[hala]

The election date for the Real Madrid presidency is now set at the 16th of June, one week ahead of the one previously scheduled. The official excuse for this decision is to end up the whole thing as soon as possible in order for the new president to have more time at his disposal to make his plans for the new season.

Florentino Perez criticised this decision on the grounds of it being just a trick from Sanz in order to upset his electoral campaign.

 

[Pablo75]

Do you mean July?

that also sounds like a typical response from Perez.

 

[hala]

Whops! Stupid me, it's July 16th (obviously )

 

[Lil' Pee]

It seems that most of you definitely want Sanz to win the election but I'm not sure. Pires stated that he wanted to join Real but didn't due to Wenger persuading him and also due to Sanz. He feared that he would be another one of Sanz's impulse buys like Anelka where he put little thought into the move and didn't ask the coach which players he wanted. Some of his moves are bizarre. He buys players he likes without considering how they fit into the squad or system and asks the coach to use them. What has really finally turned it for me is his statements about Milosevic. He wants him and believes he's the best no. 9 in the business right now. He's not and he's non-EU does Sanz not consider this. Personally I feel if he wants a no.9 there are many better candidates. Palermo - just a suggestion but a good goal scorer and has Italian passport. There are many others too. Perez says if he's elected he promises to bring in one top top world class footballer this summer. Dunno what to believe but if Perez is less of a Sanz type figure I would give him my vote.

 

[labas]

This is indeed very disturbing news Lil'Pee. I always had my vote on Sanz, because he supposedly got us out of jail with the financial situation, but I like you, agree his transfer policy is sometimes akward. Savo Milosevic is indeed one of the better number 9's out there, if we understand what a #9 is. It's a player, who just seizes every opportunity to score, very often just tap-ins, but he finishes them off. A player like that, has the feeling where to be at te right time. And Savo definitely is that, I cannot agree more, but I cannot agree he is worth the 23 mln$ we are giving for him. If Martin Palermo has an italina passport like you said Lil, well he has to be a hot target. He would also cost a lot, but hey, we aren't buying him, so he can take penalties, right? There are definitely a lot of good strikers out there, worth a lot of money, perhaps something like 10 mln$ just as good as Savo, only without the fuss. My advice: Get a great scout Sanz! My vote is still with Fernando, but if he insists on buying Milsoevic I'll change fronts. I don't like Perez's attitude at all, but he may be right about buying one great player - my choice as always ZiZou, but I know there are more possibilites. Just not Beckham...

 

[Pablo75]

You're right Labas, Sanz needs a good scout, or better yet, he needs to let his coach control for of the team. Sanz is great businessman, but he's not on the pitch everyday (or if he is, not in the same capacity). Del Bosque knows what he needs to make his team work and then Sanz should go to town to get it.

 

[hala]

I for one never said I'd vote for Lorenzo Sanz (not that I'm voting anyway... ). The problem is I don't have an opinion on Florentino. I don't live in Spain!!! I visited both candidates' web sites (yes, they have their electoral websites too!), tried to read a bit on Marca, Diario-As etc but my opinion can hardly qualify as accurate. The one thing I learned is that Florentino is a succesful business manager. Do succesful managers have a place in football? Well, if they do, maybe it's the beginning of a new era... I don't know.

I REALLY hate the huge debt Sanz is passing to his succesor (or himself for that matter) though. I think it's a very serious problem, we are way way over our heads.

 

[Pablo75]

Both are succsessful business men in their own rights. Sanz is a huge business magnate (and he's got a huge belly too ) while Perez is in telecommunications (he's opening a new digital wireless communications network in spain).

I'm curious what is typically acceptable "debt" in football. I can't imagine that most teams are in the black?

Also, wasn't Real much worse off before Sanz came to town (in 95, right?)

 

[hala]

Florentino is also Head of the biggest construction company in Spain. They build roads, ports, bridges etc.

Sanz's name appears frequently on the papers, allegedly for involvement in scandals, financial and not. Well, I don't know whether this is accurate and frankly I don't care that much. The worrying thing for me is that he is being accused of exploiting Real Madrid's presidency (and the deriving popularity) for own sake. I've seen that happen in Greece and it's the WORST thing for a club. It never ends well, I assure you.

 

[Lil' Pee]

There has been speculation that the one of the candidates for Perez's big star purchase is Zidane. This is backed up by Sanz saying that this is a stupid idea of Perez's as Sanz says noone can buy him. When AS asked Perez wether Zidane was his first choice he would not confirm or deny. To be fair I always gave Sanz the benefit of the doubt and respected him to some degree but now I am starting to lose my patience and I feel it's the right time for him to be gotten rid of.

 

[LaBlanca]

Hi guys, it's the first time I'm posting here, but my love to Real Madrid is as big as yours...at least!!! And I can prove that... since holding an own RM-homepage.

