Mockery in Milan: Mihajlovic firing symptomatic of club's fall from grace

The news out of AC Milan on Tuesday wasn't unexpected. Sinisa Mihajlovic batted away rumours of his ousting for months, even though he appeared to get a largely disoriented club back on track. It wasn't a spectacular eight months in charge of the Rossoneri, but it was encouraging. Milan played to win again.

Apparently all of his work was for nothing. Milan fired the 47-year-old with a year left on his contract and a Coppa Italia final still to play, hiring the inexperienced Cristian Brocchi as his replacement. A club that used to stick with its managers in tough moments has become used to making them the scapegoat. It's currently paying three coaches not to work, among them two legendary footballers in Clarence Seedorf and Filippo Inzaghi.

Related: AC Milan fires Mihajlovic, names Brocchi replacement until end of season

Seedorf left after just five months at the helm, and reportedly threatened to sue the club for damages. Inzaghi, who wanted to be Milan's Sir Alex Ferguson, barely lasted a year. No one is sacred.

When Mihjalovic took the job last summer, he had some convincing to do. Not only was he a former Inter player, he also said previously he'd rather die of hunger than coach his bitter rival.

But he went and did his work on the other side of the San Siro in a professional manner, and he did it with pride. He was respectful to cantankerous owner Silvio Berlusconi, deferring to him at the right moment, but he also stood up for himself.

"I was born in a country where you have to be hard," said the Serbian, who was born in the former Yugoslavia. "Not by choice, but out of necessity: to survive. I like the pressure, I never run away from it."

Instead, Milan pushed him out. Berlusconi wouldn't give the club's fifth manager since 2009 enough time. What a surprise.

The problem is no longer on the bench. It starts with the 79-year-old former prime minister of Italy, whose refusal to cede control of the club for its own good has compelled supporters to wage season-long protests.

The players will feel the plates moving under their feet, especially midfielder Keisuke Honda, who's shuffled positions since he joined his boyhood club in January 2014. Honda has seen coaches come and go in his two-and-a-half seasons in Italy, and once again he must hit the reset button. It's not the same club he followed back in Japan as a child, the one that made European headlines for the right reasons. He signed with an imposter.

"Milan were going through a difficult period at the time of my arrival, and I knew what I was going to face. (Former Milan manager Massimiliano) Allegri wanted me, but since then the situation has become even uglier," Honda told Kyodo News in January.

Uglier it shall be. Brocchi must now find a way to prepare these players for a rare cup final, even though it wouldn't be his accomplishment to celebrate. That was all Mihajlovic.

But it wasn't the results that made him an ideal, even likeable candidate. After all, he posted the second-worst points-to-game ratio (1.53) among Milan's last six coaches, according to Opta. Rather, it was the style of play he cultivated that stood out and showed that maybe this fallen Serie A giant had begun to take its first steps back to relevance. His team came fifth in the league in shots per game (14.1) and gave Berlusconi exactly what he wanted: attacking football.

It wasn't enough, though. It's never enough. Berlusconi has always said that he acts with love, but he's done as much damage to the club as anyone in the past 30 years.

And this is his 30th anniversary as owner. He saved the club from financial obliteration in 1986, and built one of the most dominant teams Europe has ever witnessed. Arrigo Sacchi's side is still the last to win consecutive European Cup titles.

None of that matters now. He's the target of vitriol and fan protests, and he's being urged to sell. Berlusconi's holding company Fininvest announced last year it had agreed in principle to sell 48 percent of its Milan stake to Thai businessman Bee Taechaubol, the phantasm of an investor who's yet to pay a cent.

Everything about Berlusconi is a show. Firing Mihajlovic - just like Inzaghi, Seedorf, and Allegri before him - is a cover for his own failings. Despite spending around €80 million in signings before the season, Berlusconi neglected to invest in the one position of dire need: the midfield. It's proven a weakness for years - since the departure of Andrea Pirlo, really - and not even Pep Guardiola could mask those deficiencies.

There's little reason why any self-respecting tactician would take this job. In Mihajlovic, Milan had a capable tactician who had clear ideas and understood the value of youth. It will always be Mihajlovic who promoted Gianluigi Donnarumma to the first team, allowing the teenager to become the youngest to start in goal in Serie A history.

Mihajlovic will be a part of Donnarumma's history. He could've been more.