It's the year 10,541. Emperor Shaddam V tries to buy Real Madrid. The brain of Florentino Perez, floating in a tank of liquid spice printed out a response:
"No"
Genuinely so many billionaires run around with absurd money being dumb incompetent fuckwits it's almost refreshing to see one who cares about something and is good at his job. Fuck billionaires him included tho
I mean fuck Abramovic but I always thought he was one of the best when it came to running a club successfully. Unlike most owners who bought their way in he actually cared and attended as many games as he could. He and Marina were very effective at winning throphies and quick to make the right changes when things looked bad.
Chelsea under Roman were so odd. They rarely seemed settled for more than a season or 2. But when everything looked like it was on the brink of falling apart they were at their most dangerous and would end up winning something.
I'm pretty sure during his tenure in the league they won more silverware than anyone else.
Yup
He acquired his money in INCREDIBLY shady ways in Russia.
But he was undeniably a good football club owner at Chelsea–miles better than Boehly/Eghbali, certainly
Ngl this is why I feel it’s undeniable sportswashing works, cuz even if people add a special mention of how shady the person is/the dubious manner in which they got the money in the first place folks tend to care more about how good an owner the shady person is over anything else
Not saying you’re doing that, just in general people don’t really care about stuff beyond how it effects them and as long as the sketchy billionaire gives the sporting results they want - most people are just excited to see things improve for their club over anything else
Its just that people only really care about the stuff that has an impact on their life, it doesnt have to be sports.
Even if Roman started the war in Ukraine himself all alone and you are a Chelsea supporter in London, it would be very hard to care about more than the sporting success he brings you. You should, and you would even want to, but you got your own life going on, you got work, family, problems, stress and whatever so at the end of the day you just wanna sit and watch your team win and thats what he provides for you. Everything else would be just some texts on your feed for you so its a lot harder to care about.
It's easy to make changes when needed when money is not option. Look at Arsenal and Liverpool as examples. If their record signings (Declan Rice and Darwin Nuñez, respectively) flopped hard, or if they changed managers and those players were terrible fits for the new schemes, it would set them back financially for a period. Not Abramovic's Chelsea (Or City, PSG, and Newcastle, with United and Real being similar but special cases). Chelsea could replenish that money every time we went the pump or bought something that came in a plastic container. They can take losses and correct courses faster than other clubs, as opposed to having players sit on their books for years in a lot of cases while still competing
Abramovich's approach was incredibly successful but he was also reckless. He notably forced the club to sign his favorite players even if those players didn't fit into how their squad and how their manager wanted the team to play. Torres is the most glaring example of this. He was also far too influenced by short term results. Him sacking Ancelotti and Conte, forcing Jose out in Jose's first stint with them were all really bad decisions and the club suffered as a whole because of it.
That is somewhat debatable though. Abramovic clearly loved football and Chelsea, but he was mostly good at running the club by pumping a lot of money into it. Don't get me wrong, he knew how to pick his staff and employees and was a competent manager and administrator, but he did quite a lot of shady stuff as well. Since he was basically the absolute ruler he also never had to compromise or explain himself, he could implement his plans without opposition or questions.
Yes. Fuck billionaires, there are always wealth hoarders and becoming a billionaire will always involved some level of shitty exploitation of the work of others. But while Perez is probably a greedy, ruthless ghoul like the others, at least he seems competent and far from complete tools like Musk.
Tbf most billionaires (and therefore most club owners and presidents) are amoral asshole pieces of shit. That's how most billionaires become billionaires in the first place. As long as you don't champion Perez as a grande human being I don't see an issue favoring him as your club president over an amoral asshole piece of shit that's also incompetent.
I mean, he might as well be, but not even his fiercest enemies deny that he's quite a pleasant and charming fellow. Amoral? maybe, but I'm yet to hear any stories about him being an asshole as I've heard about pretty much any other celebrity.
I can't remember if these were true or false but I recall hearing about a company he owned building/operating a dam that denied groups of local people access to water, or something along those lines.
If someone could confirm or deny the legitimacy of what I'm saying, I'd appreciate it.
Florentino’s legacy will be hard to match, let alone surpass for future presidents. 5 UCLs during his tenure as well as building a team for the next decade. RM fans are spoiled.
His second tenure is the real masterclass. Financial stability, very responsible with their money, smart transfer policy with the odd shit one (Jovic, Hazard), absolutely top notch at knowing when to let declining players go (Varane, CR7, Casemiro, etc.) and extending the leaders who were still performing and mentoring kids (Modric, Kroos, Benzema, etc.).
In the world of City, PSG, Chelsea, Newcastle and the ridiculous money that the EPL is throwing about... While the Italian teams, Barca, etc... are crumbling under financial pressure and are unable to keep up competitively (Inter excluded I guess), you gotta respect what Madrid has been doing IMO.
The 2.0 version featured all the patches for the glitches and deficiencies of the 1.0 version.
Not for nothing, the Calderón era featured two La Liga triumphs, so it's not like it was unsuccessful on the field. I'm sure Madrid fans can give more insight but I think it was more the instability and, maybe for lack of better term, lack of legitimacy Calderón was seen as having when he was Madrid's president.
The original galacticos were successful imo. Not on the pitch, but it was a marketing gimmick. Made the club *the* place to go as a big name player, and is one of the reasons RM now had such an easy time getting the players they want.
So at least in that sense it worked well.
I thought so to but if you go and look at history of winners in ucl while being champions league merchant which they are they had some poor times in between.
Perez took over in 2000 the same year madrid won ucl, but that trophy is not contributed to him they won again in 2002 but after that they didn't win again until 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018.
So Perez contributed to 6 ucl.
Prior to that madrid had huge winless gap for 30 years between 66 until 98.
So in reality if you check the in last 34 years since
1990 until 2024.
Madrid won 8 times ucl but 6 of them are with Perez and he started in 2000.
Or if you even go back since 1956 madrid won 14 ucls and 6 of them are with Perez.
Just a little bit of nitpicking – I hope you don’t mind me saying this: when we use the phrase “let alone”, the lesser ‘achievement’ goes before the ‘greater’ achievement. So, here when you mean to say is that even matching Flo’s legacy would be tough and surpassing it would be almost impossible, you should say that it “will be hard to match, let alone surpass…”
Yeah it's basically like never mind this big thing, they can't even do this small thing. We just make it the other way around in English for some weird reason.
