The Future of Valencia CF

By: Cesar | December 2nd, 2008

If you haven’t read today’s Spanish tabloids, here’s the main crux of the news: Valencia CF, as an entity, are in deep trouble.

If Valencia don’t come up with 50 million Euros by December 31st, the club may have to declare bankruptcy.

We all knew this day might come. Now here we are, a month away from what could be one of the darkest moments in club history.

As many of you know, Vicente Soriano was rebuffed by Valencian bank Bancaja a week ago when he asked for more money to pay debts, salary, etc.

Bancaja wants a more concrete plan as to how we’ll pay the money back.

According to reports, Valencia’s VP Miguel Zori met with Bancaja on Monday to negotiate an extension of credit of 100 million euros. Zori said, “The meeting went well with Bancaja.”

The meetings were held in a bid to hold off the freezing of the club’s accounts as details began to emerge that while their is calm on the surface, beneath it is extremely serious.

Bancaja has promised the club that they’ll examine the situation “with affection,” whatever that means …

Things are obviously bleak, but assurances will soon be sought over players wages, the salaries of nearly 300 club employees, payments to the business union (UTE) responsible for the construction of the New Mestalla and the payment to creditors.

Now, we all know how we got into this mess … Juan Soler, not making it into the Champions League, shoddy speculating of players i.e. bad transfers, etc …

And we all know the club had a chance to rectify the situation to some degree this summer when they could have sold star players such as David Villa, David Silva and Joaquin.

But what do we do now? What happens if Bancaja doesn’t bail the club out?

I’m not sure how much merit we should place on MARCA and AS’s reports of our demise. They’re mouth pieces for Real Madrid and they’d love nothing more than to see Valencia fail and Villa/Silva sold to them … take a look at some of the message boards around the ‘Net and you’ll see how gleeful Madrid and Barca fans are over the mere IDEA that we might sell Villa/Silva … pretty pathetic in my view, but then again, what do you expect?

Captain Carlos Marchena admitted today that the squad is concerned amid reports of an economic crisis at Valencia but says that solving the issue is more important than wages.

The players may not be paid in December if the situation isn’t rectified, according to MARCA.

The Valencia captain has revealed that the squad are waiting and hoping to hear good news, but will endeavour to focus only on playing while the board sorts out the economic problems.

“What is more serious is that the club has these problems,” he told reporters. “The squad is worried and we have asked for some news.

“We cannot do anything more than to try and make everything go well on the pitch as we have no control over the way the finances are dealt with.

“We hope that stability returns as anything else is not good for the club.”

What a dire situation …

Ok, so what does this mean for the future of our club?

We’re currently in 3rd place in La Liga, doing well in the UEFA Cup, are building an ultra-modern 73,000-capacity new stadium which is to be finished for the 2009-2010 season and have premonitions of better days ahead of us on the pitch … and now this.

Here’s what I don’t understand about this situation …

1 – Does this mean the club needs new investors, a la Roman Abramovich to save us?
2 – If we don’t make the payment by December 31st and the club goes into bankruptcy, what happens? Do we immediately disappear? Get relegated? What?!?
3 – IF all of this debt/bankruptcy talk is true, how can we afford to bid for Thiago Carleto and Keirrison?

As I write this post, the club’s sent out an official statement about the news in the Spanish tabloids.
Here’s the Spanish version … The English follows …

El Valencia Club de Fútbol quiere manifestar a todos sus accionistas y aficionados, ante las alarmantes noticias publicadas en algunos medios, los siguientes puntos: (Valencia CF wishes to express to all its shareholders and supporters, before the alarming news published today, the following points:)

1.- Que los gestores del club tienen perfectamente definido un plan de viabilidad económica que está siendo ejecutado desde los últimos cuatro meses. El presidente, los consejeros, ejecutivos y empleados del club siguen firmes en su tarea de conducir al Valencia hacia la estabilidad económica. (That the club’s managers have a clearly defined plan of economic viability which has been exercised the last four months. The chairman, the directors, executives and employees of the club remain steadfast in their task to lead Valencia to economic stability.)

2.- Que el Consejo de Administración, con su presidente a la cabeza, quiere transmitir tranquilidad y serenidad a todo el valencianismo desmintiendo rotundamente que el Valencia esté en quiebra, término que ha sido utilizado de forma irresponsable. (The Board of Directors, with its chairman at the helm, wants to convey serenity and tranquility to Valencia flatly denying that the club is in bankruptcy, a term that has been used irresponsibly.)

3.- El Valencia Club de Fútbol quiere manifestar su confianza en las entidades financieras que, hasta la fecha, han demostrado su apoyo a nuestro gran club y, por ende, a nuestros cientos de miles de aficionados. (Valencia CF wishes to express its confidence in financial institutions which, to date, have shown their support for our great club and, hence, our hundreds of thousands of fans.)

4.- El club exige responsabilidad y rigor a la hora de analizar la situación económica de nuestra entidad, reservándose el Valencia el derecho a ejercer las acciones judiciales oportunas. (The club requires responsibility and rigor to analyze the economic situation of our institution, reserving the right to exercise necessary legal action.)

5.- El Valencia Club de Fútbol pide la unión de todo el valencianismo para mantener la excelente marcha deportiva del primer equipo, fruto de la estabilidad y del gran trabajo de la plantilla y el cuerpo técnico.
(VCF is asking for the union of all Valencia fans to maintain the excellent progress of the first team (Valencia CF), the fruit of stability and hard work of the team and the coaching staff.)

That’s all we know for now … better days are ahead, right? Let’s cross our fingers and hope so.

P.S. Don’t forget there’s a match this weekend, bankruptcy or not.
Barcelona-Valencia this Saturday … join me at Nevada Smith’s … please?????