Day 9: We’re Not a Big Club Anymore

By: Cesar | March 25th, 2009

Another day, another episode of your favorite soap opera As the Mestalla Turns …

And today, it’s really ‘as the Mestalla turns’ as news broke yesterday that Vicente Soriano wasn’t lying after all … he really did have a buyer for the grand old lady …

Kyle did a good job over at Loco 4 Los Che reviewing everything for you, so I won’t bore you with redundancies.

The main points? The sale was close. Very close. But at the last minute, the buyer wanted the price lowered by €80 million, from €320 million to €240 million. Soriano balked and the deal was scrapped.

The €240 million would have wiped out our debt.

Can’t really blame the guy. You’re offered a price and at the last minute, the purchaser balks? Kind of weird.

Still, that €240 million sure would come in handy right about now, eh?

We could use that to:
- Pay our players, who haven’t been paid in 2 months.
- Start building our new stadium again, which has lied dormant for a month.
- Keep our star players next season.
- Pay off most of our debt.

Alas, it isn’t to be.

And now, the situation’s so drastic, Valencia are on the verge of declaring bankruptcy, possibly a week away.

The hawks are circling, of course. The giants of European football would love nothing more than to pick our bones dry. Such is life in the loosey, goosey world of soccer.

This news, coupled with everything else that’s happened in the past few years at Our Beloved club has prompted Che legend Santiago Canizares to say we can no longer be considered a ‘big club.’

And you know what? He’s right.

We’re no longer in the elites of the European game.

We’re no longer in the same class as the Real Madrid’s, Barcelona’s and Chelsea’s of the soccer world.

We’re back where we used to be, in the class of Malaga, Valladolid and Racing Santander.

You touch the sky one day and you’re back on the ground the next … oh well.

Canizares doesn’t think we’ll keep the likes of Villa, Mata and Silva. Like we didn’t know that.

“I don’t see their futures at Valencia – the club cannot hang on to those kinds of players. The blame doesn’t lie with those who currently run the club, and the people don’t deserve this, but those players should be at big clubs – like Valencia once was. (UGGH!)

“Right now – financially speaking – Valencia is a very small club, and unless there is a huge change and a wealthy group comes and buys the club, those players will move on.

“The three players are worth a lot of money, and what Valencia will have to do is reduce costs by selling shares and those kinds of assets.”

It hurts the former Spain No 1 to talk about his former club in such terms since his time in Valencia was the most fulfilling of a distinguished career.

He said: “It is the club that allowed me to develop my profession during the best years of my career.

“I was lucky to be there when we had great players and great coaches who made the team great. I lived moments which will be very difficult to repeat in the history of Valencia, and that I will always remember.”

Very true …

One more tidbit of news.

Former captain David Albelda could leave soon, too. Kick us while you’re down, why don’t you?

In an interview with Real Madrid daily AS, Albelda said, “I would really like to stay and play with Valencia, but I’m open to anything. It depends on the needs of the club. If one day Valencia decide they don’t want me, then I could well try my hands abroad, for example.”

Is it me or haven’t we been through this before?

Speaking out about his almost murder of team mate and soon-to-be sold Valencia Pichichi Raul Albiol, Albelda said, “I haven’t given it much importance. The only thing I want when I play is to win. It would have been cowardly if I had only said something if the penalty had gone in.”

“What would I have said otherwise? ‘Albi, don’t worry, nothing happened, we will try again next week? There were a lot of emotions at that moment. I didn’t want to fight and things weren’t going to go to far. All I told him was that he had to concentrate until the whistle because any mistakes could cost us and we are already in a delicate situation.” (I guess he does this with his hands around people’s necks?)

“When we reached the dressing room I told him that everyone would talk about that with all the cameras out there. He told me he would go out and tell everyone I would be the Godfather to his child, but could not believe he actually did it.”

But he did …

Honestly, what a muppet show …