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Motormouth Real Madrid president Ramón Calderón took advantage of an interview on the financial TV channel Intereconomía Televisión to announce the club's general assembly will be on December 7th and to criticise former president Florentino Pérez for leaving the club.
"He is the only president in the history of the club who left half way through a season. The only one to abandon the club, leading to four presidents in the space of six months. The only president who spent three years without winning a trophy. It would be very hard for him to have to explain all that", Calderón said, alluding to the rumours that suggest Florentino may stand at the next presidential elections, which will take place by 2010.
Calderón added that Florentino left not through illness or other problems, but "because the team wasn't winning. It would be very hard for me to have to say that face-to-face to a person whom I helped so much to become president. I am proud of having helped him, but he hasn't behaved well towards me".
He once again showed his anger at recent accusations that he was using the club's money for personal purposes. "A Real Madrid president cannot spend every single day denying whatever the press decides to publish, but this time they went too far. They manipulated information to say I'm a thief, and attacking the club's honour. I have not spent 1000, or even 600 euros of the club's money. I've worked 30 years as a lawyer with some success and I've managed to pay off most of my mortgage".
Commenting on the radio journalists who first published the reports on his show, he added "I would not meet Abellán (who published the reports on his radio show) face to face because I prefer to spend my time with human beings. Based on what I hear him say, he cannot do what he does and have a human heart. It's impossible for anyone to have that much evil inside them, that much bile to pour on me".
The Real Madrid president also came out in defence of coach Bernd Schuster, who has been the target of recent criticism by the media for his sometimes erratic behaviour at press conferences. "He is a great guy, but it's not easy to have to face 30 or 40 journalists every day. It would be perfect if he was really friendly with the pres, but I'd rather have a coach who does his job properly".
Calderón could not help weighing in once again into the recent spat with Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, with some unnecessary ribbing at the Scotman's expense. "He's a little bit envious of Real Madrid's nine European Cups. He realises that he won't have time to reach that figure. When I said he was a bit senile it was a bit of a joke to try to show how unimportant the words of a man who looks like he is jealous of a great club with the kind of success he hasn't had"
He was a lot kinder in his words towards rival club Barcelona. "When they play well I enjoy it like any other football fan. Envy is a ridiculous feeling; you have to admire those who do their job well".
Tuesday, 4 November 2008
Calderón claims Florentino abandoned Real Madrid
Tuesday, 28 October 2008
Ferguson still bitter over Ronaldo
Alex Ferguson has a right to be remembered as one of the best club managers the world has ever seen. His list of trophies (22 in 22 years) at the helm of Manchester United, including a treble (League, Cup and European Cup) in 1999 helped earn him a knighthood. He even won the now defunct Cup Winners' Cup with Aberdeen back in 1983, beating, you've guessed it, Real Madrid.
He is also a controversial media figure, and has not spoken to the BBC since they broadcast a programme over his son's alleged involvement in the football transfer market, an allegation that was never proved.
Ferguson is known for his clever use of psychology on both his players and on opponents, most famously when he completely unsettled Kevin Keegan, then at Newcastle, for the 1996 league title. However, he is not above showing his frustration when things don't go his way, and frequently criticises referees when he feels his players aren't properly 'protected'.
In an interview with GQ Magazine published in The Times, he gives vent to some of his annoyances over the whole summer saga regarding the transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo."I knew it was coming, so I wasn't surprised. When we sold Gabriel Heinze to Real Madrid [the previous summer], we knew it was going to happen, because Ronaldo was very close to Heinze. I knew what they were doing. I don't believe they were interested in Heinze – good player though he is. The endgame was to get Ronaldo.
What made it really obscene was that Madrid, as General Franco's club, had a history of being able to get whoever and whatever they wanted, before democracy came to Spain."
OK, you can perhaps forgive Ferguson being annoyed that his star player was the target of one of the biggest clubs on the planet, and that they made few bones about making it known (even though appearances were more or less maintained). The player and his advisers, who must surely shoulder a large part of the blame for the whole media circus, also unsurprisingly escape Ferguson's wrath - one wonders whether he would be so understanding had Ronaldo made a stronger attempt to leave Old Trafford. I wont even delve into the accusations he has faced of similar behaviour when he had wanted players to come to Manchester United.
But Ferguson is very conveniently ignoring both recent and ancient history. Gabriel Heinze did not go to Real Madrid in the summer of 2007 because he was part of a master plan to sign Cristiano Ronaldo. Heinze had been approached by Liverpool and Ferguson blocked the transfer, gifting a bargain to Real Madrid in the process. The whole thing was transacted in a matter of days, not weeks or months.
The whole General Franco claim is just laughable, all the more so in this day and age. Someone should perhaps point out that while Real Madrid won more league titles than either Barcelona or Atlético during the Franco years (14, vs. 8 and 7 respectively), Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona, clubs from parts of the country that had been against Franco during the Civil War, won more cup titles (9 and 8 vs. 6).
Even if any of that were true, the suggestion that in the 32 years since Spain became a democracy, Real Madrid still have the attitude that they can buy anyone they want when they want because of the Franco legacy is just plain bonkers, or to use Ferguson's own word, obscene.
Real Madrid have been seen as arrogant in European footballing circles because since Florentino put the club on a much sounder financial footing, they have been able to compete in the hyperinflationary transfer market. His policy of buying the best player on the market every year was the subject of worldwide media attention, even if, as we now know, it actually led to an unbalanced side that won no trophies for three years.
That transfer market, it must be said, is now led by Premiership clubs flush with TV and foreign owners' cash. Real Madrid are not unique in looking out for the best players and never have been, something that Ferguson conveniently forgets. But hey, he says he's retiring at the end of next season. Maybe he can spend some of his free time reading some history, instead of revising it.
Monday, 9 June 2008
United rattled by Real
In a statement on the Manchester United official website, the English club has announced that it has made a formal complaint to FIFA over the alleged involvement of Real Madrid in the transfer of Cristiano Ronaldo. The brief statement reads:
On 27 May, Manchester United made clear its intention to report Real Madrid to FIFA if it continued to involve itself in the future of Cristiano Ronaldo.
Unfortunately, Real Madrid has not kept its own counsel and the Club feels it has no alternative but to make a formal complaint to the world governing body, which it has done today.
The precise content and nature will remain confidential.
FIFA spokesman Pekka Odriozola confirmed the complaint had been made: "it is too early to say how the matter will be dealt with. We will first have to look at the precise nature of the complaint before seeing what steps will be taken."
Though there are few people who doubt that Real Madrid have been "sniffing around" the Portuguese star, it is doubtful whether any complaint to FIFA can be made to stick, as there is unlikely to be anything signed between the player and the club and proving any other type of contact is potentially difficult. However, given that both Manchester United and FIFA are keeping the contents of the complaint confidential at this time, it is possible that evidence that is compelling enough has been unearthed.
Depending on how this pans out, it may spark 'tit for tat' complaints between clubs. Sir Alex Ferguson, for one, has been criticised for his alleged approach of Owen Hargreaves while the player was still under contract at Bayern Munich in 2006, although a transfer was eventually agreed between the two clubs in the summer of 2007.
