Vicente Calderón's Trampled on Dream

Last week in a glitzy ceremony to the world’s press Atlético Madrid president, Enrique Cerezo, with players in tow, unveiled the long awaited plans for the club’s new state-of-the-art stadium, La Peineta, located in an area known as San Blas in the east of the Spanish capital. Presumptuously named El Estadio Olímpico de Madrid when it was originally inaugurated by the Madrid council in 1994, the ground has since been acquired by los rojiblancos after Spain lost out to London and then Rio de Janeiro in successive bids to host the Olympics Games.

What La Peineta will look like

As Spain’s third most supported club you would expect moving from a ground with a capacity of 55,000 to 67,500 would make sense, however, seeing as the average attendance in the current stadium is a lowly 40,000, it’s hard to justify the move on the grounds of expansion alone.

Perhaps the vast infrastructural improvements the new stadium will offer is a better road for Cerezo and the club’s CEO, Miguel Ángel Gil Marín to go down. The Vicente Calderón has seen better days since it’s opening in 1966. The glass façade that encases the side overlooking the Manzanares river is in clear disrepair, with more than a few holes and missing window panes noticeable from quite a distance away, while inside the stadium the neglect immediately becomes apparent upon walking through the turnstiles, where the leaking stands above the entrances ensure that the pallid cement walls and staircases that greet you upon entry are accompanied by a inauspicious dampness. Toilet facilities, while not exactly Trainspotting-esque, are far from desirable and the comfort level provided by moulded plastic pews is nowhere near comparable to the pin-up example of a world class amphitheatre it’s domineering neighbour boasts, the Santiago Bernabéu.

Opinion among fans is split on the relocation, some arguing that it is a necessary change that symbolises the club’s intent to recapture it’s once revered status as a footballing powerhouse, while others object to moving away from the south side of the capital, where the fan base is especially rife, and insist that it is nothing more than a megalomaniac desire by both Cerezo and Gil to rewrite their murky history within the sleeping giant: chants of “Gil, cabrón, fuera del Calderón!” (Gil, you arsehole, get out of the Calderón!) are commonplace on match days, regardless of what is happening on the pitch.

El Calderón The current mecca to mediocrity

Whatever the feelings towards the move are, the fact is that it’s forthcoming – beginning the 2014/15 season - and the once highly regarded Vicente Calderón will become another victim to progress, left behind as a mere footnote in the history books, much like the president after whom it was named.

A self-made businessman from Leon, Calderón was instrumental in the construction of the current ground and oversaw things at the club during it’s most illustrious period ever, in which it won four league titles, four league cups, one Intercontinental Cup as well as coming runners up in the European Cup. His massive success was to be his undoing in the end, eventually dying of a heart attack in 1987 while still in office.

Calderón’s visionary outlook for Atleti was quickly undone by his successor, the peerless Francoist and openly racist, Jesús Gil y Gil (father of Miguel Ángel). Gil’s appointment was the beginning of a downward slide for the club, and the lavish spending by the former mayor of “Costa de la Crime” hotspot, Marbella and his self-appointed successor, Cerezo, has seen the success supporters had become so used to during the rojiblanco heyday be replaced by a perpetual sense of disappointment.

Fair enough, winning two European titles two seasons ago under “Gilifato” stewardship cannot be denied - when Diego Forlán was the difference against Fulham in the Europa Cup final and then José Antonio Reyes and Kun Agüero were at hand to dispatch of Inter Milan in the UEFA Super Cup - but these triumphs have to be taken into context.

Angry bedsheets make their feelings about Gil Marín and Cerezo known

Firstly, Atleti’s path to Europa Cup glory came after being spectacularly humbled in the group stages of The Champions League and, finding itself in the tournament’s less glamorous counterpart, via the backdoor, only to stumble it’s way through the competition, winning only two out of eight games before facing Roy Hodgson’s south London team in the final. It’s also worth remembering that the team finished an unremarkable ninth in the league that season.