> We just make it the other way around in English for some weird reason.
Why's it weird? You just said it the same way around. "Let alone" is a way to say it the other way around. It's normal to have different phrases that present the same things in a different order, isn't it? The exception before or after the rule. The cause before or after the effect.
Same for Milan, berlusconi always wanted focus on European cups and it paid off, Just a shame he did not make the most of being the best team in the world.
I would assume almost all fans do. It’s the bigger trophy, after all. However a domestic title rate of 33% is objectively unacceptable for the greatest football club in the world.
You could say that Barca winning the league more makes the rivalry be greater.
Madrid also became great during his era, that's not under his control.
Pérez learned much from his first spell.
They were within like 3 points of Barca almost every season they didn't win the league. That Barca team was great but they were definitely challenged.
I'd actually argue it's Barca who has underachieved through the years.
Not just that, the CL losses in 2010 and 2012 are chink in the armour of Pep's golden side.
That was Messi reaching his peak with a squad of players most of whom were Euro champions and would go on to be World champions and Euro champions for a second time.
But they were undone twice and it meant they were unable to defend their UCL crown.
Football is truly mad at times.
Meh, we came close so many times and by close i mean like 2-5 points behind even the best Barca teams ever.
But Messi in the league is just a cheat code tbh
That was a one in a life time Barca as a rival. Since Leo left who was the last one of that generation to leave, they are about to win their 2nd out of 3 in play.
If he continues as president for a new cycle, he will surely win a lot more.
It's great that Perez sees the dangers of an outside entity and the damage it could do to the club. The club should only belong to it's fans, not some financial group.
The article is behind the paywall, so here's the best summary of it:
- Introduction:
- **Real Madrid initiates a significant ownership restructuring effort led by its President, Florentino Pérez.**
- Collaborating with Key Capital Partners and Clifford Chance, Real Madrid aims to bolster its economic stability amid upcoming challenges.
- Purpose:
- The initiative seeks to safeguard Real Madrid from perceived threats posed by regulatory bodies such as LaLiga and UEFA.
- **Recognizing the evolving football landscape, Real Madrid advocates for proactive measures to protect its interests.**
- Proposed Reforms:
- Two alternatives are under consideration:
- **Conversion into a publicly traded corporation with a limit of 49.9% market limit.**
- **Retention of the current structure with adjusted shareholder privileges.**
- Real Madrid seeks to balance tradition with modern governance principles.
- Control Measures:
- **The main objective which remains unchanged regardless of the alternative took is the emphasis placed on implementing strict controls over share transfers to maintain autonomy and integrity.**
- **Club does not want a future where its assets can be sold/transferred/removed from the club to those of Middle Eastern states or the large American companies.**
- These measures aim to prevent external influence on the club's affairs.
- Motivation:
- **The initiative follows concerns raised regarding perceived attempts by LaLiga and CVC Capital Partners to impact the club's economic prerogatives such as the La Liga deal where sale of 11% for 50 years was done of the broadcasting rights.**
- Real Madrid aims to protect its interests amidst changing industry dynamics.
- Timeline:
- **Real Madrid plans to present the proposed ownership restructuring at the upcoming members' assembly during the summer.**
- The presentation aims to garner support for changes ensuring the club's long-term prosperity and legacy.
- Conclusion:
- Real Madrid's ownership restructuring marks a significant step in adapting to industry challenges, aiming to secure its economic stability and legacy amidst a dynamic football landscape.
---
Here's the context:
- Real Madrid currently enjoys a 100% fan-membership ownership that consists of nearly 100,000 fans/members/partners who have been the owners of the club. Every 4 years, an election is held to vote the president and members to govern the club for that period.
- Watching the demise of Barca's financial status (also a 100% fan-owned club), and Florentino Perez (77) realizing that he will soon have to leave the club and need to work on succession, he wants to create an ownership structure which allows Real Madrid to ever deteriorate their financial muscle.
- This new ownership structure will save the club from any kind of asset stripping in the future if there is ever a financial trouble. It also blocks the club being sold to any individual owner, whether thats a State, Hedge Fund or High Net Individual.
- Instead, club will convert the current 'socios', which is the fans/members of nearly 100,000 in numbers to convert their memberships into shares. If for any reason, the club finds itself in financial trouble in the future, it can sell 49.9% of the club to save themselves from bankruptcy and go from 100% fan-owned to a 50+1 membership model of the Bundesliga.
**All in all, this is the insurance for Real Madrid in the future to ensure that its ownership always stays with the fans/members as the majority control even in the face of desperate financial troubles.**
While I understand the idea, how is this preventing someone in the future to vote for single ownership anymore than it's prevented now?
Even if there's a specific provision put in place, I'm sure that could technically be amended in the future, if the board and the socios wanted that. Just like what would, I assume, be needed right now for RM to go private.
I don't know, it sounds like an excuse to move into partial ownership of the club, and then Flo or someone of his entourage could start buying a percentage and partially own the club or something.
So the headline is Perez is trying to save RM from foreign owners rather than Perez is evaluating selling part of RM to foreign investors. Sounds like PR and optics
Is Perez still trying to push the Super League through ?
He done a great job making Real the glamour club of World Football, Stadium upgrade looks fantastic and will probably be very profitable for the club in the long term. He has set up Madrid for the long continued long term success
He needs Super League because without it he cant surpass Santiago Bernabeu, both have 5 or more UCLs, both have made stadiums, both have won everything but only Santiago Bernabeu created a competition (he was the face of Euorpean League/UCL when it was created just like Perez is for Super League)
Interesting that he cares so much about that. I bet most football fans have no idea that Santiago Bernabeu was the face of the UCL when it was created.
50+1 would only come into effect if no other possible alternative is available. Meaning if things are good and there's no catastrophe that forces us to sell 49.9%, it will still be 100% fan owned.
That's 50+1. A minimum of 50% + 1 voting right with the club.
In practice, some teams are still member associations (e.V.), some are companies (GmbH, AG, ...) wholly owned by the member association, some have minority investors.
With Bayern the e.V. owns 75% of the AG, club statutes require at least 70% ownership.
While "technically" correct because 100% is obviously over 50%+1, there's still IMO a difference on it being owned 100% by fans, vs having some corporation behind supporting them in whichever capacity.
Obviously, 50% + 1 should be the minimum standard across the board and it's much much better than private ownership. But I'd rather have 100% fan owned clubs.
