Poor results, sale of top players fuel Valencia fans’ ire towards Singaporean owner Peter Lim

• Once feted, Valencia FC owner Peter Lim is now facing calls to step down
• Fans are unhappy with recent sale of top players to rivals and constant changing of coaches
• Fans also feel that club management is disconnected from fans
• Club’s Singaporean president Mr Anil Murthy said recent decisions are necessary to keep the club afloat
• To get back into their good books, fans say the team will have to start winning

SINGAPORE — When Singaporean billionaire Peter Lim bought football club Valencia in 2014, Mr Manuel Gimeno Real and other fans of the team cheered his arrival and sang his name at the gates of the club’s Mestalla stadium.

Mr Lim was seen as the saviour of the debt-ridden Spanish club, which had gone without silverware in a decade.

But Mr Real was singing a different tune on Wednesday (Aug 12) as he stood outside the same stadium alongside hundreds of other fans to call for the removal of Mr Lim.

“His appointment has been one of the biggest disappointments in my life,” said the Valencian native in an email interview with TODAY last week.

“The owner has not fulfilled any of the things that he had promised. The new stadium is not complete, he has yet to create a winning team and he has not brought stability to the club,” said the student from Valencia Catholic University.

While these criticisms are not new, the calls by fans for Mr Lim to step down have gathered pace in recent months. Besides organising protests, supporters of the Los Ches have also bombarded Singapore media outlets with emails criticising Mr Lim.

Fans and experts that TODAY spoke to pointed to “incompetent” boardroom decisions, instability in the club and a perceived lack of connection between the board and fans for the groundswell of discontent.

DEPARTURE OF TOP PLAYERS AND COACH

For Mr Hector Blat, the founder of Salvem Nostre Valencia CF (Save Our Valencia CF) which organised the protests, the “final straw” was the sale of its top players Francis Coquelin and Dani Parejo, who was the club’s captain, last Wednesday.

Not only were they sold to derby rivals Villarreal, it was also for a combined fee of 11 million euros (S$17.9 million). Coquelin alone cost the club 14 million euros when they bought him in 2018.

The sacking of coach Marcelino Garcia Toral last September, in particular, was a sore spot among fans. Hired in 2017, Marcelino had overseen a relative period of success at the club, including winning the Copa del Rey in 2019.

Mr Ooi Chang Hui, a 41-year-old Singaporean who has been rooting for the club since 2000, said he was “irked” by the decision to fire Marcelino over “petty” reasons.

“Granted Marcelino aired his complaints (about the management) publicly but this is the man who not only brought silverware, but also qualified consecutively for the Champions League, which is where the money bag is,” said the engineer.

Fans also expressed concern over stability at the club, with Marcelino’s replacement Albert Celades fired in June. He was the sixth coach in as many seasons to be sacked.

“With another coach fired and more players sold, fans are increasingly worried about where the club is going,” noted Mr John Duerden, a football commentator.

LACK OF 'FOOTBALLING EXPERTISE'

Fans said that these moves made them believe that Mr Lim and his board are not qualified to lead the club. Mr Real, for instance, cited the lack of footballing expertise of current and former club presidents.

“They do not understand what it means to be the owner of a football club or the basics of football. Fans believe that (the board) is not able to distinguish a ball from a watermelon,” said Mr Real.

The current president, Mr Anil Murthy, is a former Singapore diplomat while his predecessor, Ms Chan Lay Hoon, has a background in corporate management and finance.

Another supporter, Mr Fernando Madrazo, said that the board appeared to be buying and selling players based on economic benefit, rather than a player’s professional abilities.

The Spaniard pointed to the purchase of relative unknown Thierry Correia from Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon for 15 million euros as an example.

A recent Instagram post by Mr Lim’s daughter, Kim, also showed the club owners’ disconnect with the fans, Mr Madrazo said.

In the post which has since been deleted, Ms Lim had said: “Don't they (the fans) get it? The club is ours and we can do anything we want with it and no one can say anything."

Mr Madrazo, a 35-year-old teacher, said: “In my opinion, they don’t understand that Valencia CF is an institution for the city and represents the joy of the people. It is the Valencia inhabitants that gave the club its personality.”

‘A BANKRUPT CLUB IS NOT A BETTER CLUB’

In a wide-ranging response addressing supporters’ concerns on Saturday, Mr Murthy explained that the recent decisions were necessary to keep the club financially afloat, especially in light of the financial toll of the Covid-19 pandemic.

While the club had seen success under former manager Marcelino, this was not done in a “sustainable method”, with the club offloading young, promising players to make space for new signings, said Mr Murthy in a statement.

Pushing to have a big stadium, big-name players and winning the La Liga and Champions League at all costs will lead the club back into debt, he added.

“A bankrupt club is not a better club,” said Mr Murthy.

He said that the management remains committed to building and growing a sustainable club, but cautioned that this would take time.

CAN PETER LIM TURN BACK THE TIDE?

Football observer Mr Duerden said the board can only repair its relations with fans if the team starts delivering on the pitch.

Mr Blat, 29, echoed the sentiment, saying the only way Mr Lim can appease fans is by bringing the team back to winning ways and delivering on earlier promises to get rid of debt and build a new stadium.

Work on the new stadium, called the Nou Mestalla, had begun in 2007 but was halted in 2009 during the global financial crisis.

Mr Blat, who works in the hospitality industry, also called on Mr Lim to hand over the club's management to those with footballing expertise and make an effort to understand the club’s history and culture.

While Mr Ooi agrees that Mr Lim’s actions are hurting the Valencia brand, as a Singaporean, he remains torn about supporting the calls for Mr Lim to step down.

“It comes down to how much Mr Lim wants Valencia to succeed,” said Mr Ooi.

“It is rather sad for things to come down to this, as I was so proud as a Singaporean that a fellow countryman owns a European club in one of the biggest leagues.”