Levante UD, the pride of the outclassed

Valencia is located in the East coast of Spain, but it always was a city that gave its back to the sea. Valencia's comarca is called L'Horta, which means "market garden" or "fruit belt". This name reflects the reality of the city whose main industry was the agriculture in the fertile fields around the city. As a consequence of it, the market, the cathedral, the city council and the rest of important buildings and facilities were placed far from the sea. The agriculture gave the city most of the employments and the wealthy families were those who own lands. On the other hand, the fields that were located near the sea, which had less value due to the salt of the Mediterranean sea, was occupied for fishermen, a less wealthy class. These fishermen neighborhoods, located in the suburbs of the city, near the coast, are Cabanyal and Malvarrosa, initially independent towns and part of the city, as a consequence of the expansion during the 20th century.

These fishermen neighborhoods, given their traditional independence, have their own personality and are the natural zone of influence of Levante UD, a club that appeared as a consequence of the union of FC Levante (previously Cabanyal FC) and Gimnástica (previously Universitario FC). On the other hand, Valencia FC (now Valencia CF) was founded in the centrical and historical zone of the city, in the bourgeoisie's natural zone, in the heart of the economic and political power of the city. These differences were essential in the early years of both clubs, since Valencia CF gathered the appreciation of the powers which provided them easier ways to fund the club and their centrality in the city gave them a bigger exposure. However, Levante was the club of the fishermen suburbs, the outclassed.

La Malvarrosa

As a consequence of the bigger economic power of Valencia CF, the club was able to reach higher achievements in its history and, as a result, they were also able to gather the support of the majority of the city, the province and part of the region. On the other hand, being a Levante UD fan was a matter of pride. The pride of the forgotten areas near the sea.

Nowadays, both clubs struggle economically, but there is an important difference. The crisis of Valencia is solved with the transfer of super-stars and a big dose of patience, but still keeping their elite status in the Spanish football. However, Levante UD belong to the extensive humble class of the Spanish football. The club has been under administration during the last decade, until their young and talented president Quico Catalán has been able to impose a rational economic structure while building a team with players that are in the last part of their careers, but still willing to show something.

This perfect mix of experience and pride is giving its goods. Levante UD, the club with the lowest budget in Primera División, was able to keep their position in the cathegory last year. In this new season, if you look at the standings, you see the powerful FC Barcelona on top... sharing points with Levante UD, who are placed over Valencia CF in the standings in a historical event. It is just an anecdote. It is evident that it is a matter of time that Levante UD disappear from the top positions, but whenever they do it, they will already have a good collection of points that will probably be very important to reach their real goal: their permanence in Primera División.

For now, this club of outclassed live in a dream. A historical victory on Mourinho's Real Madrid and a special  privileged position in the top of La Liga after seven weeks of football are something that will be recalled in Malvarrosa and Cabanyal, these mistreated and forgotten neighborhoods of the coast. One day, they will wake up, but no one will ever make them forget the days they owned the city and shared La Liga with the historical Guardiola's Barcelona.

La Liga 2011/2012 season by the fans

After the players strike, La Liga started last weekend. The Spanish competition counts on some of the best, if not the best players of the World. Most of them play in the two main (if not only) favorites to win the title: FC Barcelona and Real Madrid CF. The Catalans led by Pep Guardiola defend their crown and their objective is to extend their domination one more year to win the fourth consecutive title, like Johan Cruyff's Dream Team did in the early 90s. As always, in front of them, the eternal rival, Real Madrid CF. Jose Mourinho, their coach and leader, has his biggest challenge in front of him. The two giants will fight for only one crown and the tension between both clubs seems higher than ever and you can cut the think air with a knife.

Aside them, there are some historical clubs that will try to spice this bipolar league. In recent years, Valencia CF seems to be the 3rd club of the competition and their goal is to stay there despite the exit of Mata. Unai Emery will have to keep his team in Champions League spots with his low profile team. Aside them, Atlético Madrid start the post-Agüero era and the antidote has a name: Falcao, the most expensive signing of their history. Special interest in Athletic Club, who brought Bielsa to take the Basque club to a new level and, why not, fight for a place in the UEFA Champions League. We can not forget others like Villarreal CF, Sevilla FC or the rising Málaga CF.

