Spanish La Liga Thread

Look at the winners of the last ten years and every "big" league is "boring".
In Belgium (i know it's a litle league, a very litle one) we have play-offs. Some years they are really exciting, but people complain that they are not fair...At the beginning of the play-offs (first 6 teams play a round robin league to see who will be the champions), the difference in points is halved...So a team that leads by 8 points after the normal competition, only leads by 4 at the start of the play-offs. Personally i would even go further: everybody team starts with 0 points at the start of the play-offs. Is this fair ? No. Is football fair ? No.
 
The problem of Valencia comes from a lot of time ago. And clearly has its roots in a very poor management. You can talk about the difference in TV rights, but Valencia is earning a lot more than the average teams in La Liga, and what they receive from TV rights is above average of what a Premiere league team receives.

Add to that that they have been regular participants in the Champions League, which has granted them a lot of additional income. Then, why are they in this extremely risky position?

Well, there are several reasons why:

- As mentioned, extremely poor management. Spending lots of money on very bad transfers after they won the title, spending a lot of money on cutting contracts of players and coaches. They must be the only team in the world where even the great coaches that achieve something are sacked and whistled by the fans. Literally. Cuper, Benitez, Emery... all of them were booed by the fans even if those coaches managed to carry them to titles or european finals.

But this is obviously not the main reason why the finances are sinking.

- Extremely CORRUPT management. Ask yourself why on earth Valencia has been building a new stadium in the last 6 years. Totally unnecessary. Absurdly wrong. Why on earth are you going to ask for huge credits when your financial position is not as healthy as it should? That's what they did years ago. And the ripples of that decision are what have put the club in this bankrupt position.

Why did they decide to build a new stadium? Well, here I could ellaborate a very large article about corruption in Spain and the roots of all evil of our pathetic society. But I won't. To make it short: the chairmen of the club have all shares of the companies that were to build the new one. So, you get it. They win money at the expense of the club. That's how you fill your pockets in Spain.

- Not only they decided to build a new stadium when they couldn't afford it, but they asdked for credit to two of the most corrupt institutions in Spain: Caja Madrid and Generalitat de Valencia. Both of them ruled by the most corrupt right wing in Europe. Great. You start to see where things come from?

Now Valencia can't afford its debts so the Valencia government takes possession of it. God knows what will they do with what's left of the club...

- So, the new stadium was never finished, and it's like a ghost building at Valencia, the perfect setting for a James Bond action set.

This is the story of Valencia, but it could well be the story of other clubs in La Liga. Corruption in Spain is so amazingly common that it makes me want to cry. Someone talked about Del Nido here. Yes, TV Rights are unfair, but Del Nido is a mobster, well known in Sevilla for all the things he does and he is currently in several trials. He is, like Jesus Gil or Lopera years ago, the perfect representation of how you do business in this country: football + buildings contracts + speculation + corruption. Unvariably they end up with the pockets full of money and leave the clubs almost in bankrupcy behind them.

Ask Lendoiro where is the money that the club earned in the early 00s. Ask Valencia why they spent so much on transfers and a new stadium. Ask Atletico why they have been the 3rd biggest spenders in Spain without making it into the Champions League for nearly 10 years...

The owners of La Liga clubs tend to be people that comes from building companies and with dark pasts. A picture that could belong to our dictatorial history.

So sad. I feel bad for Valencia fans. They don't deserve this.
 
interesting post, alexis.... and it also reflects pretty well what my valencian friends tell me about their club. it's a shame really.

on a different topic, what is luis enrique up to theese days. i got to say i miss him. not only because he was a monumental class act and truly a fantastic person, but also because i believe he could have given a lot to italian football.

i remember i gave him a lot of stick when he was in roma, as his football (although spectacular) was a bit naive..... but i now came to realise he's much more zeman-esque than zeman himself..... and would have probably done a better job than zdenek, if only he hadn't left the job (another demonstration of what a stand up man he is).