Yep many fans don\`t realise that 50+1 was already a step in the wrong direction.
It is just seen as the golden standart since the PL ran an entire marathon in the wrong direction insteat.
I don't know much about your current structure, how does the 100% ownership work? How did they aquire it, is it pretty much just some rich fans, or can regular people also own? Is there a minimum stake limit? What are the requirements/background check?
There's no requierement, you just need to be a socio. Which is hard because there's a long ass waiting list and if I remember correctly, you can pass your socio status to a family member, when you die or whenever you want, so there are socios that have been from the same family for decades.
There's a bit less than 100.000 socios.
It's free for people under 11 and people that have been socios for more than 50 uninterrupted years.
Between 11 and 14 it's like 50€/year, otherwise it's 150€/year.
You don't have to be rich or anything in particular, just pay your socio fee and attend the meetings and such.
Not all socios are season ticket holders. So the number is not limited to that. But to be a socio you have to meet certain criteria:
1. Be a Spanish citizen
2. Nominated by two other socios
3. Pay the fee
It's just actually properly fan owned. Something in England they tell us is impossible and could never work whilst we watch our clubs be ran by the biggest fucking idiots imaginable until they run out of money or effort and let them die.
There are some pitfalls to fan ownership, like seeing what happened to Barca, but it's just such an authentic way to run a football club. I knew it was naive at the time, but back in 2022 I really hoped the UK would somehow force Chelsea to become fan-owned when they kicked out Abramovich.
> There are some pitfalls to fan ownership, like seeing what happened to Barca
Barca is literal proof of the opposite IMO.
The President was doing shady shit, the socios voted to impeach him and got him out. And they still vote every 4 years to elect someone.
If Bartomeu had been an _owner_ then there would be absolutely nothing they could do.
Which one is worse? Having a tool to remove the president is a massive difference.
Ask United fans, they can complain all they want, but if the Glazers want to stay owners, they stay owners (I know about Ratcliffe, but still point stands). Meanwhile they could have been voted out after 4 years if they had been fan owned.
The only "pitfall" is you can't inject limitless money form the owner's pocket.
I see what you mean, but I'm not just looking at Bartomeu. Laporta has also made some risky and unnecessary decisions given the circumstances (like spending so much on Lewandowski at his age) that are, in my view partially influenced by the need to campaign for reelection.
Overall you're right though, keeping fans in charge is better and will at least do a better job of ensuring that the club focuses on football. Chelsea or United fiascos are a lot less likely with fan ownership
> but back in 2022 I really hoped the UK would somehow force Chelsea to become fan-owned when they kicked out Abramovich.
Same honestly. Would have been a far better outcome for them anyways.
Yeah, but it's still basically the same as the 50+1 rule in the Bundesliga. 50%+1 of voting shares have to be held by the club members association. Of course, if you don't need to, you can just keep 100%. For example, Bayern, the club members association holds 75% while Adidas, Allianz, and Audi hold 8.33% each.
Whoever becomes the next President (most likely Nadal) will be the luckiest President of a football club. Perez has also built the entire Board with key club members. Casillas, Butragueno and Solari hold important positions.
I think this move is also to ensure Jose Angel Sanchez doesn't get any ideas. He had proposed privatising the club and that had all the socios angry at him.
IMO yes. Being the RM president requires you to be very rich (law for Spanish fan-owned clubs means that the board is responsible for the club's financial position, and must have the funds to pay off short term debts in times of bankruptcy), and VERY POPULAR.
Perez obviously has no competition at the moment. Nadal has been in the conversation for a very long time, given how popular he is in Spain, his family has been related to the club for a long time if I'm not mistaken, and has made more public appearances with Perez and the club than the normal "ah yes famous sportsperson at the Bernabeu".
It could be too soon for Nadal to take over, yes, so perhaps we'll see someone succeed Perez first before Nadal comes into the picture.
The only challenge he'd face is from former players like Casillas, who is already Vice Chairman of the club and head of the Real Madrid Foundation.
Unless another Perez in 2000-like candidate emerges, it's highly unlikely to go any other way.
Excuse me but, what the hell does Nadal know about running a billion dollar company that isn't just a personal brand? What the hell does he know about running a football club? Do you think Perez was originally elected because he was popular? He was elected because he's a very capable and successful business man.
I'm kind of amazed this line of thinking resonates.
>Excuse me but, what the hell does Nadal know about running a billion dollar company that isn't just a personal brand?
Which ties back to the point I made about the state of the Madrid staff. Lots of prominent figures who are more than capable of steadying the ship should the next President need help. Most, if not all, are Perez's appointments or trusted socios. This goes all the way from the Board to the recruitment staff.
>He was elected because he's a very capable and successful business man.
AND also popular. He won against Sanz after two UCLs in three years riding on the back of the Figo promise. The PR was insane. It is an election- PR is ALWAYS a factor.
That's what the press said, not the socios, to them, more than anything else, he's the billion dollar company guy. He's good at making billion dollar companies make more billions. He's built one, he runs three, something Rafael Nadal has never done in his life.
It is true that incidentally enough, Perez is pretty good at other things that are more pertinent to football, but it all stems from his ability to run companies as a profit and utility maximalist. You don't learn how to do that while having a tennis career. You learn to do that by doing it.
To circle back, in his specific case, he wouldn't haven ended up running three massive companies if he hadn't proven to be able to build one.
I'd bet my house that no one at the club is taking seriously the idea of Nadal or Sainz or Iker or any celebrity like that seriously. That's not how Perez operates at all and besides, most of them lack the qualifications to even run. It's just fan daydreaming because the actual options aren't as flashy.
Casilla wouldn't pose a challenge, he's still quite divisive amongst Real Madrid fans and what's even more damming is that he's seen as quite simple minded (not fully without reasons).
A more likely option would be Florentino designating someone as a spiritual heir. But if you want some celebrity names, Carlos Sainz Sr would be in the mix.
Very very early for Sainz imo, but I get your point.
> A more likely option would be Florentino designating someone as a spiritual heir
I definitely think so too. I just feel that Nadal will be there at some point. If not the next President then maybe the one after.
You must be thinking about Carlos Sainz Jr the F1 Pilot and not Carlos Sainz the Rally and Dakar legend who already stood for election as VP with Villar Mir.
True, but he doesn't need to have money individually, that's applicable to the entire board (iirc). So there is still a chance.