We count on the opinion of several important members of the prestigious football forum xtratime.org, who give us their view:

What do you expect from your club for La Liga season that is about to start?

Lo Puto Crack (FC Barcelona) - I expect Barcelona to win La Liga again this year. There's no doubt that Madrid will push us all the way, and it would be no shame to lose to such a talented team but it still would be disappointing to lose La Liga because I think that Barcelona still have the strongest team in Spain. The Barcelona squad has also gotten stronger since last year. The emergence of Thiago and the arrivals of both Alexis Sanchéz and Cesc Fabregas give Barcelona great depth in their squad in midfield and forward positions. The only concern for me is depth at the back. Fóntas has been promoted, but it remains to be seen if Pep trusts him enough to start in the bigger matches. Injuries to key players at the back again this year could prove a disaster for Barcelona if they came at a difficult moment in the season. Pep does seem to like Mascherano as back-up for the centre-back position, and in truth, he has been pretty damn good when played there.

peterman (Real Madrid CF) - I expect a club whose main aim/reference is reaching something close to 100 points. It will be difficult to do so but the squad has been designed for that target, with the inclussion of Sahin and Coentrao.

With Sahin there is one more creative element that will make the team gain control in midfield while in possession, which will add a new dimension to Madrid's game and in the proccess get access to a type of football that will be more beautiful for the Bernabeu. Coentrao will add versatility and intensity. A luxury squad player, which is, in my opinion, a very good adquisition. Apart from that, I expect at least one of the young promising players (Marcelo, Ozil, Benzema etc) to gain some level to get closer to the best players in the world.

Mestalla (Valencia CF) - I have higher expectations for Valencia this season than I did last season, unfortunately however high these expectations are, I doubt we can finish in a better position than we did last season. So you see, these expectations are a bit pointless Ofcourse I'm primarily talking about the League, the cup competitions can go either way.

The reason I'm looking forward to this campaign, is that I believe we've signed well, and even though we've lost Mata and Joaquin, I honestly believe we have a better squad with better depth.

I'm also in a bit of a minority, which is strange, who think that whatever happens, Emery would always Overcome and Conquer in the end

Friki (Valencia CF) - From the beginning I thought we could be a very annoying opponent to Real Madrid and Barcelona, not winning the league or something like that but atleast to eliminate a bit of the far advantage the two teams have. Now after the sell of Mata, we're back to step one more or less so I'm hoping we could keep atleast the same place as last season

Knoert (Athletic Club) - Within between spot 5 and 8.

Who do you consider is the main favorite to win the title?

Lo Puto Crack (FC Barcelona) - It's a toss up between the big two again. It's hard to see many teams taking too many points off both Barcelona and Madrid, so it will likely come down to the two Clasicos. These matches are always tense and closely fought so whomever performs better(or get's the better results) over these two games will have the advantage in La Liga in my opinion. It's very hard to see the likes of Valencia, Villarreal, Sevilla, Atletico and Malaga challenge the top two considering the the strength of the squads of the top two. Malaga, in particular, have improved their team greatly, but it's still almost impossible for any team in La Liga to challenge Barcelona or Madrid at this moment in time. It just shows how strong those two are.

peterman (Real Madrid CF) - The main favorite is Barcelona, with Real Madrid as close second. Barcelona is also stronger than ever, with Alexis, Cesc and a very promising Thiago.

Mestalla (Valencia CF) - Well for me Real Madrid have looking great so far this early on in the season, and I think they'll challenge Barca even more than they did last season. To be honest, I haven't watched neither of Barca's or Madrid's preseason, but the impression I get from Cules is that their rival did indeed have a better preseason.

I think this will ultimately be decided by who wins the Clásicos. I'm not saying they'll beat everyone else in La Liga and hold perfect winning records, surely they'll drop some points here and there to smaller teams, but what I'm saying that regardless of how many points the big two drop, I doubt Barca and Madrid will be apart by 7-8 points this season (before any Clásicos are played), so those 6 points from the Clásicos will prove to be really valuable.

