President Ramon Calderon, who was overwhelmed by the huge amount
of evidence accusing him of acting unlawfully, corruptly & dishonestly,
has shaken the prestigious Club & the Football World. The important local
Sports daily “Marca” with the cooperation of national radio announcer
Jose Antonio Abellan of the program “El Tirachinas” (COPE), have
untapped the scandalous incidents during the Clubs General Assembly
last December of 2008. Mr.Calderon allegedly organized with “allied &
foreign” persons, who were non-Real Madrid members without voting
rights, to participate under the guise of appearing as true Club members
(“comisarios”) to vote in the General Assembly, & with their numbers
give the balance of the voting in favour of Calderon & his 2009 Budget.
Obviously, its scandalous!
When radio announcer J.A.Abellan (JAA) unearths this, he is joined by
daily “Marca” who begin a series of scoops that splashes the incident
on the front page & across all media. The scandal & the evidence mounted
so much that it forces Mr. Calderon to call a press conference on
Wednesday explaining that he knew nothing & swore on his honour that
he did not know any of the “infiltrated” non-members at the December
2008 General Assembly.The daily “Marca” in its crusade, published the
next day photos of the“infiltrated”non-members together with family
members (eg the son) of Calderon & with Mr.Calderon himself. The killer
blow came today on the front page of “Marca” with the testimony of one
of the “infiltrated” persons – so called Nanin – claiming he followed
orders from Mr.Calderon.Obviously, Ramon Calderon had to resign even
though he wished to “ride the storm”, but this final blow to the “head”
made it impossible.
(picture of false members voting by "Marca")
Lets forget about the numerous other accusations made about Mr.Calderon,
which have been many - you can read them on the below posts - lets
attempt to see what may really be behind this devastating media objective
to get rid of Mr.Calderon as President of Real Madrid Club de Fútbol.
SFS repeats, Mr.Calderon had to resign, he took the risk of breaking the
rules & now he must pay, but what lies behind the shadows? Let’s look
at the parts involved & then try to fit the pieces. From here onwards it’s
all SFS speculation, I have no proof, & SFS is just a humble observer
that hasn’t access to the “shadows”. However asks the question: from
where did "Marca" & JAA get their information, pictures & documents?
The logical answer is from people within the Club or at least from who
The logical answer is from people within the Club or at least from who
had access to them from within.
Let’s look at Real Madrid. Given the title by FIFA as the “Most Important
Club in the 20th Century”, with most European Cups, the biggest &
most titled Club in Spain, with the most followers that number millions
in Spain, with World Wide interests both socially & economically, a Club
that moves & influences the masses & an authentic money machine.
Obviously the Club, & precisely its President has power, power to pull the
strings in many areas of Spanish, European & World social life. The Real
Madrid President is met as a dignitary in other countries with Prime
Ministers & Presidents of Nations going to met him personally on arrival.
Such power gives you friends, political favours, business opportunities &
enemies, jealous enemies that remain friends as long as they can share
the piece of the cake. Like politics the Club & its President has to look
after its STAKEHOLDERS & balance their individual needs & wants
against the Clubs own priorities & objectives. This is why Clubs invest
heavily in powerful Public Relations Departments & attempt to manage
their image, players, representatives, members, politicians, businessmen
…& the mass media.
The Sports Daily “Marca” is Spain’s biggest read paper, more than the
conventional papers about current affairs. It has a readership of between
1.5-2million daily readers which highlights the importance & the power
of Football in Spain. In the last years, a few competitors have entered
the Sports papers market with “AS” (paper of rival, the SER) gaining year
after year more ground. There existed the view that REAL MADRID had
“penetrated”“AS” & used it as its main voice to influence public opinion,
thus giving the paper special favours, access to players & scoops (transfer
news etc). The leadership of “Marca” was under threat & needed
something to show everyone that it still called the shots in Spanish
Sporting journalism & that it still has the power to bring down Clubs
& even Club Presidents if needed. Obviously, just by observation ( why
precisely now question), something must have happened in the "Real Madrid
– Marca relationship" that upset the latter to want to redefine the power lines
& at the same time send a powerful message to its competitors, to all other
Spanish Clubs & their Presidents that it was still there & still Nº1. They have
proved it today with the forced resignation of Mr.Calderon, as the next
& future Real Madrid Presidents - & all Spanish Clubs - must take “Marca”
into account in their day to day operations.
(radio announcer J.A.Abellan)
Radio announcer JAA (COPE), was a commercial radio jock that moved
into the late night Sporting radio arena with a comic style show – “El
Tirachinas”. He wasn’t being taken too seriously from the bigger fish like
radio Onda Cero (800.000 listeners) & the powerful SER (1.200.000), plus
he wasn’t getting the audience. Then something happened, perhaps the
Real Madrid Club was not attending the needs & petitions of the JAA radio
show with more interviews or scoops, & the lack of attention & smaller
piece of the pie made JAA change strategy by putting the comedy in second
place. The “criticism” began to increase towards Real Madrid with more
investigating reports against Mr.Calderon & his activities. It seemed JAA
was sending a message that the “ugly duckling” of late night Football
radio was here & would now get its pay back for being “humiliated”.
