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In the column "Tribune" of EuroFootball.com, visitor Vadimas decided to try to review the recent events in the Madrid "Real" club and talk about the current situation of the club.
Alvaro Mejia unhappy with the behavior of the "new reserves"
Alvaro Mejia, who has recently been experiencing the best moments of his career, gave an interview to the radio station "Onda Madrid" and criticized several teammates. Last week, Pablo Garcia complained in his interview that the team lacks focus and that most of the players hardly interact with each other outside the football stadium and now A.Mejia also spoke about it. He especially highlighted the behavior of the "new reserves," those players who "suffered" after the arrival of Lopez Caro.
This mostly concerns Ivan Helguera and Francisco Pavon, who dropped out of the main lineup when coached by Lopez Caro and were replaced by Alvaro Mejia and Raul Bravo. Number 24 asked his teammates for the same respect from them that he received from Mejia and Bravo when the coach was Vanderlei Luxemburgo, who did not trust them.
"There are players who have won since the new coach arrived and it's understandable that they support the coach, but there are also those who instead of thinking about the team, think about themselves and who, instead of cooperation and help, only care about their own situation, because the change of coach affected them. Now they, instead of supporting their teammates, harm the team," said the defender.
Mejia also described the team's situation in the championship as very difficult and admitted that securing the second place will be very difficult, especially after the recent defeat in the match against the "Getafe" club, which Mejia predicted in advance. "The second place was never ours and we will have to work very hard to win it." Finally, Mejia stated that the club's failures are directly related to the current situation within the club: "When good results are achieved, everything is fine, but when the coach or president leaves, it means that the club lacks stability," Mejia concluded.
Seville prosecutor demands a fine of 500 euros for Raul Bravo
The general prosecutor of the city of Seville demanded a fine of 500 euros for Madrid "Real" footballer Raul Bravo, who is accused of disrespecting two policemen. On December 13, 2004, Raul Bravo and a friend were driving to one of the bars in Seville when they were stopped for speeding and behaving very disrespectfully towards the police officers. When asked to provide documents and pay the fine, he replied, "I will pay you as much as you want and even more, because I receive from 'Real' ten times more salary than you." The Seville prosecutor believes that such words are disrespectful towards other individuals and provoking.
"Getafe" awaits Roberto Soldado and is very interested in Palencia and Pavon
After this season, Angel Torres and Bernd Schuster's "Getafe" will once again try to get some players from Madrid, which they unsuccessfully tried to do in the past years. It is believed in the Madrid suburb that Florentino Perez's departure will finally allow the clubs to get closer and "Getafe" will become a "filial" of "Real," where talented players from the "Real" football school could be developed. "Getafe" is trying to acquire Roberto Soldado ever since the club entered the Primera and President Torres hopes that this transfer will finally happen. The most productive player of Segunda division was very interested in transferring to "Getafe" because he will be able to play in Primera and will not have to leave Madrid. In addition, "Getafe" club has young players such as Gabi, Gavilan, Pernia, and Albiol, and Soldado hopes to replicate their success.
In addition to Soldado, "Getafe" would very much like to see Alvaro Mejia among its ranks. The defender almost moved to "Getafe" in winter, but "Real" at the last minute did not allow the player to change teams, and now Mejia has fought for a place in the main lineup and therefore does not really want to move to "Getafe." The other two defenders that "Getafe" is interested in are Miguel Palencia (a fullback for "Castillos") and Francisco Pavon. F. Pavon has played only 10 matches in the main lineup of "Real" this season, was born in Getafe, and is an official socio of the club.
Nothing can be hidden or how Florentino Perez managed the club's finances
Miracles don't happen - Florentino Perez released 194 million euros more than Madrid "Real" received in revenue. He received 435 million euros for selling the old sports base "Ciudad Deportivo," which helped the club avoid bankruptcy, which was looming at the time. The money rain used to pay off old debts led from the start of a star's career to inexplicable expenses, which plunged the club into debts, which on June 30, 2005, were 445 million euros - as reported by extraconfidencial.com.
During Florentino Perez's administration, 500 million euros were spent on new players - this is the amount received for "Ciudad Deportivo" plus an additional 65 million. Apparently, Perez decided to repeat the actions of Roman Abramovich, as the latter, after buying Chelsea, paid off 130 million dollars in debt and spent 300 million on buying new players in 2 years. Perez accepted the challenge and started the fight.
Portuguese Luis Figo was the first in the lineup of "Galactics," for Zinedine Zidane a record-breaking 78 million euros were paid. Later, players like Ronaldo, David Beckham, Michael Owen, Walter Samuel, Jonathan Woodgate, Robinho, Julio Baptista, Sergio Ramos, and Antonio Cassano were bought. 500 million euros spent, but no titles were won in the last 3 years.
Zinedine Zidane, Raul, D. Beckham, Roberto Carlos, and later sold L. Figo and M. Owen formed a "billionaire club" because together they earned over a billion pesetas net, which cost the club twice as much. The total salary of these 6 players exceeded half of the budgets of all Primera clubs and all Segunda clubs combined.
Perez also modernized the "Santiago Bernabeu" stadium - this cost 137 million euros. 91 million euros were spent on the acquisition and construction of a new base. The acquisition of rights to the image and symbolism of the club, which were sold to "Adidas," "Sogecable," and "Palcos Blancos" at the time, cost 18 million euros.
Overall expenses totaled 746 million euros, and to the revenue from the base sales, revenue from the sale of rights to use the image of "Cajamadrid" and again "Sogecable" for 117 million euros was added, totaling 552 million euros. The difference is 194 million euros.
Currently, 30% (20 and 10 respectively) of "Real's" revenue is owned by the "Cajamadrid" and "Sogecable" group, received for advertising. This purchase was long debated and criticized at the time because it was a hidden loan that helped cover budget gaps. "Real" could have bought the rights until 2003 for 144 million euros, but Perez did not take advantage of this opportunity, so in 2004, a joint-stock company "Real Rights Management" was established with shareholders: Madrid "Real" (70 percent of all revenue), "Sogecable" (10 percent), "Accionariado y Gestion SL" (12.5 percent) and "Media CAM Producciones Audiovisuales" (7.5 percent). The last two shareholders belong to the "Cajamadrid" group and in 2011 "Real" will have to give up 30% of the revenue from advertising over 11 years. Not a bad business?
"Real" board member Enrique Sanchez stated that the club's debt is 124 million euros and it looks ridiculous compared to the club's annual revenues of 300 million euros.
On April 26, the "Juntos Directivos" meeting will take place, where the future of "Real" will be clarified, several Chuntos (Sp. Junta) members are preparing to declare no confidence in Fernando Martin and demand presidential elections, and 15 club associates have agreed to hold demonstrations and also demand new presidential elections.