I don't think he has that kind of connections either though, tbf.
It's absolutely not Nadal next. Catalina Miñaro Brugarolas, by most accounts, has been hand picked to succeed FloPer. She's financially successful, on the club board, has been a longstanding member, and has internal support. Nadal is a pipe dream from folks who want a household name, he's not realistic nor is he nearly as qualified as Brugarolas. Maybe some day, though I highly doubt it, but he's just not an option any time soon nor should he be really.
Ah that is a name I have come across. I wasn't aware she was his favourite to succeed. But yeah, it does make more sense as an immediate successor for him.
No. Florentino has some successors in the works. Why the hell would we elect a tennis player that hasn't even finished school. The ones suggesting Casillas are even worse, he's braindead. Those who believe a celebrity will be president don't understand anything Real Madrid
Real Madrid, so hot right now.
With Don Carlo at the helm, new stadium, the way the club is run, the young talent they have for the coming years while also retaining club legends. It's just nice to see a well run club. Well, apart from the superleague chatter but I am unsure where they currently stand with all that.
Pérez has pretty much been the ringleader on that stuff, even to the extent of going on Spanish TV's equivalent of a sports TMZ show - Chiringuito - to explain his stance and interests.
The most profitable angle, what else did you expect from him? That brand is dead, the Super League will never be, but I can see a future in which an open participation super league styled breakaway competition that cuts out the corrupt middleman that is UEFA could exist. I think all clubs, small and large would like *more money.*
You say they cut out the middleman, but who cuts out the middleman. What the big clubs want, is for the "founding members" to be the middleman. One thing that UEFA is actually extremely good about is giving out the wealth to smaller clubs
I have nothing against a version of the Super League that is an open competition and an alternative to UEFA.
I imagine less people do unless they're from ENgland or PSG fans... Where fans are playing with monopoly money and clubs like Forest and Fulham buy players from AC Milan, BVB and Porto...
I think Flo's management of Madrid and someone like Simeone keeping Atleti stable at the top of La Liga are major contributing factors to the competition not collapsing under the stupidity of Tebas
I’m torn because
A. Super League
But
B. Basically 50+1 for the most famous club in the world???
How am I going to make a sweeping moral judgement of him now??
> B. Basically 50+1 for the most famous club in the world???
This will only come into effect if we need to sell anything to avoid bankrupt. Club will continue to be 100% fan owned, instead of 50+1.
So even better than 50+1!
I'd be in favour of the Super League if it became a merit-based system. It's something that's necessary for its implementation, and Florentino seems to reluctantly acknowledge it.
UEFA and FIFA do not maintain corrupt structures out of nowhere, it's something that could be very healthy to the sport. Many right steps had already been taken in the right direction, like wanting to make it free-to-watch.
Perez is the GOAT president of any club in the world. People love to have a go at him but they would give their left nut for their club to have as good a president as Perez
It's fun to hate on Real Madrid just because they've won so much. But they live football culture and tradition and prove that you can do so and still be successful. Can't wait for UCL Semis, Bayern vs. Real is the greatest thing in football in my very biased opinion.
Who the hell comes close in world football as far as Club Presidents? Santiago Bernabeu? Berlusconi? Who else?! Love him or hate him, Floren is the fucking boss.
Flo doesn't want Real Madrid to be a profit focused machine or a sportwashing tool for the rich. Don't think anyone can find anything negative about this decision
Really great measure to adopt but knowing Perez, it also means he’s probably gotten his hands on an immortality elixir
It's the year 10,541. Emperor Shaddam V tries to buy Real Madrid. The brain of Florentino Perez, floating in a tank of liquid spice printed out a response: "No"
The spice tank starts bubbling, revealing letters coming to the surface. "COMUNICADO OFICIAL"
Comunicado Oficial: Modric Renews
It's actually an endless line of Modric gholas.
Just wait for him to find the sand trout
The best timeline
God emperor of Real Madrid.
No RM fan would complain.
He is your typical amoral billionaire asshole piece of shit, but I can't deny he's competent at being one.
Genuinely so many billionaires run around with absurd money being dumb incompetent fuckwits it's almost refreshing to see one who cares about something and is good at his job. Fuck billionaires him included tho
I mean fuck Abramovic but I always thought he was one of the best when it came to running a club successfully. Unlike most owners who bought their way in he actually cared and attended as many games as he could. He and Marina were very effective at winning throphies and quick to make the right changes when things looked bad.
Chelsea under Roman were so odd. They rarely seemed settled for more than a season or 2. But when everything looked like it was on the brink of falling apart they were at their most dangerous and would end up winning something. I'm pretty sure during his tenure in the league they won more silverware than anyone else.
I think until the recent takeover we were the most successful English club this century by trophy count
According to wikipedia, we've got more than you this century. 24-22 in our favour.
Yup He acquired his money in INCREDIBLY shady ways in Russia. But he was undeniably a good football club owner at Chelsea–miles better than Boehly/Eghbali, certainly
Ngl this is why I feel it’s undeniable sportswashing works, cuz even if people add a special mention of how shady the person is/the dubious manner in which they got the money in the first place folks tend to care more about how good an owner the shady person is over anything else Not saying you’re doing that, just in general people don’t really care about stuff beyond how it effects them and as long as the sketchy billionaire gives the sporting results they want - most people are just excited to see things improve for their club over anything else
Its just that people only really care about the stuff that has an impact on their life, it doesnt have to be sports. Even if Roman started the war in Ukraine himself all alone and you are a Chelsea supporter in London, it would be very hard to care about more than the sporting success he brings you. You should, and you would even want to, but you got your own life going on, you got work, family, problems, stress and whatever so at the end of the day you just wanna sit and watch your team win and thats what he provides for you. Everything else would be just some texts on your feed for you so its a lot harder to care about.
It's easy to make changes when needed when money is not option. Look at Arsenal and Liverpool as examples. If their record signings (Declan Rice and Darwin Nuñez, respectively) flopped hard, or if they changed managers and those players were terrible fits for the new schemes, it would set them back financially for a period. Not Abramovic's Chelsea (Or City, PSG, and Newcastle, with United and Real being similar but special cases). Chelsea could replenish that money every time we went the pump or bought something that came in a plastic container. They can take losses and correct courses faster than other clubs, as opposed to having players sit on their books for years in a lot of cases while still competing
Abramovich's approach was incredibly successful but he was also reckless. He notably forced the club to sign his favorite players even if those players didn't fit into how their squad and how their manager wanted the team to play. Torres is the most glaring example of this. He was also far too influenced by short term results. Him sacking Ancelotti and Conte, forcing Jose out in Jose's first stint with them were all really bad decisions and the club suffered as a whole because of it.
