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On Wednesday he said that to resign would be "cowardly". On Friday, he resigned.
On Wednesday he had the full support of his Board of Directors. On Friday, they deserted him.
On Wednesday, he swore on his "honour" that he had nothing to do with the shady goings-on at last month's AGM. By Friday, those who took the fall were pointing the finger of blame in his direction.
Vicente Boluda, vice-president of Real Madrid, will take over as interim president until new elections take place in the summer, after the current season ends.
Ramón Calderón has had a turbulent few days, ending with his resignation as Real Madrid president. But he has been sowing the seeds of his own destruction from the moment he was elected:
October 2006: One of the failed candidates for the presidency, Juan Miguel Villar Mir, takes the club to court to have the postal vote (annulled at Calderón's insistence) reinstated.
December 2006: Calderón's first AGM ends with a rejection of his proposals to reform the postal vote, amid calls by angry socios for new elections to legitimise the presidency.
January 2007: In probably the worst of his many foot-in-mouth moments, Calderón is recorded by a journalist as he makes a number of unflattering remarks about his players. He later has to apologise to the entire squad.
February 2007: After a number of court appearances, a judge rules that the Real Madrid electoral process, especially those statues regulating the postal vote, are invalid, and therefore the election result must stand. However, the process has, to date, not been reformed.
September 2007: Another AGM, another failure to institute any meaningful reform.
March 2008: Calderón is accused by journalist José Antonio Abellán of manipulating the selection of socios compromisarios: Real Madrid members empowered to vote at AGMs on behalf of the whole membership. He had previously accused him of "selling" season tickets in exchange for votes at the presidential election. Neither allegation has yet been challenged in court.
May 2008: Calderón fails, once again, to reform the club statutes (which are, remember, legally invalid) in an Extraordinary General Meeting.
August 2008: After chasing him all summer, Real Madrid fail to sign Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United. Worse, the club sells Robinho to Manchester City and does not find any suitable replacement in time for the start of the season.
October 2008: Calderón is accused of using the club's credit cards to fund his own lifestyle. There is little substantive proof, but the allegations about the president's tax affairs are quite damaging.
January 2009: Marca publishes allegations of vote-fixing at the December AGM, finally resulting in Calderón's resignation as president. Allegations about fraudulent commissions in the signing of players like Van Nistelrooy and Cannavaro.
Friday, 16 January 2009
Going, going... gone
Tuesday, 4 November 2008
Calderón claims Florentino abandoned Real Madrid
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".
Thursday, 30 October 2008
Calderón accused of living off the club
Last week he had to contend with the announcement by Juan Villalonga that he would seek the presidency of the club at the next election, scheduled to take place by 2010. You may remember this same Villalonga was looking to poach Calderón's right-hand man José Ángel Sánchez back in July to head his proposed take-over at Valencia.
After Villalonga's attempt fell through just ten days later, nobody could predict that the man who used to run Spain's Telefónica before having to leave over accusations of insider trading would next try to take over an even bigger football club. Over at La Liga Loca there's an excellent review of the background to this story.
There followed then rumours that Florentino Pérez, the architect of the galácticos was seriously considering returning to the post he voluntarily resigned from in February 2006.
None of this should perhaps worry Calderón too much. After all, a lot can happen in two years, and the club has had sporting success with two consecutive league championships. However, it is the president's personal financial affairs that are now taking centre stage.
On Wednesday, business newspaper Negocio published an article detailing Calderón's income and tax statements since 2004. Without specifying how these details were obtained, the surprising news is that Calderón has declared no income and paid no tax between 2004 and 2007, and yet somehow managed to buy a flat in the centre of Madrid valued at some 800,000 euros.
This was followed that same next evening in José Antonio Abellán's personal crusade against the Real Madrid president in his radio programme El Tirachinas. Abellán claims that Calderón is charging personal expenses using two club credit cards for items as varied as cups of coffee, fuel for his car, rounds of golf and visits to health spas. He even published copies of these card statements on the radio station's website, blanking out some of the amounts. Abellán extended his accusations to the rest of the club's board members, saying Calderón was merely the figurehead.
In my opinion, the "documents" don't look very official and could have been knocked up very quickly. Also, some of the expenses are in locations that Calderón is known to have visited with the team during the preseason in Irdning and the Algarve. However, the allegations are extremely serious and have been echoed widely in the Spanish press.
Whether they can be justified as legitimate business expenses will presumably be addressed by Calderón himself at a press conference tonight at 19:00 local time (18:00 GMT).
Update: At his press conference, Calderón blasted his accusers, saying they had obtained information illegally and supplemented it with lies."Sadly I have to stand here before you to make a formal declaration to answer these very serious accusations, which this morning I have put in the hands of they police so they can initiate the relevant investigation."
"Most of the items mentioned were of my daughter Leticia and the rest are false. None of those items has been paid by Real Madrid. The situation is so serious and so brutally damaging to my prestige and the honour of Real Madrid that I could not remain silent."
He then went on to present documentary evidence from the banks to the effect that those credit cards had not been used by him for any personal motive and that most of the transactions that were published by the various media were from a debit account in the name of his daughter. He also showed copies of his tax statements for the past 4 years, in reply to the article from Negocio about his apparent lack of income.
