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sdeibar · 8 years ago

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EXCLUSIVE: An interview with Alex Aranzabal, the only man willing to challenge Tebas for LaLiga’s presidency

Javier Tebas’ time as LaLiga president came to an abrupt end on the 21st of September. For those thinking he was about to walk away, they were wrong, as it was just to get a snap-election and secure a longer term in charge.

The process itself has been submerged in controversy as many speculate the system has been exploited in order to favour Tebas. However there is an alternative in the race to become president and despite the odds being stacked against him, Alex Aranzabal knows all about coming out victorious under those circumstances. He was the president when Eibar shocked the world and were promoted to Spain’s top division.

I managed to speak with Alex ahead of tomorrow’s crunch election day.

When you left Eibar you said it was because you felt “empty” after seven and a half seasons in the job and needed time to “recharge your batteries.” Less than six months later you’re running against Javier Tebas to take control of LaLiga, arguably a more strenuous job. What’s changed in the past few months - did you miss the game too much?

The project with Eibar was an extraordinary journey. We were the “underdogs” but we got promoted to the top division in Spain. We secured the capital necessary from fans all over the world. And after seven years there I felt I’d achieved all that I could.

In the summer I had time to relax, to reflect on everything. But because Javier Tebas has called a snap election, a group of clubs that want a change in Spanish football put themselves in contact with me. And I believe this is a project is worth doing.

When you were president of Eibar did you ever think about running for president of LaLiga or is this a new goal of yours?

It’s something new. I don’t think it’s a question of people, Alex Aranzabal or Javier Tebas, but about philosophy and the project. I believe there’s a fracture, a ‘divorce’ between the fans and LaLiga. It’s the complete opposite of what happens in England and Germany. Here, the stadiums are half-empty. The fans are really unhappy, angry, and we need to change that.

What is your opinion on the electoral process so far?

I think it’s important, before we start on the debate ‘Aranzabal or Tebas?’ that there needs to be transparent and clear electoral process. This is an important institution and the candidates need to be announced properly like in every other elections. Then there can be a debate about what each candidate proposes and their plans for the future, that clubs are not limited to supporting just one candidate or rush elections - it needs to be more democratic. If Tebas wins more votes, then Tebas wins, but the elections have to be conducted correctly.

Some clubs have already given their backing, or ‘aval’, to Javier Tebas. Do you believe, for some of them, it’s because they didn’t know there was an alternative?

It’s important to explain how we arrived to this situation. The elections should have been next year, in April, but they were suddenly brought forward and, by the way, they still haven’t explained why they did this.

LaLiga is a important institution and a change as drastic as this should be explained to everyone. The electoral timeframe for people to present their case and talk to clubs about taking over the role should take 45 days but it’s been shortened to 25. That doesn’t allow time for an alternative to present their case properly. And on top of that they made the decision to impede clubs from giving support to more than one candidate.

What we are trying to do is that if there’s an election in LaLiga everyone has the opportunity and time to present their case, to offer an alternative. He (Tebas) called the elections and because clubs thought he was only option, some have already given their support to him. But there should be a debate amongst candidates, real democracy.

What could you offer or say to fans to convince them they’d be considered more important than they feel under Tebas’ tenure? As a lot of fans in Spain are strongly against his reign over the league.

I believe LaLiga has to think about Spanish fans more. We see that in England and Germany the stadiums are full every week and the clubs are earning more money because of their TV deals - England earns a lot more then Spain.

Here, the kick-off times, and some of the games being played midweek, goes against the interests of the (Spanish) fans. In other countries it isn’t like that and I believe clubs should think more about what is best for their fans and although their clubs are companies, they can’t turn their back on their support.

Apart from the kick-off times, do you think other means should be taken? For instance, reducing ticket prices?

We need to think about this. We need to fill the stadiums but to do that we need to reduce the ticket prices. With the stadiums full we can receive more money through the marketing of the league when it comes to negotiating TV deals.