has he gone back to barçelona b team? coz honestly he deserves much more than that (and i don't mean that as insult to barça b)
 
Good post Alex.
I have a friend who lives in Spain (in Navarra, near Pamplona). Right at the moment this Belgian who went living in Spain (and whose ex)wife was thefirst Belgian mayor in Spain, you might have heard about her, she was rather famous a couple of years ago) is poor. With a couple of Belgian friends we actually support him financially...
He has told us about the communidad/generalitat Valenciana and about a trial that was live on television where the judge received a telephone call that suddenly changed the outcome of the trial (and rumours were rife in Spain that the telephone call came from the prime minister himself, is this story remotely true Alex ?). The picture he paints of Spain is indeed one of a very corrupt country.

Now about football. CF Valencia is a nice example of everything that is wrong with football. Here is a club that is virtually bankrupt (in administration just like Deportivo la Coruna ?) but that continues to play in the CL. Here is a club that last season won 7-0 against KRC Genk. Genk being a club that is exemplary led and a club that makes profits (and succintly lowers ticket prizes). Gen kwere Europe's laughing stock because they lost heavily to clubs like Valencia and Chelsea... I ask you, which is the better led club of the 3 ? Without a doubt Genk. Yet they are midgets compared to those big clubs (Genk being a club with exceptional youth products: Courtois, De Bruyne, Vossen, Benteke, Defour).
 
lo zio said:
interesting post, alexis.... and it also reflects pretty well what my valencian friends tell me about their club. it's a shame really.

on a different topic, what is luis enrique up to theese days. i got to say i miss him. not only because he was a monumental class act and truly a fantastic person, but also because i believe he could have given a lot to italian football.

i remember i gave him a lot of stick when he was in roma, as his football (although spectacular) was a bit naive..... but i now came to realise he's much more zeman-esque than zeman himself..... and would have probably done a better job than zdenek, if only he hadn't left the job (another demonstration of what a stand up man he is).

has he gone back to barçelona b team? coz honestly he deserves much more than that (and i don't mean that as insult to barça b)
Click to expand...

I sometimes read his Twitter and I swear he seems to always be on holiday, either golf or on a sail boat.
 
lo zio said:
on a different topic, what is luis enrique up to theese days. i got to say i miss him. not only because he was a monumental class act and truly a fantastic person, but also because i believe he could have given a lot to italian football.

has he gone back to barçelona b team? coz honestly he deserves much more than that (and i don't mean that as insult to barça b)
Click to expand...

As long as I know he is still unemployed, which is quite shocking considering I rate him as a great coach. I hope he finds a good club next summer and can show all of his coach skills and human qualities.

Definitely he deserves a lot more then coaching Barcelona B (which is currently managed by Eusebio, anoher former player from the Cruyff era and teammate of Guardiola as well back in the day).

gerd said:
Good post Alex.
I have a friend who lives in Spain (in Navarra, near Pamplona). Right at the moment this Belgian who went living in Spain (and whose ex)wife was thefirst Belgian mayor in Spain, you might have heard about her, she was rather famous a couple of years ago) is poor. With a couple of Belgian friends we actually support him financially...
He has told us about the communidad/generalitat Valenciana and about a trial that was live on television where the judge received a telephone call that suddenly changed the outcome of the trial (and rumours were rife in Spain that the telephone call came from the prime minister himself, is this story remotely true Alex ?). The picture he paints of Spain is indeed one of a very corrupt country.

Now about football. CF Valencia is a nice example of everything that is wrong with football. Here is a club that is virtually bankrupt (in administration just like Deportivo la Coruna ?) but that continues to play in the CL. Here is a club that last season won 7-0 against KRC Genk. Genk being a club that is exemplary led and a club that makes profits (and succintly lowers ticket prizes). Gen kwere Europe's laughing stock because they lost heavily to clubs like Valencia and Chelsea... I ask you, which is the better led club of the 3 ? Without a doubt Genk. Yet they are midgets compared to those big clubs (Genk being a club with exceptional youth products: Courtois, De Bruyne, Vossen, Benteke, Defour).
Click to expand...