I honestly can't say who'll win the league season from what i've seen so far, too many factors to be considered. Like are Barca as hungry as Madrid are to win the league? I doubt they are, I'm sure Madrid wants it more now than ever since the last time they won it is 2008. But hunger isn't everything, if it was, then Madrid should've won last season. Barca have a playing system that has been proven almost impossible to beat (you have to be at your absolute best to beat them) over 38 games, and they have not lost the vital players it requires, infact they have made some re-inforcements in Cesc and Sanchez.

So bottom-line is Barca's biggest enemy is complacency, if they are, then the title would go to the Capital. If they played like they have ever since Pep arrived though, then I see them lifting it for a fourth year in a row.

Friki (Valencia CF) -  Of two teams? Well, Barcelona then since they're practically unbeatable and with Cesc and Alexis, they have something new coming in. I feel though that the defence can be hurt quite easily. Sure, Mascherano has been very good as a CB when Puyol is missed but still, one injury on Alves and on a CB it looks very shaky. Players like Fontas and Muniesa are very talented but still young and inexperienced.
But still, Barcelona are my favourites to win

Knoert (Athletic Club) - FC Barcelona

Among the favorites, who do you consider is going to struggle or fail?

Lo Puto Crack (FC Barcelona) - Valencia may struggle to stay among the Champions League places. They've just sold Juan Mata to Chelsea and Isco to Malaga, and after the sales of David Silva and David Villa last summer, it's hard to see where the creativity is going to come from in that team. I think they may fail to get into Europe at all next year unless they make a few signings. It doesn't look like any big new signings will be made, considering their financial status, so with a thin squad, a lack of top tier talent and with Champions League football making their fixtures pile up, it looks like they may struggle a bit this year.

peterman (Real Madrid CF) - Those with injury problems in key players.

Mestalla (Valencia CF) - I haven't followed any of Sevilla's, Atleti's or Villarreal's transfer campaigns in detail so I'm too ill-informed to make a judgement now. However it's safe to say that Atleti, will always remain Atleti, even if they had Messi and Ronaldo playing for them on either flank

Friki (Valencia CF) - Of two teams again? Not sure if Real Madrid will struggle, hopefully for us in Valencia but no, it will be a tight fight and if failing is coming second (which it is by Real Madrid's standards) then Real Madrid will the ones who "fail".

Knoert (Athletic Club) - I don't have much faith in Sevilla

About the European competitions, who is your favorite to win the UEFA Champions League?

Lo Puto Crack (FC Barcelona) - Barcelona, Madrid and Manchester United are the favourites for the Champions League this year in my opinion. Barcelona and Madrid are obviously very strong teams with fantastic squad depth, but I also like what Manchester United have done in terms of the signings they made and the players they have promoted. They've signed David De Gea from Atletico Madrid, and when he settles there he will show what a great keeper he is/will become. They also signed Ashley Young who gives them loads of pace and ability on either wing. Phil Jones is one for the future and is a very young but commanding centre back who looked brilliant in a poor Blackburn team last year. Playing behind both Vidic and Ferdinand will greatly help him develop as a player too. They promoted both Wellbeck and Cleverly, and both have been impressing so far. Chris Smalling is improving all the time too, so the future looks pretty bright for United. If I had to pick a final it would be Barcelona and Madrid. They are the two strongest teams in Europe at the moment and it would be quite a spectacle if the histrionics were keep to a minimum.

peterman (Real Madrid CF) - Barcelona, Real Madrid and the English clubs.

Mestalla (Valencia CF) - It's one of Madrid, Barca or United for me. Naturally, from those three, I would be rooting for the red devils.

Friki (Valencia CF) - No team has ever won the CL twice in a row (well, since they changed it to CL) so I'm not really expecting Barcelona to win it again, even though I wouldn't be suprised. I have Real Madrid and Manchester United there, slight advantage United since Ferguson is Ferguson.


Knoert (Athletic Club) - FC Barcelona and FC Bayern because the final is in Munich.

And your favorites for Serie A and the Premier League?