I know a lot of fans who don’t go to see matches because they can’t afford it, which is sad. When kids go to see their local team or the one they support, it’s those initial impressions which make a huge difference.

Exactly. We saw in the Champions League match between Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund there were tickets available for €16.70. We need to control the situation with the fans as this weekend there were protests in a lot of stadiums from Sevilla to Pamplona and in Rayo Vallecano as well. The powers that be in football can’t turn their back on that.

Do you think Tebas has done anything well during his reign as president?

On the topic of managing clubs’ debts but that’s how it should have always been and how every club worked. Eibar, for example, were never in debt.

I think a lot of clubs are supporting Tebas because there’s more money than after the last election. But this money will continue to come whether Tebas is there or not because Spanish football is worth more each year - it’s a quality product (not because of who is in charge).

Do you think it’s taken too long for this collective deal, similar to that of the Premier League, to materialise?

We need a strong league for every team to earn more. Eibar received €14m in their first season in LaLiga whereas Barcelona and Real Madrid both got around €140m. I think we’re on the right track with this deal as it’s what happens in England and Germany.

What do you think of the current system which almost penalises teams with smaller stadiums from smaller towns? Eibar were initially denied entry into LaLiga because the league itself demanded they generated more capital or face being relegated as opposed to promoted. They gained a lot of support from England because of the ruling.

Things should be more transparent, yeah. We didn’t have any debt or need help economically so it felt unfair.

What would you like to change should you take over as LaLiga president?

The first is we need to think a little more about the fans. This ‘divorce’ between the fans and the LaLiga needs to be resolved.

Secondly we need to eliminate this permanent conflict between LaLiga and various other institutions. I couldn’t imagine the Premier League having so many problems with the FA, for example. All of these battles taint the image of Spanish football. We need to fix that.

Third, that the league belongs to the clubs and not the other way around. Clubs should have more say, participate more in decisions which effect the league. This isn’t true at the moment as clubs have very little input.

Another factor is the dominance of Spanish sides in football and how that doesn’t translate in terms of economic gain. I believe there’s a lot of work to be done.

Do you think sometimes Tebas is more concerned with the international market as opposed to the domestic one? I remember on a recent radio appearance he stated Atletico Madrid vs Celta Vigo would get a higher audience than the Manchester Derby because LaLiga was on free-to-view TV there. What he didn’t mention afterwards was that in Spain more people choose to watch the Manchester Derby despite the fact it was shown on a channel exclusive to one broadcaster.

But we’re going back to what I said before about mending the ‘divorce’ with the fans. If we’re saying that we’re the best league in the world but the stadiums aren’t full, we must be doing something wrong. We can’t say everything is going well when we’re seeing half-empty stadiums each week. It’s something important LaLiga needs to deal with.

You need to bear in mind that 95% of the fans in LaLiga are against what’s happening in the league. I couldn’t imagine 95% of the fans in the Premier League being against the president, or the league itself.

Could you explain what will happen tomorrow?

To be officially considered a candidate in the race to become LaLiga president you need to present 11 ‘avales’ (backing from clubs). We’re fighting to convince clubs to back us. The problem is because of how the process was rushed, clubs not being allowed to back more than one person and because Tebas presented himself as the only candidate it’s very difficult for us to get more than 11 ‘avales’.

What we could have is clubs backing more than one option. For example, Sevilla offer their support to Tebas but also to us. However the electoral commission ruled this was invalid. It’s a system which doesn’t make democracy or transparency easy. We’re fighting in the courts to change the procedure.

If you don’t get the support of 11 clubs, what happens?

We continue fighting. I hope the clubs are strong enough to consider an alternative. Some have spoken to me about the work I did at Eibar and how the league needs a change but we’ll see tomorrow.

And if you do get the support of the 11 clubs?

There will be elections on the 18th of October. We’ll keep fighting.