A rant against Spain:
I didn't know about the belgian mayor. I try to live quite away from news because it's depressing. I have all my friends and family here and probably I'm too old to move, but if I had 20 again, I wouldn't hesitate much to go abroad and leave this joke of a country. Corruption is so high you wouldn't believe it. The way that the middle class is crunched to death is shocking. Imagine how the lower classes must survive right now. 6 million unemployed while the banks are doing historical profits after being saved with public money with nothing in return.

Waht you say about the trial is true, I fear. But it's only one of many many cases in Spain. The most important lawyer, called Baltasar Garzon, who has won many prizes internationally and is probably one of the bravest lawyers in the world, was forbidden to investigate in Spain because both major political parties eared him. So they condemned him for a stupid thing and forced him to almost live abroad. The only man who was fighting against corruption and real terrorism.

We have a king that killed his own brother when he was a teen, that hunts elephants at Botswana in luxury trips in the middle of our biggest economic crisis ever. The king himself is one of the best friends of dictators like Hasan II and the Saudi family and was a good friend of dictator Franco.

What do you expect of a country where as average, 90% of people doesn't even complete a single book per year? Where the most read newspaper is Marca (a sports journal)? Where sports (mostly football) fill 60% of time of news programs? A state that has 4 languages and doesn't even care for 3 of them? A country in which the church and the monarchy are the only institutions that didn't suffer any financial reduction during the crisis?

I don't get why there haven't been more riots and violence in the streets. Not that I want it, but the only way to solve this is by a violent revolution that throws everything down and build it agian from zero. I could tell you stories you wouldn't even believe...

And relating it to football to stay on topic, Madrid government payed 1.000 M€ to Real Madrid when Florentino came for the first time, in exchange for terrains that were valued less than 250 M€. The same Government is now near bankrupcy. Do you think this is normal? There was even a law called "Beckham law" that allowed to sign abroad players who would pay 50% less taxes than Spanish players. Can you believe it? That's the reason why players Like Ronaldo could be so easily lured away from the Premier. And the reason why for some years all clubs were signing abroad players, specially from south america, to cut costs down.

So, as you can see, politics=corruption. And politics=football in this country. It's dramatic, I know. As I said people like Lendoiro, Del Nido, Gil, etc... have gotten even more rich due to his football business, and the leave clubs almost in bankrupcy. The fair play economic rules that UEFA wants to implant should put a big emphasis on transfers being totally transparent and of public domain.

And about Genk, you have all the reason there. Genk is the best managed club of those three. It's just unfair how the best managements accomplish nothing in this world. Well, if we're talking about management to favour the club which is managed, obviously. Valencia are a great example of excellent management to favour the managers, not the club.
 
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Make Spain sound like Egypt . All countries have political woes and sports is just away to focus on a brighter side of life. In my country the politicians only help the people during elections and that's with words only lol. Lies are spread when we the people lie enough where everyone lies. We need to love enough to spread the love and football tends to bring that out joy so hence the 60% football news. I h8 watching the news when it focus on death,stealing,abusing and such. I like cheese Spain won WC handball ;)
 
Hi Alex, you sound exactly like my friend in Navarra. Sometimes i thought that he was exagerating because he has financial troubles...your post could have come from him (with the exception that he doesn't care for football, but now i also understand one of his recent rants about football). Thanks for your reaction. Very interesting.
 
Raphael Varane, what a lovely player to watch, an incredible defender at this age, not only shuts Messi down all the time but scores goals, too!
 
Man, United were apparently really close to signing Varane too...oh well.

Looking like 3-0 at the Nou Camp! Eeeeesh.

Barca need to stop being so stubborn and start playing a striker.
 
Seems like he's grow a lot these past two year, he has a way better positioning and flair when you compare him to his Lens days.
 
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