Lo Puto Crack (FC Barcelona) - Manchester United would be my favourites for the Premier League due to the fact that they have to most impressive squad in that league. The fact that they are serial winners helps too. They have a great winning mentality(instilled in his teams by the great Alex Ferguson). They are just know how to win and at the end of a long, hard fought season it may just help them cross the finish line as winners again. They'll be pushed close by the likes Manchester City, Chelsea and maybe even Liverpool, but they'd have to be favourites considering they won it last year and they have improved both their team and overall squad since then. I'm not that big a fan of the Premier League, but I think it's gonna be exciting this year.

In Serie A, Milan have to be favourites. My knowledege of Italian football is not that great due to the fact that I don't get to watch it that often. I looks like Juventus are still struggling, Udinese have been severely weakened by the loss of Sanchéz and Inler, and Napoli don't have the team to match up to that of Milan over a full season imo. That leaves Inter. They've just sold Samuel Eto'o to Anzi Makhachkala and it looks like they are struggling financially. I've seen them in a few games in pre-season and I wasn't too impressed with them(although preseason means little it has to be said). Serie A still looks like it is Milans to lose.

peterman (Real Madrid CF) - Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea. I don't follow Serie A enough to give an interesting answer to that.

Mestalla (Valencia CF) - United for the EPL, even though I think Man City will stay very close and I expect Chelsea to do very well this season. United just has that nonnegotiable/unquestionable winning mentality that only a few teams like Barca and Madrid have these days, even if their rivals have superior transfer campaigns.

Friki (Valencia CF) - Serie A, not really following the league so much but Milan from what I've seen. Inter has a crazy Gasperini with a formation they have never ever played. Juventus have bought interesting with Vidal but I think Milan has the advantage there. Milan for me.

EPL is harder though, Chelsea can be a real threat now with Mata and Modric, it would add something fresh to the tired legs of Lampard and Drogba. City have probably one of the more interesting attacks out there and Mancini have won leagues before. Not sure though if Silva - Dzeko - Kun - Nasri is good to have defensively. United have a very young team but have a winning culture in the club and that's alot.

Hard to say, I might go for United there but it can go all ways IMO

Knoert (Athletic Club) - In EPL Manchester United once again, Serie A is hard to say as I don't really follow it closely but I'd say Juventus, they bought a lot new players.

All these interviews have been answered in the last couple of weeks. From here, I want to express my gratitude to all of them. Sadly, we could not count on the opinion of any Atlético Madrid fan at the end. Thank you all!

The ashes of the Valencian "Fallas"

The exit of Juan Mata close an era in Valencia CF. Not so long ago, this club played 2 Champions League finals, won 2 Ligas and a UEFA Cup, but this golden era had a painful end due to the terrible decisions in the sport and patrimonial departments.

It is necessary to go back in the 1990s to know the origin of the current situation. Valencia CF was one of the Spanish clubs that had to become a corporation in 1992. With the new decade, a member of one of the most powerful families of the high-class of Valencia, Francisco Roig, bought a big percentage of the ownership of the club, which allowed him to control the club. Francisco Roig had big ambitions and his dream was to have a "Valencia campeó". But despite the arrival of big names like Romario or Salenko and the signing of prestigious coaches like Luis Aragonés or Jorge Valdano, the results were poor and he resigned from the presidency in 1997, which ended up in one of the most important shareholders, Pedro Cortés, although Roig remained in power from the shadows, given his majority in the ownership of the club.

Francisco Roig

A turning point was a sentence in the year 1998 that declared illegal the increase of capital made by Roig, which had allowed him to control the club. The club was in the hands of Pedro Cortés, who betrayed his old partner and joined his shares to the ones of Arturo Tuzón, to keep Roig out of control. The change in the presidency put Valencia CF in the right direction and the club won a Copa and its following Supercopa in 1999. During this period, the club set the base of the future victories. Without big expenses in the market, the club signed players like Claudio López, Fabián Ayala, Amadeo Carboni, Kily González, Jocelyn Algoma, Adrián Illie or Gerard, who joined the local talents Gaizka Mendieta, David Albelda or Farinós. In those years, Valencia reached two consecutive UEFA Champions League finals, in 2000 and 2001, which increased the value of their players and coach, Héctor Cúper.

