SPAIN: FOOTBALL/SOCCER: Malaga are on track to become financially viable after a troubled summer for the Qatar-owned club, new director general Vicente Casado said

Record ID: 644976

  • Title: SPAIN: FOOTBALL/SOCCER: Malaga are on track to become financially viable after a troubled summer for the Qatar-owned club, new director general Vicente Casado said
  • Date: 2nd October 2012
  • Summary: MADRID, SPAIN (SEPTEMBER 29, 2012) (REUTERS) NEW MALAGA DIRECTOR GENERAL VICENTE CASADO ARRIVING AT INTERVIEW CLOSE OF CASADO (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) NEW MALAGA DIRECTOR GENERAL VICENTE CASADO, SAYING: "Maybe there was a little too much of a delay, I agree with you, but there was a reaction. What was delayed was.... From outside the crisis looked much greater than what we were experiencing. Because it was difficult but we did not experience that much, the club was not for sale. We were listening to investors, as we must listen, but there was no attempt made to sell." ATHENS, GREECE (AUGUST 27, 2012) (REUTERS) MALAGA TRAINING BEFORE THEIR CHAMPIONS LEAGUE MATCH AGAINST PANATHINAIKOS MADRID, SPAIN (SEPTEMBER 29, 2012) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) NEW MALAGA DIRECTOR GENERAL VICENTE CASADO, SAYING: "We are demonstrating that we have a solid base but there is much still to do in terms of ensuring the club's viability, we are working on that at the sponsorship level, with the structure of a European club because that is what we want to be, a European club. We want to sit on European spots." ATHENS, GREECE (AUGUST 27, 2012) (REUTERS) MALAGA TRAINING BEFORE THEIR CHAMPIONS LEAGUE MATCH AGAINST PANATHINAIKOS MADRID, SPAIN (SEPTEMBER 29, 2012) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) NEW MALAGA DIRECTOR GENERAL VICENTE CASADO, SAYING: "We want to comply with the Financial Fair Play (FFP) perhaps is what hasn't been fully understood.We have reoriented the club to be viable and balanced in the future. We showed that this summer selling players and bringing others in for free." ATHENS, GREECE (AUGUST 27, 2012) (REUTERS) MALAGA TRAINING BEFORE THEIR CHAMPIONS LEAGUE MATCH AGAINST PANATHINAIKOS MADRID, SPAIN (SEPTEMBER 29, 2012) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) NEW MALAGA DIRECTOR GENERAL VICENTE CASADO, SAYING: "It was never said that the Sheikh will not put more money in, it was never said and we will make targeted investments if they are necessary, controlled investments, what we call controlled investments. We are going to be a club competing in Europe with controlled investment and a balanced budget." ATHENS, GREECE (AUGUST 27, 2012) (REUTERS) MALAGA TRAINING BEFORE THEIR CHAMPIONS LEAGUE MATCH AGAINST PANATHINAIKOS MADRID, SPAIN (SEPTEMBER 29, 2012) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) NEW MALAGA DIRECTOR GENERAL VICENTE CASADO, SAYING: "Given the economic crisis that Spain is in we need to learn how to better welcome foreign investors. And I say that loud and clear. We need to choose better what to do. England is an example, France with the Emir is another. Every one of us is interested so that La Liga raises its income. On one hand foreign investors, which Spain needs, on the other hand television and radio rights. There were a lot of controversy. We are working so the gap between Real Madrid and Barca and the other teams can be narrowed. Real Madrid and Barcelona are not against it." ATHENS, GREECE (AUGUST 27, 2012) (REUTERS) MALAGA COACH MANUEL PELLIGRINI SPEAKING TO PLAYERS ON PITCH AT TRAINING SESSION MADRID, SPAIN (SEPTEMBER 29, 2012) (REUTERS) MALAGA DIRECTOR GENERAL VICENTE CASADO AT INTERVIEW
  • Embargoed: 17th October 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Spain
  • Country: Spain
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA7P7LMEZG2540J9W6PJZGFSA9
  • Story Text: Champions League debutants Malaga are on track to become financially viable after a troubled summer for the Qatar-owned club, new director general Vicente Casado said.
