Letter from President Murthy: economy, Ferran, new stadium …

“We must be a serious club. We must be responsible. A bankrupt club is not a better club.”

“In 2008, Juan Villalonga announced that Valencia CF's debt was 439 million euros, not including the cost of the new stadium. In February 2009, construction of the new stadium was halted, paralyzed after spending more than 150 million. In March 2009, the Club was financially dead and unable to pay its players. The Club had lost over € 300 million in players since 2003 (which is a lot of money at the time) and by June its debt had reached 547 million euros. Debt itself is not the problem. Cash is needed to pay the interest and principal. The Club couldn't. “

“Then the process begins. Bancaja lends millions of euros to save the Club, which begins to sell to all the star players: Albiol, Villa, Silva, Mata, Alba. “The sale of good players is necessary in all clubs and fortunately Valencia CF has them, unlike many others,” said the then president in 2012 “.

“The scalded cat from the cold water flees. Once again, the debt continues to increase in 2013 and the Club cannot pay again. It has not paid since 2009. So Bancaja, now Bankia, forced the sale. They wanted new investors who could guarantee a good economic and sporting project. In 2014, Peter Lim bought the majority of the shares. There were 48 million euros of unpaid salaries to the players and there was no cash in the bank. “

“We must be a serious Club. We must be responsible. In 2017/18, after almost a decade, the Club begins to pay the banks. Banks are finally happy. They trust that this Valencia will be sustainable. In 2019/20, the VCF has the largest revenue in its history. They won a title after 11 years defeating FC Barcelona in a historic battle. “

“But it wasn't sustainable the way it was going. We couldn't keep spending. We already had more than 30 players on the team, giving up some to make room for more signings. Trying again to remove promising young players from the Academy (such as Lato, Kangin and Ferran) from the squad to make room for others regardless of their future value to the Club. This had to end. And so we did. We stopped it and cut losses before we got into too much trouble. “

“The cold water scalded cat runs away. You must be a fool to go down the spending path without thinking about how the Club is going to pay. At the last Annual General Meeting in December 2019, one of the biggest concerns of shareholders was the Increasing size of debt on 18/19 and 19/20, mainly due to player hiring and related cost. They are right. We listen to them. “

“We finished ninth. We are not in the Champions League. Therefore, we rebuild. This is neither the beginning nor the end. We must learn from the past. Pressing for the “great stadium, great players, win the League and the Champions at all costs” will lead to a repetition of the past. As the minority shareholders said, we must reduce costs for our players. “

“A bankrupt club is not a better club.”

“Now let's deal with two specific issues with full transparency. The player market for the summer and the new stadium.”

“We need to reduce the cost of our equipment. First, for the obvious reason that we are not in the Champions League. We only have La Liga and we will need fewer players. “

“The second reason, which is even more important today, is the impact of COVID-19. The impact of COVID-19 is serious for the next two seasons. It has disrupted the world economy. In the VCF we will see the following financial effects. :

• Television rights can be reduced by 30%

• Commercial revenue (ticket offices and sponsorship) will be reduced by 50%

• Total revenue is likely to be cut in half. “

“In this situation, we will do everything possible to keep the Club running. First, we must lower salaries, which means selling players with two years or less on their contract and high salaries. Additionally, some are aging and prone to injury. We can't keep them and we shouldn't. Second, we must continue to invest in our Academy boys and promote them upward. We have made significant changes to the Academy and the medical team just two weeks ago. “

“In Ferran's specific case, let's be clear. He chose to leave despite being offered one of the best salaries on the team. His agent said NO. Each one chooses his path. We learn from this experience but we do not forget it. We have a good group of players from our Academy and we will make sure we don't have these kinds of problems again. They are good guys. Many of them are now training with the first team. “

“What is happening with the new stadium?

After almost a decade, we had everything ready to make it happen. We had a buyer, ADU, and the bridge financing, to begin construction in May 2020 and finish in 2022. ADU is not a small real estate player. They have many promotions in Spain. We are working with Deloitte, one of the Big 5, to make this deal a reality. ADU was unable to deliver the guarantees on time. But with Deloitte's advice we gave them more time. We couldn't wait any longer to open up to others. ADU continues to work on its project. We removed exclusivity in February 2020 and are working with other major players to purchase the current Mestalla. We must have guarantees. This is a project that previously led to the bankruptcy of the Club. We are not going to sell all of our players to build a new stadium! “

“Our plan is very simple. To build one of the best stadiums in Europe with state-of-the-art facilities, we will have to: 1) sell for a minimum of 120 million euros, 2) build for 150 million euros with financing for the remaining 30 million euros, 3) increase capacity to around 65,000, 4) increase the prices of season tickets and tickets by 15% on average to defray the operating costs of a larger stadium. This is a sustainable model for a new stadium. “

“We had everything prepared, but it could not be carried out. We are working again. In the meantime, we have fulfilled all our payment obligations of more than 1 million euros per year, under the ATE.”

“Now, with the current economic situation during COVID-19, investors are waiting. But many are asking. We will continue working with the Generalitat and the City Council on this important project for the city. And find a solution for the new stadium. “

“Despite all this, we continue to win. We qualified for the Champions League three times in our six seasons and won a title. It is the same, if not better, than in the previous six seasons. It is also in line with the rankings. of Valencia CF for the Champions League throughout its history “.

“We are committed to building a sustainable club and to its growth. This takes time. In the meantime, take care of each other together with your families.”