AC Milan president Silvio Berlusconi says he will not relinquish control of his club until he wins another title.
Berlusconi's autobiography, titled "My Way," will be released on Thursday, and the final chapter is dedicated to football.
On Wednesday, La Gazzetta dello Sport published excerpts from the book, which is written by Alan Friedman, in which Berlusconi reflects on his near 30 years at the helm of the Italian club.
With a sale of a 48 percent stake to Thai broker Bee Taechaubol imminent, Berlusconi also insisted that he will not be leaving until another trophy is lifted.
"I'm only going to leave when I've won again," the 79-year-old said. "I've told my children that, when I'm gone, they can sell anything they want, if they would like to, apart from two things: my majority holding in Milan and my house in Arcore."
Berlusconi's affinity with Milan started before he bought the club in 1986. "I remember my father," he said. "We would talk about Milan almost every evening when he came home from work. When he would ask me about school and my homework, I'd always try to lead the conversation onto the subject of Milan."
His love for the club grew over the years until he finally gained control, which he has kept ever since.
It has often been claimed that Berlusconi selects the team himself and orders his coaches to do as he says -- but he has denied those suggestions.
"No, that has never happened," he said. "Often I would suggest a team. I talk to my coaches constantly and we discuss formations and the players before every game. At times, I don't agree with the coach and when this happen, he always wins.
"That way, I've never abused my position as owner and president of the club. I've never tried to be superior to our coach. At the end of the day, he's responsible for the results."
The first coach he selected was Arrigo Sacchi.
"I felt Sacchi was the right man for Milan because I'd watched him closely and identified the way his team plays as anomalous to the defensive way typical of Italian football," Berlusconi said.
"Sacchi would get his team to attack and play to win. We went to Parma one lunchtime to get to know him, [Milan's current general manager Adriano] Galliani and I. I liked him straight away as a person, even if he had an awkward character.
"He was very decisive and it was hard to make him change his mind. He was a proud and determined man. It turned out to be a great choice."
Milan won the Scudetto at the end of Sacchi's first season in charge and they finished third, second and second in his subsequent three campaigns, winning the European Cup twice.
When it was time for a change, Berlusconi turned to Fabio Capello.
"All of the press was against us," Berlusconi said. "The papers were saying that I wanted to be the real coach and that I'd chosen Capello to be my butler, but things weren't like that and Capello proved it immediately. It was a pleasure working with him."
Capello added four more Serie A titles and one Champions League triumph, in addition to two other finals. Berlusconi's next manager was Carlo Ancelotti.
"He was a great worker and always open to new ideas," he said. "We worked in total harmony, in total agreement about who to field. He also had an excellent relationship with the players. A great coach does not only have to be technically well prepared, he also has to be a father to his players. Ancelotti was great at this.
"I called him our players' dad. He completes the triad of great coaches of Milan. Sacchi, Capello and Ancelotti -- I think it will be difficult to find a triad like that in future."