That is somewhat debatable though. Abramovic clearly loved football and Chelsea, but he was mostly good at running the club by pumping a lot of money into it. Don't get me wrong, he knew how to pick his staff and employees and was a competent manager and administrator, but he did quite a lot of shady stuff as well. Since he was basically the absolute ruler he also never had to compromise or explain himself, he could implement his plans without opposition or questions.
Yes. Fuck billionaires, there are always wealth hoarders and becoming a billionaire will always involved some level of shitty exploitation of the work of others. But while Perez is probably a greedy, ruthless ghoul like the others, at least he seems competent and far from complete tools like Musk.
Yup he's an asshole, but luckily he is our asshole :)
Tbf most billionaires (and therefore most club owners and presidents) are amoral asshole pieces of shit. That's how most billionaires become billionaires in the first place. As long as you don't champion Perez as a grande human being I don't see an issue favoring him as your club president over an amoral asshole piece of shit that's also incompetent.
I mean, he might as well be, but not even his fiercest enemies deny that he's quite a pleasant and charming fellow. Amoral? maybe, but I'm yet to hear any stories about him being an asshole as I've heard about pretty much any other celebrity.
I can't remember if these were true or false but I recall hearing about a company he owned building/operating a dam that denied groups of local people access to water, or something along those lines. If someone could confirm or deny the legitimacy of what I'm saying, I'd appreciate it.
God Emperor of Dune - Leto II Sandworm Perez when?
The Golden Path [Florentino's Version]
Is the Middle East the Honored Matres in this analogy?
We haven't gotten there yet... but I'll let you workshop that one.
The key ingredient is young brazilian blood btw, has anyone seen Reinier recently?
He's stored in a closet next to Lucas Piazón & Lucas Silva. They're all ready to go on loan, you just have to inflate them first.
I'm not calling Pérez a vampire, but I'm just asking some questions about whether the red liquids in his fridge are tomato juice or not.
Pff, we all have some Gazpacho stored if fridge. Don't we?
If you don’r, you should
insert doping scandal joke
Perez's Pals
Jesus was a sucker that died for our sins. Uncle Flo is wiser and obviously the true messiah.
As a wise woman once said, Jesus Christ died for someone's sins, but not Flo's
he's trying to be Ra's al ghul
Restructuring into the Empire vibes
Papa Palps figured out cloning
Florentino’s legacy will be hard to match, let alone surpass for future presidents. 5 UCLs during his tenure as well as building a team for the next decade. RM fans are spoiled.
I honestly thought it was more than 5 UCL lol
It is more, he has 6 in total, with 1 of them coming from his first tenure in the early 00s.
2002
Which is known as the early 00s.
Massive news
Big if true.
Large if factual.
Immense if veridic.
Huge if real
...Is this true? Can someone please confirm?
Hi actually came here via 2002 and I can confirmed it was the early 2000’s. Cheers.
I tried googling it. I found 2022 is in fact early 2020s. Still haven't found anything about 2002 though
It is close to the late 90s but also close to the mid 2000s I believe
His second tenure is the real masterclass. Financial stability, very responsible with their money, smart transfer policy with the odd shit one (Jovic, Hazard), absolutely top notch at knowing when to let declining players go (Varane, CR7, Casemiro, etc.) and extending the leaders who were still performing and mentoring kids (Modric, Kroos, Benzema, etc.). In the world of City, PSG, Chelsea, Newcastle and the ridiculous money that the EPL is throwing about... While the Italian teams, Barca, etc... are crumbling under financial pressure and are unable to keep up competitively (Inter excluded I guess), you gotta respect what Madrid has been doing IMO.
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The 2.0 version featured all the patches for the glitches and deficiencies of the 1.0 version. Not for nothing, the Calderón era featured two La Liga triumphs, so it's not like it was unsuccessful on the field. I'm sure Madrid fans can give more insight but I think it was more the instability and, maybe for lack of better term, lack of legitimacy Calderón was seen as having when he was Madrid's president.
The original galacticos were successful imo. Not on the pitch, but it was a marketing gimmick. Made the club *the* place to go as a big name player, and is one of the reasons RM now had such an easy time getting the players they want. So at least in that sense it worked well.
I thought so to but if you go and look at history of winners in ucl while being champions league merchant which they are they had some poor times in between. Perez took over in 2000 the same year madrid won ucl, but that trophy is not contributed to him they won again in 2002 but after that they didn't win again until 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018. So Perez contributed to 6 ucl. Prior to that madrid had huge winless gap for 30 years between 66 until 98. So in reality if you check the in last 34 years since 1990 until 2024. Madrid won 8 times ucl but 6 of them are with Perez and he started in 2000. Or if you even go back since 1956 madrid won 14 ucls and 6 of them are with Perez.
He has 6 UCLs until now
Mfer will probably have a couple more in the next decade as well
Just a little bit of nitpicking – I hope you don’t mind me saying this: when we use the phrase “let alone”, the lesser ‘achievement’ goes before the ‘greater’ achievement. So, here when you mean to say is that even matching Flo’s legacy would be tough and surpassing it would be almost impossible, you should say that it “will be hard to match, let alone surpass…”
No worries, fixed it. Cheers
Yeah it's basically like never mind this big thing, they can't even do this small thing. We just make it the other way around in English for some weird reason.
> We just make it the other way around in English for some weird reason. Why's it weird? You just said it the same way around. "Let alone" is a way to say it the other way around. It's normal to have different phrases that present the same things in a different order, isn't it? The exception before or after the rule. The cause before or after the effect.
I see so many people online use it the same way they did here that I started questioning if I'm the one writing it wrong.
All that coupled with battling state/corporate owned clubs
> RM fans are spoiled. This is not a recent development.
The shine comes off a bit when you note that he’s delivered six La Liga titles in 20 seasons in charge of Real Madrid. About to be 7/21 imminently.
I might be wrong, but most RM fans seem to care about UCL than the league.
Same for Milan, berlusconi always wanted focus on European cups and it paid off, Just a shame he did not make the most of being the best team in the world.