In the summer of the year 2001, many big clubs of Europe started the chase of Valencia players. Héctor Cúper signed for Internazionale FC and Gaizka Mendieta broke the market with his record signing for SS Lazio for 45M euros, which was clearly superior to the 19M paid for Javier Farinós by Inter or the 35M paid by FC Barcelona for Gerard García the previous year. The pressure of the fans on Pedro Cortés for these transfers made him resign for personal reasons, which gave the presidency to Jaime Ortí in the summer of 2001, who had been one of the men of Francisco Roig.

With Jaime Ortí and the arrival of Rafael Benítez to Mestalla came the best years of Valencia CF. The club won 2 Ligas (2001 and 2003) and 1 UEFA Cup (2003). But the victories did not bring peace to the club. Francisco Roig was making his movements to recover the ownership and presidency of the club, but at the same time, the Soler family, well-known in Valencia and successful businessmen of the real estate sector, also had their power ambitions. Jaime Ortí, despite he had been a man of Francisco Roig during the 90s, favored the movements of the Soler family in order to keep the presidency despite his irrelevant percentage in the ownership. Finally, in the year 2003, Francisco Roig surrendered and sold his shares for a 31.6M euros.

This corporate operation is important to understand why Valencia is struggling nowadays. The battle to obtain the power in Valencia CF was not based on the value of the club, but in an important fight of 2 important Valencian families to get the control of the club that is the symbol of the city and a big part of the region. The price paid by the Soler family was 600 euros per share, when the face value of this share was 40 euros when it was issued less than 10 years ago. It is important to highlight that the club had a historical debt of 120M euros, which was not irrelevant for a club of the size of Valencia. In one way or another, the Soler family took the control of the club, getting the fame and the political influence they were aiming since long ago.

Only the Liga and UEFA Cup titles avoided the change in the presidency. Juan Soler stayed in the shadows for a year given the popularity of the winning president Jaime Ortí, but in October 2004, Juan Soler made his dream reality and sacked Ortí to get the so wished position. At that moment, no one could even imagine that Juan Soler would destroy the economy of the club in only 4 years.

The presidency of Juan Soler can be definied by one word: disaster. Disaster in every single aspect. If we refer just to football, Valencia passed from being one of the top clubs of the continent to lose prestige due to poor domestic and continental campaigns. The club splashed 180M of euros in players like Di Vaio, Fiore, Caneira, Corradi, David Villa, Miguel, Regueiro, Joaquín, Morientes, Del Horno, Tavano, Hugo Viana, Arizmendi,  Zigic, Fernandes, Maduro, Banega or Alexis and only very few of them were worth the price paid for them. There were constant changes in the position of coach: Claudio Ranieri, Quique Flores and Ronald Koeman had short periods on the bench. At the same time, given the bad results, the club had 2 general managers in this period: Amadeo Carboni, who had an evident bad relationship with Quique Flores, and Miguel Ángel Ruiz. In this aspect, the club was a total mess and the team was a victim of it.

Juan Soler

If it was not enough, the patrimonial management was as bad as the sport one. The most shocking case was the change of sponsor in 2008 signed by Juan Soler, when the club broke its contract with Toyota, who were paying 3M per year, to sign a deal with a ghost company called Valencia Experience, which was supposed to be a company that promoted events in Valencia. No one knew what this company had ever done and, of course, they never paid a single cent of the promised 6M per season. During all the season, Valencia wore the shirt with the name of this ghost company for absolutely nothing and, given the contract they had with Nike, a change of sponsorship would have even had worse effects.

But, without a doubt, the most harmful patrimonial operation was the construction of the Nou Mestalla, the new stadium of the club. Since the year 2004, Juan Soler started to negotiate a land swap with the government of the region and the city hall. In this agreement, the government change the qualification of the lands in Benicalp in order to allow the club to build the new stadium. In 2006, the Nou Mestalla was announced, a futuristic 5-star stadium with a huge capacity of 75,000 seats. Along with the stadium, Valencia was going to build a commercial zone. The overall cost of the new stadium was going to be 344M euros and the team would start the 2010-2011 season in their new home. In the summer of 2007, the building work started, but in the 2008-2009 season, they had to be stopped, since the club could not meet the payments. Nowadays, the club did not start with the building works again, since they were not able to sell the lands of the old Mestalla at the required price.