Not only has the current administration come under scrutiny for the club’s failings on the pitch, it has also felt the fans’ wrath for the appalling handling of the books.

El Pais journalist, José Marcos revealed the extent of the club’s financial woes on Wednesday in an eye-opening article which, among other things, pointed to a glaring €215 million los colchoneros owe to the Spanish taxman. Not surprising when the costs are put into perspective. An average of 14 new faces have graced the red and white dressing room each season since 1998. This eagerness to welcome in new players at such a frequent rate understandably carries with it a hefty price, approximately €600 million in fact.

This revolving door policy is not only reserved for the playing staff, the management team is just as transient. In the same time Sir Alex Ferguson has been manager at Manchester United, Atleti has seen it’s bench change hands a whopping 51 times, and this figure looks set to rise very soon going by Gregorio Manzano’s disastrous return to the club.

Of course with players coming in others have to go out, and this past summer the changeover worked in Atleti’s favour, at least from a revenue point of view: saying fair well to Kun, De Gea, Forlán, Elías, Julio Alves, Ujfalusi and Ibrahima generated enough money to offshoot the value of the new acquisitions and leave €12 million to spare. However, that was an exceptional batch of players and the chances of repeating that success in the transfer market in the near future looks slim, as their most valuable player, Falcao, doesn’t even belong to them fully, due to a deal shrouded in secrecy with the ubiquitous agent, Jorge Mendes.

However, despite all the transfer money coming in, the club still managed to record a loss of €5.9 million for last season.

Needless to say the repercussions of not having played in Europe last year have affected the budget. According to Marcos’ report the club’s purse strings have been tightened by over €30 million in the past year, from €122.8 million in 2009/10 to €90 million this term. Nonetheless, the overriding overhead, wages, has increased from €52 in 2009/10 to €53 million last season and is expected to climb to €61.5 million this season. Adding fuel to this growing figure is the increase in player bonuses to €8.7 million. A strange decision by Cerezo and Gil considering how below par the team has been performing, and one which has not gone unnoticed by other members of the board, “This increase of almost €2 million is incomprehensible. How can it be that the stimulus for good results is greater now than it was during the season in which the team won the European Cup in Hamburg, the club’s first international title since 1974? It’s preposterous given the team has not qualified for Europe and only finished seventh in la Liga.”

Europa Cup winning team 

Maybe the decision to butter the players up was a way of deflecting attention away from bonuses elsewhere. The report also pointed to Gil’s own annual wages over the last few years, €1.2 million, €1.35 million and an expected €1.05 million for this year is a tidy sum by anyone’s standards, even more so considering the club’s statute states that a salary can only be drawn if the club makes a profit.

The financial crisis in Spanish football is not only affecting Atleti of course, but the extent to which the red and white club’s stubbornness to face up to the facts is unmatched by anyone else. Of the €694 million owed to the Spanish government in unpaid taxes the Madrid club’s bill makes up a third of the total.

Whether the move to La Peineta spells a new, brighter chapter for the Madrid club remains to be seen. One thing’s for sure though, the refurbishments currently being carried out on it will require an awful lot of wallpaper to cover up the glaringly large fiscal cracks the Gil legacy has caused. 

A Truce through the City

With Del Bosque’s men losing out to a fortuitous yet impressive English side on Saturday, the Spanish public needed some respite, or at least an adequate distraction, from the continued difficulties la selección seems to be having where friendlies are concerned. As the international break had left football fans with a whole Sunday to fill by themselves, other interests outside the sport had to be pursued.

In Madrid, sports rag Marca was on hand to provide disoriented aficionados with a wholesome activity to take part in during this match deprived day. ‘La Carrera Marca’ (The Marca Race), which started in 2010, is an annual event organised by said paper which brings both sides of the capital city’s major footballing divide together: Real and Atlético. Supporters of either club (and even the odd gate crashing Getafe or Rayo Vallecano fan) tog out in their team’s colours and compete to finish a 10km circuit through the city on foot in the fastest time possible-with the Rojiblancos claiming the bragging rights last year.