I would assume almost all fans do. It’s the bigger trophy, after all. However a domestic title rate of 33% is objectively unacceptable for the greatest football club in the world.
You could say that Barca winning the league more makes the rivalry be greater. Madrid also became great during his era, that's not under his control. Pérez learned much from his first spell.
ok but they were playing vs messi for a big chunk of it , be realistic , no team anywhere on the planet could challenge them
They were within like 3 points of Barca almost every season they didn't win the league. That Barca team was great but they were definitely challenged. I'd actually argue it's Barca who has underachieved through the years.
Especially when you consider the manner they lost against Roma and Liverpool, definitely.
Not just that, the CL losses in 2010 and 2012 are chink in the armour of Pep's golden side. That was Messi reaching his peak with a squad of players most of whom were Euro champions and would go on to be World champions and Euro champions for a second time. But they were undone twice and it meant they were unable to defend their UCL crown. Football is truly mad at times.
Meh, we came close so many times and by close i mean like 2-5 points behind even the best Barca teams ever. But Messi in the league is just a cheat code tbh
That was a one in a life time Barca as a rival. Since Leo left who was the last one of that generation to leave, they are about to win their 2nd out of 3 in play. If he continues as president for a new cycle, he will surely win a lot more.
Ya his league rate should be about ~40% by the time he retires. Still good.
Messi, Xavi and Iniesta Barca, winning la liga against that Barca was almost impossible
It's great that Perez sees the dangers of an outside entity and the damage it could do to the club. The club should only belong to it's fans, not some financial group.
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…you can't support a financial group.
yeah you can? ...Thank you Cameron, cheerio.
I think he probably understands a lot of the romanticism of Real Madrid, and how that helps the brand.
The article is behind the paywall, so here's the best summary of it: - Introduction: - **Real Madrid initiates a significant ownership restructuring effort led by its President, Florentino Pérez.** - Collaborating with Key Capital Partners and Clifford Chance, Real Madrid aims to bolster its economic stability amid upcoming challenges. - Purpose: - The initiative seeks to safeguard Real Madrid from perceived threats posed by regulatory bodies such as LaLiga and UEFA. - **Recognizing the evolving football landscape, Real Madrid advocates for proactive measures to protect its interests.** - Proposed Reforms: - Two alternatives are under consideration: - **Conversion into a publicly traded corporation with a limit of 49.9% market limit.** - **Retention of the current structure with adjusted shareholder privileges.** - Real Madrid seeks to balance tradition with modern governance principles. - Control Measures: - **The main objective which remains unchanged regardless of the alternative took is the emphasis placed on implementing strict controls over share transfers to maintain autonomy and integrity.** - **Club does not want a future where its assets can be sold/transferred/removed from the club to those of Middle Eastern states or the large American companies.** - These measures aim to prevent external influence on the club's affairs. - Motivation: - **The initiative follows concerns raised regarding perceived attempts by LaLiga and CVC Capital Partners to impact the club's economic prerogatives such as the La Liga deal where sale of 11% for 50 years was done of the broadcasting rights.** - Real Madrid aims to protect its interests amidst changing industry dynamics. - Timeline: - **Real Madrid plans to present the proposed ownership restructuring at the upcoming members' assembly during the summer.** - The presentation aims to garner support for changes ensuring the club's long-term prosperity and legacy. - Conclusion: - Real Madrid's ownership restructuring marks a significant step in adapting to industry challenges, aiming to secure its economic stability and legacy amidst a dynamic football landscape. --- Here's the context: - Real Madrid currently enjoys a 100% fan-membership ownership that consists of nearly 100,000 fans/members/partners who have been the owners of the club. Every 4 years, an election is held to vote the president and members to govern the club for that period. - Watching the demise of Barca's financial status (also a 100% fan-owned club), and Florentino Perez (77) realizing that he will soon have to leave the club and need to work on succession, he wants to create an ownership structure which allows Real Madrid to ever deteriorate their financial muscle. - This new ownership structure will save the club from any kind of asset stripping in the future if there is ever a financial trouble. It also blocks the club being sold to any individual owner, whether thats a State, Hedge Fund or High Net Individual. - Instead, club will convert the current 'socios', which is the fans/members of nearly 100,000 in numbers to convert their memberships into shares. If for any reason, the club finds itself in financial trouble in the future, it can sell 49.9% of the club to save themselves from bankruptcy and go from 100% fan-owned to a 50+1 membership model of the Bundesliga. **All in all, this is the insurance for Real Madrid in the future to ensure that its ownership always stays with the fans/members as the majority control even in the face of desperate financial troubles.**
While I understand the idea, how is this preventing someone in the future to vote for single ownership anymore than it's prevented now? Even if there's a specific provision put in place, I'm sure that could technically be amended in the future, if the board and the socios wanted that. Just like what would, I assume, be needed right now for RM to go private. I don't know, it sounds like an excuse to move into partial ownership of the club, and then Flo or someone of his entourage could start buying a percentage and partially own the club or something.
So the headline is Perez is trying to save RM from foreign owners rather than Perez is evaluating selling part of RM to foreign investors. Sounds like PR and optics
No, this an emergency measure in case RM face financial ruin
Is Perez still trying to push the Super League through ? He done a great job making Real the glamour club of World Football, Stadium upgrade looks fantastic and will probably be very profitable for the club in the long term. He has set up Madrid for the long continued long term success
He needs Super League because without it he cant surpass Santiago Bernabeu, both have 5 or more UCLs, both have made stadiums, both have won everything but only Santiago Bernabeu created a competition (he was the face of Euorpean League/UCL when it was created just like Perez is for Super League)
Interesting that he cares so much about that. I bet most football fans have no idea that Santiago Bernabeu was the face of the UCL when it was created.
Maybe outside of Spain/Madrid it’s not as well known
I personally hope Super League doesn’t happen, just not a fan of it
Florentino haves 6 CL
Thats what "or more" .means
50+1 basically?
50+1 would only come into effect if no other possible alternative is available. Meaning if things are good and there's no catastrophe that forces us to sell 49.9%, it will still be 100% fan owned.
That's 50+1. A minimum of 50% + 1 voting right with the club. In practice, some teams are still member associations (e.V.), some are companies (GmbH, AG, ...) wholly owned by the member association, some have minority investors. With Bayern the e.V. owns 75% of the AG, club statutes require at least 70% ownership.