At the end of the 2007-2008 season, Juan Soler resigned from the presidency due to the huge social and political pressure. Juan Soler decided to sell the shares to Juan Villalonga, former Telefonica president. Villalonga wanted to increase the capital of the club in order to reduce the huge debt of the club, but Juan Soler blocked the whole operation retaining his shares. Only a few days later, Soler sold his shares to Vicente Soriano, who stayed in the presidency for one season. But Vicente Soriano never paid for the shares and the ownership returned to Juan Soler.

The summer of 2009 was the summer of shame, but also the summer of the new low profile era that had to come. Vicente Soriano, who had been a president on loan during all the season, had to resign. Juan Soler was tired of this situation and did not block any decision of the Assembly of shareholders, who gave the presidency to Manuel Llorente, who had been managing the finances of the club from 1995 to 2004, working with Francisco Roig, Pedro Cortés and Jaime Ortí. Manuel Llorente had a good reputation among the valencianistas since he was the main executive during the golden years until the arrival of Juan Soler.

Manuel Llorente was given the job in order to put order in the finances of the club or to find a buyer for the club. Ironically, Vicente Soriano, who had been promising to find the investors during the previous season, appeared with a company of Uruguay called Inversiones Dalport, who were supposed to bring 500M for the club, but they never presented the required guarantees, despite asking for 15 days extensions during all the summer. Manuel Llorente was not as a naive as Juan Soler had been in the past and refused to listen to the former president Soriano.

Manuel Llorente

Llorente asked Deloitte to due a due diligence to know the real economic and financial situation of the club and the report could have not been more scary. Valencia CF owed 547M euros and spent 112M per season only in the salaries of the players, while the overall incomes were 92M. The solution proposed by Llorente was an increase of capital of 92.5M euros. In this operation, Bancaja (now Bankia), a Valencian savings bank, would give a 72M loan to Fundación Valencia Club de Fútbol to buy the shares from Juan Soler without losses for him, despite the base prospectus of the operation had a clear disclaimer made by Deloitte and the Spanish stock markets public supervisor: the value of Valencia CF is zero.

The new owner was this foundation, which was the organization found by Bancaja (Bankia) and the Valencian  government to save the club from disappear. In fact, Bankia have the control of the club in the shadows forcing the club to accomplish with a tough program to recover the club and pay back the 240M loan they have with them. The exit of David Villa (42M euros). David Silva (33M euros) and Marchena (2M, but an important salary) were part of this program and so is the transfer of Juan Mata, probably the last high profile player Valencia CF had in their squad, which was replaced (given the results, with intelligence) with mid profile players with lower transfer costs and salaries.

At this point, the valencianismo is aware of their situation. The good old times of victories and finals has changed for a time of restrictions and low profile objectives. For now, Llorente and his coach Emery have been able to keep Valencia in the top-3, playing the UEFA Champions League, which is very important for the economy of the club. The exit of Juan Mata is one more step to save the club, hoping that the replacements allow the team to keep the position in the top continental competition one more year. Even though the club wanted to keep Mata one more year, a clause of his contract allowed him to leave for 22M euros. Valencia CF collect 30M with this operation now and Juan Mata may accomplish his dream to grow in a winning team, something that Valencia CF can not offer to him now.

Manuel Llorente is a man who likes to go step by step. Perhaps the transfer of the main assets of the club is the easy way to recover the economy of the club, but given the real estate and financial crisis, which blocks the selling of the lands of the old Mestalla, and the pressure of the creditors of the club, it looks like it is the only possible solution. Manuel Llorente considers that the new stadium is a priority in order to grow the operating income of the club and the massive restriction of expenses, which leads to cut the financial expenses too during his 2 years of presidency. If everything goes according to the program, Valencia may continue with the construction of the Nou Mestalla in the year 2012, hoping that a new era begin with the new fancy home of the valencianismo from the ashes of the "fallas" left by the years of the mad bubble.