Meanwhile “Marca” also moved into the radio area & “allied” itself with
JAA to attack, not only Real Madrid, but its perceived media “puppets”
& Real Madrid influenced radios, especially the SER. Its strategy worked,
they both increased their audience. Now, with the Mr.Calderon resignation,
the “ugly duckling” will be feared in Spanish Football, seen as a serious
Sports journalist & thus increasing his programme´s prestige, its audience,
his power & influence.
(ex-Real Madrid President F.Perez)
Let’s look at Real Madrid. Given the title by FIFA as the “Most Important
Club in the 20th Century”, with most European Cups, the biggest &
most titled Club in Spain, with the most followers that number millions
in Spain, with World Wide interests both socially & economically, a Club
that moves & influences the masses & an authentic money machine.
Obviously the Club, & precisely its President has power, power to pull the
strings in many areas of Spanish, European & World social life. The Real
Madrid President is met as a dignitary in other countries with Prime
Ministers & Presidents of Nations going to met him personally on arrival.
Such power gives you friends, political favours, business opportunities &
enemies, jealous enemies that remain friends as long as they can share
the piece of the cake. Like politics the Club & its President has to look
after its STAKEHOLDERS & balance their individual needs & wants
against the Clubs own priorities & objectives. This is why Clubs invest
heavily in powerful Public Relations Departments & attempt to manage
their image, players, representatives, members, politicians, businessmen
…& the mass media.
The Sports Daily “Marca” is Spain’s biggest read paper, more than the
conventional papers about current affairs. It has a readership of between
1.5-2million daily readers which highlights the importance & the power
of Football in Spain. In the last years, a few competitors have entered
the Sports papers market with “AS” (paper of rival, the SER) gaining year
after year more ground. There existed the view that REAL MADRID had
“penetrated”“AS” & used it as its main voice to influence public opinion,
thus giving the paper special favours, access to players & scoops (transfer
news etc). The leadership of “Marca” was under threat & needed
something to show everyone that it still called the shots in Spanish
Sporting journalism & that it still has the power to bring down Clubs
& even Club Presidents if needed. Obviously, just by observation ( why
precisely now question), something must have happened in the "Real Madrid
– Marca relationship" that upset the latter to want to redefine the power lines
& at the same time send a powerful message to its competitors, to all other
Spanish Clubs & their Presidents that it was still there & still Nº1. They have
proved it today with the forced resignation of Mr.Calderon, as the next
& future Real Madrid Presidents - & all Spanish Clubs - must take “Marca”
into account in their day to day operations.
(radio announcer J.A.Abellan)
Radio announcer JAA (COPE), was a commercial radio jock that moved
into the late night Sporting radio arena with a comic style show – “El
Tirachinas”. He wasn’t being taken too seriously from the bigger fish like
radio Onda Cero (800.000 listeners) & the powerful SER (1.200.000), plus
he wasn’t getting the audience. Then something happened, perhaps the
Real Madrid Club was not attending the needs & petitions of the JAA radio
show with more interviews or scoops, & the lack of attention & smaller
piece of the pie made JAA change strategy by putting the comedy in second
place. The “criticism” began to increase towards Real Madrid with more
investigating reports against Mr.Calderon & his activities. It seemed JAA
was sending a message that the “ugly duckling” of late night Football
radio was here & would now get its pay back for being “humiliated”.
Meanwhile “Marca” also moved into the radio area & “allied” itself with
JAA to attack, not only Real Madrid, but its perceived media “puppets”
& Real Madrid influenced radios, especially the SER. Its strategy worked,
they both increased their audience. Now, with the Mr.Calderon resignation,
the “ugly duckling” will be feared in Spanish Football, seen as a serious
Sports journalist & thus increasing his programme´s prestige, its audience,
his power & influence.
(ex-Real Madrid President F.Perez)
Then there is ex – President Florentino Perez. It’s been rumoured that the
ex – Real Madrid President wishes to announce his comeback & present
himself for re-election. His idea is to present himself as the “new messiah”
& thus go down in history as Real Madrid´s saviour & greatest ever President.
The next elections were due for 2010, however with the resignation of
Mr.Calderon, the caretaking Board has announced that they will now be put
forward a year for the Summer of 2009. Bingo! One objective has been
achieved. It is also rumoured that Florentino Perez is working in the
shadows to secure CRISTIANO RONALDO & - its speculated – or KAKA
to present them as signings if he is elected. SFS has no proof, it is only
speculating, but what if this is a change in the Global Spanish Football &
Media Balance of Power? Imagine a Florentino Perez – Marca – JAA
alliance? Too much of a conspiracy theory, perhaps?
Perhaps. It maybe that Florentino Perez will not present himself for the
Real Madrid elections. But what is true is that “Marca” & JAA are now
powerful players – STAKEHOLDERS – of Real Madrid, of the other Clubs
& in Spanish Football. They have fired a powerful warning shot to all media
competitors & let it be known that if anything is to be done or got to be
done they have to have a piece of the action.
Mr.Calderon has been naughty & has been caught out. But he has been
foolish & his naive actions have been food for the sharks. Everyone will
claim the brilliance in “Marca” journalism & JAA style, but its all much
more than what the simple eye may give to what it sees. It’s a jungle out
there, much more so in Spanish Football!
DISCLAIMER:Note this is an opinion by SFS. SFS has no proof & speculates based on its
observation, backed by reading, listening & watching of media. It exercises it´s free right of expression
& opinion.
