Miguel Angel Gil Marin, CEO of Atlético de Madrid, has given an interview to Puentia.com in which he reviews his career from the business point of view and in which he also talks about the current situation of the mattress set and the expansion of the club's brand.
Your experience as a manager
“Years and dedication give the necessary experience to do things better. Overexposure in this sector is bad, as is vulnerability. Doing things right, honestly and professionally, not having mortgages with anyone, makes you less vulnerable. The making of my decisions is based on experience, patience, listening to the directors of the different areas of the club, rigorously analyzing each decision, learning from the mistakes made, observing the mistakes of others … ” .
The current moment of the club
“Having a turnover of more than 400 million, being the fourth in the UEFA Ranking, having more than 130,000 members and more than 35 million followers on social networks, gives us a taste of the road traveled. Atlético is one of the great European clubs with the greatest capacity for growth and that makes it even more attractive. Since it acquires the necessary stability. When the club's judicial process ended, the first objective was to regain competitiveness, invest everything and more in having a team like the one there was in the relegation year. They were a very good squad who worked in an unbreathable environment, and after that process, the results gave us the stability we needed to grow as a club. The second objective was to bring the club to the level of the team. Our work, together with the changes in the sector (economic control, centralized TV sales, development of the LaLiga brand…), allowed us to put the club at the current level and to continue thinking about growing ”.
Expansion in other countries
“Mexico, like Canada, represent two investments by Atlético de Madrid in North America, a very attractive market with a great capacity for growth. Both on a social level, due to the fans' bond with our club, as well as sports, due to the new competitions with the MLS, and the possibility that these leagues give for the development of people in our Academy, as well as due to commercial synergies, we believe which are wise investments ”.
How talent is managed
“We manage commitment, the group, above individuality. We manage values, ways of understanding a job. Effortless talent is not enough. The management of a wardrobe goes through the previous preparation of it. The balance between talent and work, experience and youth, maturity and enthusiasm of the starter, strong responsibility with a calm character. It is important to have an ambitious group, with some alive, rogues. And it is necessary a captain that of daily example inside and outside the field ”.
Competition with Madrid
“Without a doubt, it helps us to grow because it forces us to do things better, to try to be different. Otherwise, the strength of Real Madrid would have reduced us to nothing. Today we can be proud that half of the population of Madrid thinks and feels in rojiblanco ”.
The two Champions finals
“The two finals against Madrid expanded our presence on the map globally. Despite the cruelty of the ending, it did us a lot of good. It was also a demonstration of Fair Play and coexistence between rival hobbies. For the one in Lisbon, we had marked the possible stops, restaurants, even gas stations. There were no incidents among more than 40,000 fans of the two teams. They were a great example ”.
The communication
“I don't have personal profiles on social media, but I understand their strength. Atlético de Madrid has more than 35 million followers and this allows us to offer our content directly to our fans and interact with them. Today, communication is not understood without them. They have become part of our lives and adapting to them is a must. I also believe that although they set trends, they sometimes distort reality. Minorities are louder, more energetic, more active and interact more than quiet majorities ”.
The Super League
“Soccer is a representation of society, and therefore, of social and economic differences. The most powerful clubs do not want to share the value of their rights with the weakest. UEFA has the responsibility and the commitment to achieve a very difficult balance to achieve, to leave everyone half satisfied. It must protect domestic leagues, and it does this by maintaining the access route to the major European competitions, as well as the same number of clubs for each league and the weekends that are currently dedicated to national competitions. And on the other, it must satisfy the powerful by getting higher income for those who regularly dispute these competitions. For this, it is necessary to update the current format by increasing the number of guaranteed attractive matches, which will lead to a higher income from television and sponsorships. The latter, together with greater participation in governance and consequently in decision-making regarding the formats and commercialization of rights, I believe will allow us to achieve that difficult balance ”.
Template
“Taking big risks. The vast majority of managers and entrepreneurs, in my place, would have chosen to sell players at the beginning of the season to balance the budget before starting the competition. We have budgeted for the season with a significant deficit, only the ticketing part represents a reduction in income of 70 million euros, in addition to the rest of the items affected in income such as television, sponsorships and UEFA competitions. The response of our sponsors, the hope that the fans will return to the stadium soon, as well as the confidence that the first team will have a good season, and with it, the value of the rights of the players will be maintained or increased, has us made the difficult decision not to sell at the beginning of the competition and hope that the higher income from the team's results in European competitions will reduce the budgeted deficit so that the sales that may occur at the end of the season are not very relevant ”.
Fans
“The fan is the engine of our activity, all our work revolves around them, we work for and for them. Soccer is passion, and this is essentially put by the fans. Football urgently needs the return of the fans to the stadiums. I know that the Higher Sports Council wants to help the clubs because it understands our need. I think February will be the key month to know when and in what percentage they will be able to return. Hopefully the health impact of Christmas is not very relevant and allows speeding up the deadlines for the return of the public. The vaccine and the growth of the immunized population is our hope to end this season with a high percentage of the public in the stadiums and to start the next one with total normality ”.
Diego Costa's departure
“Every Atlético de Madrid player must understand that the group and the club are above oneself. Ambition and interests are good, even necessary, but as long as ambition and team interests prevail over personal ones. One of the essential values that has allowed us to compete at the level that we are doing is respect. Anyone who does not respect his teammates, the coach or the club itself cannot have a place in the dressing room. Diego knew that the club, the players and the coach wanted to help him out, but as long as his decision did not harm us. We could let him out without charging a euro as long as he didn't go to a club that competes for the same goals as Atlético de Madrid. So we finally agreed and Diego has been able to fulfill his wish to leave at this time of the season. “
The sanction to Trippier
“This is a completely different case from Diego Costa, since the decision not to be with us is not his, it is his federation. Personally, I think it is a disproportionate sanction for the player and completely unfair for Atlético de Madrid. How is it possible that the main injured party by this sanction, Atlético, has not been a party to the procedure? If the player has committed an infraction that does not affect the competition, how is it possible that the injured party is Atlético. That the English Federation sanctions the player forbidding him to play the Champions League tie against Chelsea, and that, coincidentally, the sanction ends when the English team must play an official match, gives us to think about many things regarding the integrity of the competition and ethics from a federation with a lot of history ”.
Captain Koke
“Whenever we talk about Atlético de Madrid, we talk about values, and I sincerely believe that Koke brings together all the good values of the sport and of Atlético. He is the player that every coach would like to have, the partner that every player would like to have, the player that every hobby would like to have, and from my personal experience, the captain that every manager would like to have. When the stadium whistled at him for the first time in his life, he had the humility and mental fortitude to get the public sector who was whistling him to change their mind thanks to his work. I am convinced that he will end his sports career at Atlético de Madrid and that he will be the legend who has played and won the most games and titles with Atlético de Madrid ”.