Villarreal CF

[dalitis8]

So which league do you approve of then?

 

[El Gato]

And BTW Del Nido is back with his comments, to quote: "La Liga isn't the biggest crap in Europe, it's the biggest crap in the World. Is there anyone who says it is getting prostituted, adultered and corrupted?"

And so on.

I think we are likely to get some reaction from most owners if Barca and Madrid keep banging 5-6 goals in every match.

 

[10Rivaldo]

Well that is kind of the point, Manchester United are the most watched team in England, yet they receive nearly a 3rd of what Barca and Madrid get if the figure you are quoting there is correct. Its not about an even distribution of TV rights, but narrowing the gulf between them. Obviously if you have 2 clubs in a league getting sums in the 100's of millions, then the majority of the rest not even getting into the 10's of millions, its a monopoly situation. So much so if Barcelona and Real Madrid where in such market dominance in say banking or supermarket retail, they would be broken up under competition laws. Narrowing that gulf is needed to stimulate competition in a league - which Rosell and Perez acknowledged even, going so far as to even offer up some of their shares last year when Del Nido was threatening strikes.

But TV money isn't even the biggest problem here. Like Roig was commenting, its the cosy relationship to the banks Madrid and Barca have that is really making it impossible for all other clubs.

Er can you point to where I say TV revenue sharing shouldn't be done. Because I clearly said it should be done. But realistically teams like Atletico and Valencia won't make more money than they already do, which is the point I was trying to make. La Liga as a league gets paid about 600 million euros total (compared to EPL's 1 billion), so if it was distributed completely equally (obv it won't be) they'll be lucky to get even the same amount. My point is, Valencia and Atletico Madrid won't be given more money to operate with so the fact that they're in 400 million euros of debt, or whatever the figures were, can't be blamed on TV revenue. Bayern Munich receives 25 million euros from TV revenue, and they have zero debt. TV revenue should be distributed more fairly for the sake of teams like Racing and Sporting who receive around a measly 15 million each, not for Atletico and Valencia. Although yes, I guess the fact that Barca and Madrid will end up with less money will help the competition, but that will be due to the top two becoming worse, not due to the rest of the league becoming stronger. I'm not sure if that's better for Spanish football tbh, but it should be done regardless.

 

[Andrew M]

But in Barca's case it's mostly correct. Even in Gaspart era they had talented players, some of them being enormously overrated, but still they had talent to be able to keep up with the champions. However, management was tragically rubbish and club declined from being one of the best in europe in 1990s to being the mediocre European club and local choker. What did it take to get back? Make good signings and hope that the players from La Masia rise to the challenge. It sure did take some luck, not all, but again, it's correct assumption to think so.

“I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.”

 

[Sergio]

So which league do you approve of then?

Well unlike you - the Barca fan, I like Spanish domestic football. Though you really need to get your head around the fact that this is not yet another discussion about which league is better blah blah blah, then perhaps your contribution to it would be more than annoying irrelevance. Strange as it may seem, most people here, myself included, have a passion for Spanish football, so to discuss its grave failings in the case of the structure of La Liga is needed.

And by the by, for future reference and all, your comments on the insignificance of La Liga as a title compared to the European Cup shows a shocking level of ignorance of the club you claim to be such a proud supporter of.

 

[Metaphysical]

Well unlike you - the Barca fan, I like Spanish domestic football. Though you really need to get your head around the fact that this is not yet another discussion about which league is better blah blah blah, then perhaps your contribution to it would be more than annoying irrelevance. Strange as it may seem, most people here, myself included, have a passion for Spanish football, so to discuss its grave failings in the case of the structure of La Liga is needed.

magnificently well said.

 

[adil_909]

honestly, if i were valencia, villareal, etc. why would i even bother trying against barca/madrid? they know they have no hope now, especially when barca/madrid are at home. the trophy for rest of la liga is the 3rd and 4th champions league spot. so if i were them, i'd just rest my major players against barca/madrid. what's the point of trying, you're risking injuries and fatigue and taking away from your real mission which is winning the cup and qualifying for the champions league. this is the sad reality of la liga in 2011.