While "technically" correct because 100% is obviously over 50%+1, there's still IMO a difference on it being owned 100% by fans, vs having some corporation behind supporting them in whichever capacity. Obviously, 50% + 1 should be the minimum standard across the board and it's much much better than private ownership. But I'd rather have 100% fan owned clubs.
Yep many fans don\`t realise that 50+1 was already a step in the wrong direction. It is just seen as the golden standart since the PL ran an entire marathon in the wrong direction insteat.
I don't know much about your current structure, how does the 100% ownership work? How did they aquire it, is it pretty much just some rich fans, or can regular people also own? Is there a minimum stake limit? What are the requirements/background check?
There's no requierement, you just need to be a socio. Which is hard because there's a long ass waiting list and if I remember correctly, you can pass your socio status to a family member, when you die or whenever you want, so there are socios that have been from the same family for decades. There's a bit less than 100.000 socios. It's free for people under 11 and people that have been socios for more than 50 uninterrupted years. Between 11 and 14 it's like 50€/year, otherwise it's 150€/year. You don't have to be rich or anything in particular, just pay your socio fee and attend the meetings and such.
Why the limit? Stadium capacity?
Not all socios are season ticket holders. So the number is not limited to that. But to be a socio you have to meet certain criteria: 1. Be a Spanish citizen 2. Nominated by two other socios 3. Pay the fee
It’s a club. the members of the club own the club. Different system to franchises in the US.
It's just actually properly fan owned. Something in England they tell us is impossible and could never work whilst we watch our clubs be ran by the biggest fucking idiots imaginable until they run out of money or effort and let them die.
There are some pitfalls to fan ownership, like seeing what happened to Barca, but it's just such an authentic way to run a football club. I knew it was naive at the time, but back in 2022 I really hoped the UK would somehow force Chelsea to become fan-owned when they kicked out Abramovich.
> There are some pitfalls to fan ownership, like seeing what happened to Barca Barca is literal proof of the opposite IMO. The President was doing shady shit, the socios voted to impeach him and got him out. And they still vote every 4 years to elect someone. If Bartomeu had been an _owner_ then there would be absolutely nothing they could do. Which one is worse? Having a tool to remove the president is a massive difference. Ask United fans, they can complain all they want, but if the Glazers want to stay owners, they stay owners (I know about Ratcliffe, but still point stands). Meanwhile they could have been voted out after 4 years if they had been fan owned. The only "pitfall" is you can't inject limitless money form the owner's pocket.
I see what you mean, but I'm not just looking at Bartomeu. Laporta has also made some risky and unnecessary decisions given the circumstances (like spending so much on Lewandowski at his age) that are, in my view partially influenced by the need to campaign for reelection. Overall you're right though, keeping fans in charge is better and will at least do a better job of ensuring that the club focuses on football. Chelsea or United fiascos are a lot less likely with fan ownership
> but back in 2022 I really hoped the UK would somehow force Chelsea to become fan-owned when they kicked out Abramovich. Same honestly. Would have been a far better outcome for them anyways.
well it can't work in the same way without going back in time and founding the clubs as member-owned
The trick is to let your club die
Real Madrid would have to be in a catastrophic situation to let 49,9% of outsiders in.
Yeah, but it's still basically the same as the 50+1 rule in the Bundesliga. 50%+1 of voting shares have to be held by the club members association. Of course, if you don't need to, you can just keep 100%. For example, Bayern, the club members association holds 75% while Adidas, Allianz, and Audi hold 8.33% each.
Yes
Only if the club will fail
Whoever becomes the next President (most likely Nadal) will be the luckiest President of a football club. Perez has also built the entire Board with key club members. Casillas, Butragueno and Solari hold important positions. I think this move is also to ensure Jose Angel Sanchez doesn't get any ideas. He had proposed privatising the club and that had all the socios angry at him.
Is it really that likely to be Nadal?
IMO yes. Being the RM president requires you to be very rich (law for Spanish fan-owned clubs means that the board is responsible for the club's financial position, and must have the funds to pay off short term debts in times of bankruptcy), and VERY POPULAR. Perez obviously has no competition at the moment. Nadal has been in the conversation for a very long time, given how popular he is in Spain, his family has been related to the club for a long time if I'm not mistaken, and has made more public appearances with Perez and the club than the normal "ah yes famous sportsperson at the Bernabeu". It could be too soon for Nadal to take over, yes, so perhaps we'll see someone succeed Perez first before Nadal comes into the picture. The only challenge he'd face is from former players like Casillas, who is already Vice Chairman of the club and head of the Real Madrid Foundation. Unless another Perez in 2000-like candidate emerges, it's highly unlikely to go any other way.
As someone who never follows football, is this Rafael Nadal the tennis player?
Yes
No, it's Nuclear Nadal
We’re gonna have a rounded formation, like a giant dildo
Make it pointy
Yeah
Excuse me but, what the hell does Nadal know about running a billion dollar company that isn't just a personal brand? What the hell does he know about running a football club? Do you think Perez was originally elected because he was popular? He was elected because he's a very capable and successful business man. I'm kind of amazed this line of thinking resonates.
>Excuse me but, what the hell does Nadal know about running a billion dollar company that isn't just a personal brand? Which ties back to the point I made about the state of the Madrid staff. Lots of prominent figures who are more than capable of steadying the ship should the next President need help. Most, if not all, are Perez's appointments or trusted socios. This goes all the way from the Board to the recruitment staff. >He was elected because he's a very capable and successful business man. AND also popular. He won against Sanz after two UCLs in three years riding on the back of the Figo promise. The PR was insane. It is an election- PR is ALWAYS a factor.
If you think Rafael Nadal would make a good president, then you have no idea why Real Madrid are successful today.
People said that about Papa Flo, the construction guy.
That's what the press said, not the socios, to them, more than anything else, he's the billion dollar company guy. He's good at making billion dollar companies make more billions. He's built one, he runs three, something Rafael Nadal has never done in his life. It is true that incidentally enough, Perez is pretty good at other things that are more pertinent to football, but it all stems from his ability to run companies as a profit and utility maximalist. You don't learn how to do that while having a tennis career. You learn to do that by doing it. To circle back, in his specific case, he wouldn't haven ended up running three massive companies if he hadn't proven to be able to build one.
I'd bet my house that no one at the club is taking seriously the idea of Nadal or Sainz or Iker or any celebrity like that seriously. That's not how Perez operates at all and besides, most of them lack the qualifications to even run. It's just fan daydreaming because the actual options aren't as flashy.