Friday, 12 September 2008
Liar, Liar
He's been called President Pinocchio, Tourettes and Motormouth (that last one's mine), but if there has been one person on Ramón Calderón's case since he became Real Madrid president, that is José Antonio Abellán, a journalist and presenter of the popular late-night radio sports programme El Tirachinas. His recent tirades have proved too much for old Ramón and he has decided to take the pesky journo to court for lies and slander.
Abellán has certainly found a rich mine in Calderón's frequent escapades in front of the various media, often without seemingly thinking through what he was going to say first. Early in his presidential stint, Calderón announced that Real Madrid had signed a massive TV contract with Catalan production company Mediapro, but he couldn't get his figures straight. Initially worth 800 million euros, he added an extra 300 million to the sum less than a week later.
The non-transfers of Kaká, Cesc and Cristiano Ronaldo, plus Robinho's move to Manchester City have been covered to death in recent summers, so I won't recap them here, except to say that whatever he says one week, he denies the next, and then he contradicts himself again... and again.
Most recently, and what the president seems to have taken issue with, Abellán has accused him of fiddling the waiting lists of season ticket holders in favour of friends and acquaintances. If and when this goes to court, the thought of Abellán giving evidence must have every journalist in the land slavering at the mouth. I can't wait.
Monday, 14 April 2008
Exercise in translucency
The press release does not refer to the allegations as originally reported in José Antonio Abellán's El Tirachinas radio programme. Instead, it states that the presumed irregularities were brought to the attention of the board of directors by a number of Real Madrid socios. It then goes on to say that the electoral commission, which oversees all matters relating to elections at the club, has "dismissed the allegations in their totality" and has chosen to continue with the current process as any investigation "is outside their area of responsibility". This, it says is "unjustified, inexplicable and incoherent" and accuses the commission of acting "outside any legal rationale, as in previous occasions".
Consequently, the board has decided to suspend any current activities relating to the choice of socios compromisarios for the next AGM and proposed a change to the process. The changes are not detailed, but they are likely to include ensuring all applications and selections are witnessed by a notary.
The board also states its intention to convene an Extraordinary General Meeting "in the near future", ostensibly to discuss the above changes, as well as other proposed changes to the postal voting system, which were not approved at the last AGM. When Real Madrid were flying high in the league back in January, with a nine point lead over Barcelona they have only just regained, there was speculation of an EGM being called as soon as the championship was mathematically won, to announce a snap election which Calderón hoped to win and thus finally put paid to all the controversy which has dogged him since he became president.
What is difficult to discern, as little or nothing is in the public domain, is who runs the electoral commission, and, more importantly, how they are appointed. At the last election, one José Eulogio Aranguren, a 96 year-old who is also Real Madrid member number 2, was the president of the commission. One can but wonder whether the thinly veiled attack by the board is but a smokescreen to disguise their involvement in any shady activities. There is a long road ahead before anyone can claim "transparency" in anything related to Real Madrid.
Monday, 31 March 2008
Playing a dangerous game
It's hard to know what to believe. Almost since Ramón Calderón became Real Madrid president, one José Antonio Abellán, a journalist and presenter of the popular late-night radio sports programme El Tirachinas has been conducting a relentless campaign accusing him of all manner of irregularities and possibly even illegalities in his running of the club. Is it a personal vendetta? An attempt by a self-confesed Atlético supporter to destabilise Real Madrid? Or perhaps a well-connected investigative journalist trying to counter the output of a fawning Madrid sports press?
Back in February 2007, Abellán challenged Calderón to appear on his programme to answer a number of allegations for which he had "irrefutable proof" and, should he fail to do this, he would pay 1 million euros to a Real Madrid charity and never work as a journalist again. Needless to say, Calderón declined the invitation. The allegations were:
Abellán has both fervent supporters and loud detractors; his shock-jock style guarantees a polarised response. His attacks on Calderón and his directors don't border on the personal; he overshoots the boundaries of decency by a good margin. Nonetheless, neither the club nor Calderón have taken Abellán to court. Calderón's children did take him to court and lost.
The latest salvo in this war of words concerns the allegation last Thursday on El Tirachinas that Calderón and one of his closest collaborators, Alfonso Carrascosa, are planning to manipulate the selection of those Real Madrid members empowered to vote at AGMs, the so-called socios compromisarios. For an explanation of how this "works", see this previous article of mine.
The manipulation involves asking those members who were granted season tickets during the presidential campaign to nominate as their representatives hand picked compromisarios who will approve Calderón's accounts at the next AGM and vote for his proposals. Carrascosa's own company, Legalitas is paying for all the letters sent to Real Madrid members, using an up-to-date membership list obtained directly from the club. To top it all, Carrascosa himself defended his actions on Abellán's programme as "not very ethical but definitely not illegal" and that the club had "always done things this way". Not much of a defence you might say. The club itself was unavailable for comment and has made no official statement on the allegations.
From As, for some the club's official mouthpiece, not a word on the subject. However, Marca does go into some detail, as it has been waging its own personal war of words with Calderón over the last few months, though not with the ferocity and persistence of Abellán. Some Spanish Real Madrid bloggers (here, here, and here) are understandably incensed and demanding Calderón's resignation.