 

[La Furia]

Villarreal's president Fernando Roig:
"This is the league YOU want. I have to sell players to balance the budget whereas other teams can apply for numerous loans at banks and they will get them. If you want to have two proper matches in this league then go on, but it is not good for football. I give myself 3 to 4 years. We either change this or we will kill the league."

"We got various offers for Rossi and Nilmar, but I know their departure would hurt the club. However, economical differences lead to these situations"

Props to a man who has had to fight tooth and nail to make his club relevant.

And based on all I know about Spain and La Liga, Sergio's analysis is spot on, unfortunately. The collusion between politics/finance and Barcelona and Madrid in Spain is destructive.

 

[nebeer]

Fernando Roig has come forward and finally addressed the issue of huge gap between the big 2 and the rest of the clubs in La Liga. It's good to know that Presidents are at least thinking about doing something about it.

 

[House of Flies]

Hmpf. Those essentially free loans are well justifiable for the demise of competition in La Liga BUT people really need to examine the entire picture here when it comes to TV revenues. Yes, EPL teams get the most amount of TV revenue but that occured with the rise of Reds (Liverpool, Man Utd and Arsenal) and cultivated itself into a valuable commodity in Asia. Chelsea, Man City and Tottenham were irrelevant because you wanted to see the Reds play.

Depor's demise is very much like what happened with Leeds so EPL system is not flawless.

Furthermore, look at the non TV revenue streams for Real Madrid and Barcelona and you will find your answer to why banks favor these two clubs.

 

[nebeer]

As much as some people have bashed sugar daddy owners of clubs, they have done a good thing; which is bring more competition. A few La Liga clubs do need sugar daddies or else how would they compete with the monetary muscles of the big 2? It's good that Malaga is now won by a wealthy foreigner and I hope he invests in buying players as well as building players for the long run.

 

[DucdeOrléans]

People are overreacting as usual.

A more equal TV revenue would improve the competitiveness of the league although not change the superiority of FC Barcelona and RM.

This can also be witnessed by the PL, where the top 4 (5) are way above every other team when it comes to earnings despite the more equal TV revenue.

People tend to forget that there have been 5 different winners in the last 15 years in La Liga, as many as in Serie A and the Bundesliga and more than in PL (only Ligue 1 have had 7 different winners in the last 15 years)

It is also not more than 4 years ago that Sevilla of all teams were a victory away from being crowned as La Liga champions. Nobody talked about equal TV revenues back then.

The last 3 La Liga seasons have been marked by arguably one of the best football teams ever (also dominant in the CL) and a team, which has spend more money than anyone else in the history of world football. Both those clubs also happens to have the highest revenues of all teams. No wonder that they dominate the league.

But the league will gradually change (and improve). Already seen by Málagas presence. Getafe will soon follow as well. It could be way worse.

 

[nebeer]

Not really sure about the intentions of Getafe owners so far, they have been rather quite.

 

[dalitis8]

People are overreacting as usual.

A more equal TV revenue would improve the competitiveness of the league although not change the superiority of FC Barcelona and RM.

This can also be witnessed by the PL, where the top 4 (5) are way above every other team when it comes to earnings despite the more equal TV revenue.

People tend to forget that there have been 5 different winners in the last 15 years in La Liga, as many as in Serie A and the Bundesliga and more than in PL (only Ligue 1 have had 7 different winners in the last 15 years)

It is also not more than 4 years ago that Sevilla of all teams were a victory away from being crowned as La Liga champions. Nobody talked about equal TV revenues back then.

The last 3 La Liga seasons have been marked by arguably one of the best football teams ever (also dominant in the CL) and a team, which has spend more money than anyone else in the history of world football. Both those clubs also happens to have the highest revenues of all teams. No wonder that they dominate the league.

But the league will gradually change (and improve). Already seen by Málagas presence. Getafe will soon follow as well. It could be way worse.

Precisely, leagues, and European football go through cycles.

This is a Barca/Madrid cycle in Spain, and Man U/Man C cycle in England. It will not go on forever.

 

[Sergio]

Not really sure about the intentions of Getafe owners so far, they have been rather quite.

No actually the new owners of Getafe went about selling all their best players - a squad that only just managed to stay in the Primera last season as it is. Bright future indeed.