're pretty much congratulating Marotta for being a selfish prick over Inter's best interests at the time...
Then what? He told Spalletti it was a fun idea to allow to strip him of the captaincy just before a winnable competition's game?
And how did Icardi backed us into a corner? By saying he wants to stay at Inter? He backed us into a corner by maintaining the position he had for several years now and not abiding to some new manager who was spat out from the Torino gutters who wanted to get rid of him?
Come on, at least be factual when you want to "apply context". This ill idea of what happened in this case will haunt our fanbase for years. We had the same discussions over and over again about the "ingrate Ronaldo" who "wanted to leave" when you have him saying he wanted to stay, Moratti saying that Ronaldo wanted to stay, Vieri saying that him and Ronaldo went to Moratti to lower their salaries in order to improve the squad THREE WEEKS BEFORE THE TRANSFER and yet people still seem surprised that it was Cuper who drove Ronaldo out and not some fancy fetish he had to play for Real Madrid. Maybe your fake proofs will eventually come if Icardi ever wants to return to Italy and the only open door he will find will be one of our rivals... Then maybe you will cement this idea that "he wanted to leave" and that all that was a trick to join Juventus, Milan, Napoli or whoever. Teams that he's been rejecting for years as an Inter player. It's almost perfect to punish a fanbase for believing nonsense instead of knowing or at least realizing the truth. Maybe we deserve this to happen to us every 15 years or so.
But yeah, let's praise Marotta. He is the one who created the Juventus dynasty after all, not Agnelli in collaboration with FIGC...
Context my fucking ass.
I do not have any knowledge about what went on behind the scenes in relation to Icardi. The way I see it, the only reason Marotta may have blocked the contract renewal is because of Icardi’s and Wanda’s behaviour up to that point. Players and their agents do not usually go about negotiating a contract renewal in the manner that Icardi and Wanda attempted to negotiate and deal with Inter. Also, the fact that you are putting it solely on Marotta’s shoulders is convenient. It goes without saying that the club’s management as a whole would have together decided and agreed on how they wanted to manage and deal with Icardi. That decision would not have solely been Marotta’s
In relation to Marotta siding with Spalletti in the conflict between coach and player, it would not have sent the right message to the squad if Marotta had sided with Icardi. It would have essentially meant that the players had the power to do as they choose and get away with it. I too believe that it was an odd decision given that Spalletti’s days were numbered but an explanation may be that Marotta and the club’s management may not have wanted to jeopardise our season and qualification to the Champions League. It was easier to move forward with Icardi sidelined than it would have been for the club to alienate Spalletti. It was therefore in Inter’s best interests for management to side with Spalletti and put Icardi in his place rather than make an exception of his behaviour.
As for stripping Icardi of the Captaincy before the match against Frankfurt, all I have to say is that there was no way Inter were going to win the tie let alone the competition when Spalletti approached most of our fixtures with a coward’s mentality. If anything, being eliminated from Europe did us a huge favour as we no longer had to fight on two fronts. But given that we only qualified for the Champions League on the last day of the season, you would have thought that we were real Europa League contenders and had been playing deep into competition given our struggles in the latter half of the season.
Arguing that Icardi simply maintained his position that he wanted to remain at the club is highly debatable and naive. And the reason for that is the player’s silence. When there was a tempest swirling about his playing future and there were constant media reports of a switch to Juventus, Icardi remainded silent. All we had to go on was Wanda saying that he wanted to stay and that his future was Inter. What Icardi failed to take into consideration is that his behaviour under Spalletti had already tainted and jeopardised his future at the club and there was absolutely no turning back with Conte being the incoming coach.
Some might say that Icardi not being given a chance under Conte was short sighted. But given what we know now, in terms of the way Conte expects his players to buy in and selflessly sacrifice themselves for the benefit of the team, it comes as no surprise that the club determined that Icardi’s future lay elsewhere. And the reason for that decision is that every decision and action taken by the player up until that point was self focused rather than team focused. Unfortunately for Icardi, he took a stand in deciding when he was injured and making himself available to the team. Not to mention the half-hearted way he played when he did return. His decision to do so was misguided and he evidently misjudged and overestimated his worth to the club in that he thought that we could not do without him and would not sacrifice him. In a way, he got caught between and fell victim to the Inter of old, Moratti's Inter where players had great freedoms and power and the new Inter where Suning and Marotta are well and truly in control and yeild the power.
The difficult part for Inter and our supporters is that there were expectations of a perfect outcome (contract renewal and Icardi staying at the club) from what was a very difficult, strained and imperfect relationship between Icardi, Wanda and the club. Contrary to what was stated above, Inter's management realised that as supporters and as a fan base, we have endured and been punished enough. The craziness went on for too long which is why Icardi, Naingollan, Perisic and Spalletti will be/were sacrificed. The fact remains that the only person responsible for burying his Inter career was Mauro Icardi. He did so through very poor decision making and lack of professionalism compounded by his silence and the decision to hand the reins of his future and career to his wife and agent.
10 years of FIF
wait... 
okerface: okay then 