Well...enough about me, back to the topic: I don't know much about Florentino, to be honest, nothing till this election pre-phase. But I was a bit upset reading he wants Figo and Beckham joined. Just imagine, how much might they have costed? Also I disliked him throwing with mud after Sanz instead praising his own programme. Talking about Sanz, well he's sometimes a bit too emotional in buyings (btw. why we've installed Pirri for? ) but I can see an overall concept that will lift us from these huge depts. In this case I'm fully convinced by Sanz.

Saludos, LaBlanca

 

[Pablo75]

Hey LaBlanca, glad to see you here!

You're right in that Sanz is too emotional with his purchases (like a child in the sweet shop) but he doesn't promise ridiculous moves like Zidane. I'd love to see Zizou here, but it's not feasible. I've also heard about a Nico for Zizou swap. Please...that's like me trading you my Swatch for your Rolex.

I don't like the ugly turn that the elections are taking and I will go on the record to say that I hope that Sanz stays.

 

[Lil' Pee]

The identity of the world class star Perez promises has been revealed. Both Marca and AS state that none other than Luis Figo will join Madrid if Florentino is elected as president.

 

[dwMB]

I also heard that Florentino has Figo in the bag. But really, no matter how awesome Figo is, I wouldn't even think of giving 60 MILLION DOLLARS to that club, just to get him. On Sanz, his face is treacherous, and his transfer policy sometimes does not make sense at all, but Real Madrid has conquered Europe twice already in his reign so he gets my vote (Not that I'm really voting). Just look at Barca, they seemed to have the most logical of transfer policies getting Dani, Litmanen, Simao, Dehu, plus half their youth team. But in the end, these guys didn't do much better than Sanz's acquisitions and Barca didn't win nothing

 

[real player]

haha...funny piont, dwMB....we made stupid deals, and we still won it all!!! That will make those Barca fans wanna kill themselves!

Seriously, as someone already said in here, the BIG thing is that we need a president really know something about football. But who's the ONE? Perez? or Sanz? We know Sanz, but Perez? I really dunno.
But from what Perez promised us, Figo??? and Beckham? OK, a right winger is good for us, but Figo is overpriced and Beckham is overrated...so I don't assume this guy really wiser than Sanz!

Business side?
I can answer you, Pablo, yup, our financial conditions even worse before Sanz is our president. If I don't remember wrong (which happened frequently???), in 95, we almost in the edge of rocks...a debt something likes $200M upper! ...then after Sanz arrived, things didn't go worse, and in 98(or99), we really began to earn something (second richest club)...so, to be optimistic, I believe that finally Real will go through the debts (especailly when the victories came at the same time)
It is really unbelievable that one day I really support Sanz, but I give credit to him on the business side.

Still, TWO Champion League Cups with him!!! ...it is a weird thought...but if we keep him, and Real keep on winning CL cups, Sanz might become Bernabéu one day!

[Edited by real player on 06-07-2000 at 02:47]

 

[Pablo75]

that's just it - perez doesn't seem really credible to me. I mean, we're up to our ass*s in debt and he's talking about Figo and Beckham coming to Real? What, do they both owe him favors?

Besides, I thought Barca wouldn't allow players to go directly to Real?

 

[hala]

OK guys, I'm going crazy here... I thought at first this was just another reporters' Hollywood scenario, but I've been reading Marca and Diario As since the morning and I'm really freaking out!!! Marca has a whole section "El Caso Figo" (The Figo Case)! I've even seen the whole thing in http://www.sport.es that's a Barca affiliated (online) paper! Has a huge title "Guerra por Figo" (War Over Figo)!

His agent Jose Veiga stated that Figo has signed an agreement with Florentino (in case he's the next president) to move to Madrid for 10 billion ptas and a salary equal to Raul's (according to his new contract). The papers also say Florentino is making a move towards Zidane!!!

GUYYYYSSSSSS!!!!! What's happening here?

 

[Pablo75]

Where is this money coming from!?!?!?!?!? I wanna get in on it too.

This is just madness.

 

[hala]

I don't have a clue where the money is coming from.

All I know is that the damned agent stated that Figo SIGNED!!!

I repeat I thought it was crap myself, but visit the websites and work on it a bit Pablo! I'm certainly intimidated by now...

 

[Pablo75]

The long and short of things to know for Real today:

Michel Salgado married Malula Sanz, the daughter of Lorenzo (which makes him a lifer at Bernabeu unless they divorce). Ivan Campo was in attendance as were the Presidents of Celta Vigo and Salamanca (former teams of Salgado). Sanz and the Cela president agreed to discuss Makalele at a later date. uh-oh?

Savio is asking for more vacation time before reporting to Switzerland. He instists that it won't be a big deal if he doesn't get it. I hope he does though.

Re: Figo, he apparently has signed a pre-contract that would pay him as much as Raul like Hala said. Both sides are trying to play this down, but it's all true. Barcelona (where Nunez might run again for presidency) is not at all happy about this. There is also a supposed quote where Figo says he would wear the Madrid jersey.