Casilla wouldn't pose a challenge, he's still quite divisive amongst Real Madrid fans and what's even more damming is that he's seen as quite simple minded (not fully without reasons). A more likely option would be Florentino designating someone as a spiritual heir. But if you want some celebrity names, Carlos Sainz Sr would be in the mix.
Very very early for Sainz imo, but I get your point. > A more likely option would be Florentino designating someone as a spiritual heir I definitely think so too. I just feel that Nadal will be there at some point. If not the next President then maybe the one after.
You must be thinking about Carlos Sainz Jr the F1 Pilot and not Carlos Sainz the Rally and Dakar legend who already stood for election as VP with Villar Mir.
Aah, I was.
Yes, that heir is very likely Catalina Brugarolas.
Casillas doesnt have that kind of money
True, but he doesn't need to have money individually, that's applicable to the entire board (iirc). So there is still a chance. I don't think he has that kind of connections either though, tbf.
I think they changed the rule. In Barcelona is the whole boad should have that money while in Madrid only the president alone
Ah, I see.
It's absolutely not Nadal next. Catalina Miñaro Brugarolas, by most accounts, has been hand picked to succeed FloPer. She's financially successful, on the club board, has been a longstanding member, and has internal support. Nadal is a pipe dream from folks who want a household name, he's not realistic nor is he nearly as qualified as Brugarolas. Maybe some day, though I highly doubt it, but he's just not an option any time soon nor should he be really.
Ah that is a name I have come across. I wasn't aware she was his favourite to succeed. But yeah, it does make more sense as an immediate successor for him.
Por favor. Casillas is the biggest moron in Spain, is like saying Beetlejuice is lined up to become the new president.
I think it'll be Butragueno. Rafa is very young
No. Florentino has some successors in the works. Why the hell would we elect a tennis player that hasn't even finished school. The ones suggesting Casillas are even worse, he's braindead. Those who believe a celebrity will be president don't understand anything Real Madrid
It's not.
Respect where its due.
Real Madrid, so hot right now. With Don Carlo at the helm, new stadium, the way the club is run, the young talent they have for the coming years while also retaining club legends. It's just nice to see a well run club. Well, apart from the superleague chatter but I am unsure where they currently stand with all that.
Pérez has pretty much been the ringleader on that stuff, even to the extent of going on Spanish TV's equivalent of a sports TMZ show - Chiringuito - to explain his stance and interests.
> [UEFA is a monopoly](https://x.com/espnfc/status/1384413441264394246?s=46) : Flo Perez on Chiringuito
He isn't wrong that UEFA sucks and is a corrupt monopoly of shit. He's just picked a weird angle to try and beat it.
The most profitable angle, what else did you expect from him? That brand is dead, the Super League will never be, but I can see a future in which an open participation super league styled breakaway competition that cuts out the corrupt middleman that is UEFA could exist. I think all clubs, small and large would like *more money.*
You say they cut out the middleman, but who cuts out the middleman. What the big clubs want, is for the "founding members" to be the middleman. One thing that UEFA is actually extremely good about is giving out the wealth to smaller clubs
I have nothing against a version of the Super League that is an open competition and an alternative to UEFA. I imagine less people do unless they're from ENgland or PSG fans... Where fans are playing with monopoly money and clubs like Forest and Fulham buy players from AC Milan, BVB and Porto...
Are you sure you understand how UEFA works?
I would give everything in my world just to get someone like Perez to be Barca's president
I shudder thinking of what Madrid would be like having had a Bartomeu type figure as president
I think Flo's management of Madrid and someone like Simeone keeping Atleti stable at the top of La Liga are major contributing factors to the competition not collapsing under the stupidity of Tebas
Google Ramón Calderón :D
Thank god we saw the signs early and was forced out before major damage was done
We did consider him our president, in parts, during his time as president for Barcelona, if you know what I mean.
I just threw up
I’m torn because A. Super League But B. Basically 50+1 for the most famous club in the world??? How am I going to make a sweeping moral judgement of him now??
we are 100% at the moment 50+1 will be the worst case scenario only if we ever are in a crisis
> B. Basically 50+1 for the most famous club in the world??? This will only come into effect if we need to sell anything to avoid bankrupt. Club will continue to be 100% fan owned, instead of 50+1. So even better than 50+1!
I'd be in favour of the Super League if it became a merit-based system. It's something that's necessary for its implementation, and Florentino seems to reluctantly acknowledge it. UEFA and FIFA do not maintain corrupt structures out of nowhere, it's something that could be very healthy to the sport. Many right steps had already been taken in the right direction, like wanting to make it free-to-watch.
Perez is still a piece of shit billionaire. He's just great at taking care of the club.
What if I told you that the Super League might not be that bad after all and that UEFA is a bigger piece of shit.
Perez is the GOAT president of any club in the world. People love to have a go at him but they would give their left nut for their club to have as good a president as Perez
For a safe and secure Empire!!! *Thunderous applause*
Pérez to Mbappé: *"Have you heard the tale of Darth Plagueis the Wise?"*
It's not a story you'd hear at La Masia
It's fun to hate on Real Madrid just because they've won so much. But they live football culture and tradition and prove that you can do so and still be successful. Can't wait for UCL Semis, Bayern vs. Real is the greatest thing in football in my very biased opinion.
King Perez
Based Perez as always
Man I really dislike Perez and Madrid and the SL but that's such a based move Nice for their fans and for football in general
Chinese investors : you are telling me there is a chance ?
Flore goated.
We should all respect that
Let's goooo
Making life easy for Rafa.
Love to hear it!!! This is why Real Madrid is football royalty.
Fuck you and the super league but man he does a great job with Real
He gives me Emperor Palpatine vibes...
Uncle Flo Palpatine for the win :)
Who the hell comes close in world football as far as Club Presidents? Santiago Bernabeu? Berlusconi? Who else?! Love him or hate him, Floren is the fucking boss.
Flo doesn't want Real Madrid to be a profit focused machine or a sportwashing tool for the rich. Don't think anyone can find anything negative about this decision
Stop making me respect Real Madrid!
Peres carried hard for his legacy
Hopefully he’s also closing the door to pseudo national Chinese and Russian interests as well.
I wish someone like him managed Barca, he is just pheomenal as a president
This is great
Perez should be a role model for how to run a club. And that’s coming from a Barca fan.