Column of the former president of Deportivo de La Coruña
Javier Tebas, in an act of the League
I am pleased that the Federation has decidedly positioned itself for a Second Division of 24 teams , as I have been defending since the beginning of the Fuenlabrada case. It was necessary that the infumable crossing of communiqués and counter communiqués be put with sense; of accusations and recusals of instructors… In the face of such a mess, a detoxification break seems appropriate for the leaders.
Political, business or sports leaders have to demonstrate themselves in the most difficult moments and this is it for football. For the easy ones, anyone is fine.
The RFEF passed the ball to the roof of Javier Tebas , who has just seen how volatile football is. In a few days he went from the top of a podium, which he had earned, to receiving all kinds of criticism, also justified. He is moving on quicksand and, perhaps for the first time since he became President, he seems seriously worried . That’s why he runs away and there is no press conference in which he answers: why didn’t he suspend the whole day? Why did he not inform the health authorities in due time?
Without the humility of the League, RFEF and CSD, recognizing the mistake of only ordering the suspension of Deportivo-Fuenlabrada , an agreement cannot be reached, and without an agreement there is no legal certainty. The RFEF offers a good solution, which requires, like the initial agreement, that everyone sing the mea culpa.
Tebas has the key to quickly support the League of 24, just as it was, with the consent of RFEF and CSD, to breach the rule issued for the dispute on the last day and to force Fuenla to travel in contravention of health regulations.
No doubt it will be argued by some that there are no dates for it or that the other teams are opposed to losing the part of the television cake that corresponds to them, but I think that both issues are rectifiable. In the first case, exceptionally, Christmas dates can be used; or take advantage of a greater number of Wednesdays , and more in view of the reduction in days of the Copa del Rey; or look for a new competitive system; or cut the Play Off… just as the economic aspect can be avoided if the important resources that will be freed from the relegation aid are taken advantage of when those of Deportivo and Numancia do not occur.
No one can deny that the League of 24 complicates the season, but, without a doubt, it seems the least bad solution considering the serious mistakes made . In view of so much nonsense, an agreement must be sought that offers the greatest possible legal certainty for LaLiga, in order not to worry more, starting with Banco Santander itself, because, as the luxury sponsor that it is, it will not like that his name appears linked to this nonsense, when he has been sold “the best league in the world”.
The true reality is that we are witnessing a new chapter in the already mythical clash between CSD, RFEF and the League, shortly after affirming that the differences had been overcome with the signing of the “Pact of Viana” , which I once I called it “imposition of the CSD more than a pact”, and in what I would reaffirm myself, if, now the “good neighbor” agreement signed, and, by the way, very well paid, did not triumph.
Without agreement there will be no paradise for football. Let no one doubt it, least of all Tebas, because it is possible that he does not realize that, without meaning to, he can sentence a Fuenla that his only sin was to listen to him , but that he would be the one who would receive the blow that his rivals would like to deal to Thebes himself. . The order to travel to La Coruña, in the words of the President of the League, will not exculpate a club that has carried it out, apparently, in contravention of strict health obligations.
For legal security they must try to agree on 24 teams in the Second Division. A solution that relaxes the “nervous”, and even the now “calm” , because tomorrow they may not be. We must not forget that ordinary justice is unpredictable and it would not be surprising if one day it decided to play the entire last day again. History suggests that falsely closing deals like this is often very dangerous.
On the spur of the moment, because current affairs rule, I will cite some similar cases that I have experienced first-hand and that many will remember. All have been resolved by ordinary justice, some in a few days and others in many years, but with a common denominator: a club always won the case against federations or professional leagues. Eye to the data!, What would García say.
Serve as an example of speed, and as president of Deportivo, the “very cautious” of the Madrid courts that, in less than a week, suspended the unfair sanction that the RFEF had just imposed on us and for which we could not dispute a decisive Deportivo-Barcelona in Riazor, due to “the impact of a 5-peseta coin on referee Llonch Andreu”, who had fallen as if he had been hit by a bullet. Going to ordinary justice cost me 18 months disqualified as Presi del Depor.
Being General Secretary for Sport of the Xunta de Galicia, we initiated, through the only strike carried out by all of Galician sport, the well-known “Obradoiro case”, which ended many years later with the Obradoiro generating a very serious problem for the ACB, as the “Guipúzkoa Basquet case” now points out.
I experienced another curious case when I was president of the Roller Hockey Lyceum. El Noia did not show up, being in Oviedo, to play the final of the Copa del Rey. The reason given was that the meeting was not televised for Catalonia. The Skating Federation proclaimed the Liceo champion. El Noia went to ordinary justice. After six years the courts spoke: the match must be played. Many players were already retired.
The pact to play a league with 24 teams is the logical solution to the nonsense we are experiencing. To depend on ordinary justice is to bet on total legal insecurity and we are not here to play Russian roulette. Everyone must assume that they have failed. The Federation directly, and the CSD indirectly, seem to recognize this. It is the time of the League, or what is the same, the time of Thebes, “sustain it and not amend it” would be turning its initial mistake into a huge problem.