Tomorrow is the crucial day for clubs to vote who they will be backing to become the new LaLiga president. Javier Tebas is certain to get the 11 votes needed to stand for election but if Alex Aranzabal can convince clubs to trust in a genuine alternative, it could create a new era for LaLiga. If anyone can beat the odds, it’s him.

#alex aranzabal #la liga

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sdeibar · 9 years ago

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Eibar USA Tour: Philly edition!

It’s super late at night so I’ll summarize the events:

Open training happened! Due to the constant schedule changes (including a location change yesterday), only 4 fans showed up lol. It was great meeting the other pena members! Honestly a very chill group.

The team behind the team are amazing. Friendly, approachable, very real. I think they really wanted to get a lot of fan interviews (because, duh that’s the point of the tour). But the best part was talking to one guy and then breaking out into the Fresh Prince theme AND HE KNEW IT!!! Also it’s always fun to hear a bit of the logistic end, no details were shed but just stuff like OH GOD I HAVEN’T SLEPT IN ___ DAYS. So real!

THey are also fuking TROLLS. They knew me as the girl who did the painting of Borja and were like U WANNA MEET HIM? LOOK HERE HE IS! and they just grabbed him and oh man. so embarrassing. I had made a book for him (don’t ask why bc I honestly don’t know either, it’s just the only thing I can offer). He opened it and I am not sure he wholly understood that it was handmade (though they explained it later). But he was totally cool about it! (More on this later)

Then one of the staff members picked up a training kit and was like “u want it?” HALEZ YEAH.

Training got a little drizzly. Found out some more logistic stuff. Cathartic.

Oh we did little interviews and I am hoping my audio was too low to be used because honestly. None of us were prepared to speak!

Meet and greet was nice and intimate! Many were kids who knew the Philly Fury and worked with them, so it was a nice warm atmosphere. I spent a lot of time chatting with the other pena members. They’re all so cool!

OK so it was basically the team sitting at tables in a line and signing stuff. Kids got their soccer balls signed, etc. I waited till the end because I was more interested in saying hi, maybe getting pics. I ended up having my training kit signed ^o^

Keko and Adrian are by far the most charming of the bunch. May be biased because they spoke English comfortably, but Keko would wave at us/the camera, Adrian was very approachable too. Several of the other pena members speak Spanish but I don’t know if they got to speak with more players just because there was no language barrier.

Hajrovic and Antosegi were so funny! I asked everyone how they liked the trip, NY, etc and they have such great deadpan faces. And then after basically telling me they think NYC>>> Philly, in the end they were like ‘U wanna party with us tonite??’ I was like, thanks bro but not in Philly!

Borja and Dani were so cute. They’re not as chatty/fluent as the above players, but Borja had the book and was like, ‘its very nice’ ^o^ And when I asked about NYC they told me they went shopping lol. I asked if they ate pizza and they were like YEAH and I was like ISN’T NY PIZZA SO GOOD??? and they were so amused. Dani was like WE ATE SUSHI and yes this is 200% real.

I was the most speechless when I saw Saul. Man those looks. I was like HEY GLAD TO SEE YOU and he was like ‘ok.’

Antonio Luna was also gracious enough to entertain my blathering! I was like MY FRIEND LOVES YOU! and he was like ‘...y?’ Like he seemed genuinely surprised to be on people’s radar. I complimented his tattoos too!

surprisingly he did not sit next to Sergi Enrich, and I think Sergi (like many of the other players) were likely pooped. They had had the training earlier, and were probably starving too. He was nice, he shook my hand!

I was the last person so they took pics and then just goofed off for a bit. Some of them played with the kids, playing goalie while the kids shot into a mini goal. One of the members commented on the faces they made lol.

The others went and played basketball. There are a few videos of that!

ok i am tired and tomorrow is another trip out to see the actual game! more on that next time!

#sd eibar #eibarusatour #fan account

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