As a budding journalist and a man with scarce all else to do, I decided to join the estimated 7,999 other runners at the Santiago Bernabeú to embark on this clever marketing ploy.

However, cynicism about marketing aside, this was a fantastically well-organised event and the camaraderie between both sets of supporters, los Merengues and los Cocheneros, was a wonderful thing to behold; with countless groups of friends showing up wearing opposing colours to each other. The only bad blood I was aware of was that racing through my own veins, as the side effects of a somewhat masochistic Friday night lingered on within me.

I foolishly decided that watching my beloved Ireland beat a nine man Estonia should be celebrated with the thirst quenching assistance of an overly-priced pint of Murphy’s Red or two, followed by a few more which in turn were washed down with several more for good luck. This did my already abject fitness no favours, but promises had been made and I was damned if I was going to let fellow signees (my friend Paul and cousin Conor) do it without me and grab all the attention. So I soldiered on, scrapping myself out of bed on the crisp Sunday morning and self pityingly making my way to the starting line, where Paul met me in similar condition. Conor in a confused state thought the number 9 was in fact the number 7 on his alarm clock and had to be rudely awoken by me thirty minutes before the starting gun to ensure his participation-a panicky taxi journey through the empty Madrid streets got him to the back of the queue just in time, but we wouldn’t see him until the other side.

Fortunately for us though, the organisers were a far less sadistic bunch than our subconscious minds, which was evidenced by the down hill nature of the course so reaching the finish line was an attainable goal even for leaden footed imposters like us.

The route took us from Real’s sacred ground, down the wide, pulsating artery that is the Paseo de Castellana, past los blancos cherished fountain in Plaza de Cibeles, then past los Indio’s own revered water feature, Neptuno, up through the heart of the city, Puerta del Sol for good measure, before finishing up at Atleti’s riverside arena, the Vicente Caldéron.

Although the first three finishers wore red and white, the overall outcome of the race saw the Real contingent bag the ‘Fastest Fans’ title. Despite my choice to kit out in red and white (I just thought it was a nicer t-shirt), I would like to clarify that my performance, while not breaking any records, did not negatively impact on the Rojiblanco median time: finishing with a respectable time of 42:40.

After the podiums had been cleared and the complementary bottles of powerade had been knocked back and tossed to the ground, the competitors began to hobble off in their separate directions, all united under the same feeling of accomplishment and good will for what was an enjoyable day out.

In under a fortnight’s time both two sets of supporters will gather once again at the mythical Bernabeú. However, this will be under far less harmonious circumstances, as the “real” Derbi Madrileño is contested.

Whereas the head to head in the fun run stakes is evenly matched, the footballing accolades significantly favour los Madridistas over the course of the last few years: in their last eight league encounters Real has managed seven wins and a draw over its lowly neighbour. And going on existing form this trend looks likely to repeat itself a week from Saturday, as Mourniho’s side’s seemingly unstoppable form shows no sign of waning, especially at home where not a single point has been dropped so far this season.

This doesn’t bode well for the already under fire Gregorio Manzano, who has not exactly had the rosiest of receptions at Atleti since his appointment from Sevilla back in June. On the back of a shockingly poor 3-2 lose at the hands of a ten men Getafe, the atmosphere within the decrepit walls of the Calderon must be bleak at the moment.

Before the acrimonious reuniting of this Sunday’s Carrera athletes, both clubs have “warm up” league games this weekend, with Real away to Valencia and Atletico at home to Levante.

Before then, blisters should have fully heeled, stiffness should have eased and muscle fatigue should be a thing of the past, but one thing remains certain, the temporary amnesty of the old city rivalry will be well and truly over.