Required Reading: Phil Ball

By: Cesar | February 25th, 2008

No word yet if Juan Soler has left his post as Valencia CF president. When I find out, I’ll post my opinions.

For now, I pass the baton to Phil Ball, preeminent Spanish soccer journalist for ESPN’s Soccernet.com. Read his musings on our beloved club here or read what he has to say about us below … I value his opinion. I’d love to interview him one day about the state of our club … enjoy and let me know what you think …

the Valencia case, which features defensive midfielder David Albelda versus the club, has been attracting all the media attention this week. Unlike several of the Valencia-based blogs that are all scratching their heads in confusion, perhaps the only thing to say at the moment about this particularly surreal situation is that the club have had it coming, as they say. Liverpool should take note, since Valencia has not been the same since Rafa Benitez left it - and he might have stayed had he felt an ounce of confidence in the Board of Directors. Benitez has new problems of a distinct nature over in England, but he must be looking at the news of former club and wiping his brow muttering ‘There but for the grace of&’

It seems that David Albelda and Juan Soler, the Valencia president who bears a remarkable resemblance to a standard fall-guy from a Cohen Brothers movie, tried to come to some settlement out of court last week, but the negotiations fell apart on Soler’s insistence that Albelda sign a clause preventing him from playing for any ‘major’ Spanish club. Albelda, as you surely know now, along with fellow-veterans Cañizares and Angulo, was told by new manager Ronald Koeman (allegedly during a five-minute interview back in December) that he had ‘best find himself another club’ because the Dutchman was uninterested in his further services. Albelda and Cañizares were both in their tenth season at the club, and Angulo was starting his eleventh.

No matter - during the previous season the dressing-room had clearly been divided over the on-going handbags between manager Quique Sánchez and Director of Football Amedeo Carboni. It’s not entirely clear, but it would seem that the three condemned men had pinned their flag to the Carboni camp, and had thus been at loggerheads with several of the squad from the moment that Carboni had left in the summer. Manager Sánchez, stuck in the middle of two camps, finally lost his authority and had to go, but Koeman immediately fingered the problem on arrival and decided to go for broke. He may yet be proved to be right. But meanwhile, inconsistency abounds.

At the court hearing, Koeman claimed to have made the decision to oust the three from the squad for ‘technical reasons’, which is clearly piffle. Soler then claimed to have supported Koeman’s decision - as if the president himself had washed his hands of the whole affair, only to then insist on the ‘anti-major club’ clause for Albelda, the most valuable of the three players. His buy-out clause stands at 60 million euros, and so Albelda has decided to take Valencia to court for that precise amount, which legally speaking is fair cop. On the one hand it seems designed to force Soler’s hand, and on the other it appears to be a PR move by the player, to force the issue out into the open and to oblige the club to underline the real reasons for the players being thus marginalised (as if he doesn’t know!).

But Albelda claims that nobody has explained to him why he has been dropped from the squad, particularly considering the fact that he is still one of the main pieces of armoury in the Spanish national squad. Indeed, on hearing of the trouble, both Juande Ramos at Tottenham and Avram Grant at Chelsea instructed their lackeys to make some phone calls in a Spanish direction.

It would also be interesting to know what Soler considers to be a ‘major Spanish club’. Atlético Madrid have been sniffing around, and so it would appear that they are therefore major. But Albelda - apparently not wanted by Koeman for footballing reasons, cannot play for any other Spanish club of note - which presumably means someone ‘major’ enough to afford him. Then again, if he wins the 60 million, he could afford to go where he liked. Grimsby have already left a message on his agent’s answer-phone.

However, the darkest aspect of all this is the fact that both sides in the case subpoenaed various players to testify on their behalf. So Albelda called in his buddies Villa, Joaquín, Vicente and Silva, whilst Soler called in anyone starting with ‘M’ (Morientes, Mora, Moretti and Marchena) plus Baraja, and Helguera. As you can imagine, you won’t find this in the trainer’s manual of ‘How to build team-spirit’.

On top of this, Koeman claimed to have told Soler that his decision was ‘permanent’ and that the players would have to leave. In court, Soler claimed that he had understood the arrangement to be ‘temporary’, a declaration that left Koeman with a bloodless face. It was as if Soler was experimenting with a first attempt to discredit him, to see where it might lead. It almost sounded as if he might eventually come down on the player’s side, or that he was preparing the ground for a peace-pipe session with Albelda - which is all very well, but it cannot be done at Koeman’s expense, since that will fatally undermine what little authority he has left.

Koeman is no fly-by-night, however, and has a strong character. Amidst all the chaos, the club had a Saturday night game against struggling Recreativo, and at home to boot. Curiously enough, the normally awkward bunch that make up the Mestalla decided to get behind the team, and despite the 1-1 draw applauded them off the pitch. They did indeed deserve to win, but it was as if the crowd was attempting to de-factionalize the squad, offering the whole team their unconditional support, whichever side of the dressing-room they were getting changed.

The judge, meanwhile, has retired to consider his verdict, and will pronounce within a month. Whilst he does his considering, Soler can think about how he goes about saving his own face and the club’s bank account. I’m no lawyer, but at the moment things look to be balanced in Albelda’s favour.