    Owner Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nassar Al Thani invested heavily in players and coaching staff after buying the modest Andalusian club in 2010, helping them qualify for the Champions League for the first time with a fourth-placed finish in La Liga last season.
    But speculation that Al Thani was preparing to bail out - rumours that initially went unanswered - coupled with delays in wage payments and the sale of players including Santi Cazorla and Salomon Rondon, projected an image of a club in deep crisis.
    In an interview at the club's Rosaleda stadium before Saturday's (September 29) 4-0 win at home to Real Betis, Casado admitted it had taken too long to quash the sale rumours.
    "Maybe there was a little too much of a delay but there was a reaction," Paris-born Casado, who previously worked for the Madrid Masters tennis tournament and the Spanish soccer federation (RFEF), told Reuters.
    "From outside, the crisis looked much greater than what we were experiencing," added the 40-year-old Spaniard, a sports marketing expert and a fluent French speaker.
    "The club was not for sale. We were listening to investors, as we must listen, but there was no attempt made to sell.
    "We are demonstrating that we have a solid base but there is much still to do in terms of ensuring the club's viability, we are working on that at the sponsorship level, with the structure of an European club because that is what we want to be, a European club."
    The club's silence was eventually broken at the beginning of August when they published a brief statement saying Malaga had begun the process of adapting to UEFA's financial fair play (FFP) rules, designed to make clubs live within their means.
    Executive vice president Moayat Shatat held a news conference 11months later at which he said Al Thani had no intention of selling and would continue to invest, the first official denial that a sale was imminent.
    The club had promoted Casado to director general and appointed Mario Armando Husillos, a former Malaga player, as sporting director, Shatat added.
    The crisis appeared to have been averted and fans' fears were further allayed by the performances of the team under Chilean coach Manuel Pellegrini.
    They successfully negotiated a Champions League play-off against Panathinaikos, thumped Zenit St Petersburg 3-0 in their opening Group C match and have begun their La Liga campaign with four wins and two draws to climb to third.
    The extent of the club's financial problems was highlighted this month when Malaga was among 23 teams to have prize money withheld as European soccer's governing body UEFA revealed the first sanctions under its FFP rules.
    Casado said the restructuring plan now underway was designed to ensure the club complied with the regulations and any future investment would be "targeted and controlled".
    After the departure of Spain midfielder Cazorla to Arsenal and Venezuela striker Rondon to Rubin Kazan, Malaga signed cheaper replacements including Argentine forward Javier Saviola, United States defender Oguchi Onyewu and Paraguay striker Roque Santa Cruz.
    "What perhaps hasn't been fully understood is that we want to comply with the Financial Fear Play and we have reoriented the club to be viable and balanced in the future," he said.
    "We showed that this summer selling players and bringing others in for free.
    "It was never said that the Sheikh will not put more money in and we will make targeted investments if they are necessary, controlled investments.
    "A club that is competing in Europe with controlled investment and a balanced budget."
    The uncertainty over the summer revealed something of the culture clash between Malaga's Qatari owners and the Spanish officials who run the club on a day-to-day basis.
    Casado said there were lessons to be learned about how to deal with outside investors, not just in the sphere of soccer.
    "Given the economic crisis that Spain is in we need to learn how to better welcome foreign investors," he said.
    A good example to follow was the English Premier League, where Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan has spent hundreds of millions of pounds to transform Manchester City into a potential European powerhouse.
    Another was France's Ligue 1, where Qatar Sports Investments - controlled by son of the Emir and heir to the Qatari throne Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani - has similar ambitions for Paris St German.
    "We need to choose better what to do. England is and example, France with the Emir is another," Casado added.
    Malaga had a budget of 150 million euros ($192.98 million)last season, compared with around 500 million for La Liga giants Real Madrid and Barcelona, but the club say it is too early to name a figure for this season.
    One area where they hope to boost income is from the sale of audiovisual rights, a controversial issue in Spain where clubs negotiate deals with broadcasters individually and Real and Barca take about half the total pot of 600 million euros.
    Casado said Malaga were currently earning about 20 million euros from their TV deal but wanted to increase that to at least 30 million and were confident Real and Barca would show the flexibility needed to create a fairer distribution of TV cash.
    "We are working so the gap between Real Madrid and Barca with the other teams can be narrowed. Real Madrid and Barcelona are not against it," Casado said.
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