Muñiz Fernández: “The First RFEF is going to demand a lot”

Seven years have passed since César Muñiz Fernández (Brussels, Belgium, 5-18-1970) hung up the whistle, after 14 seasons and 252 games directed in First Division, the fifth referee with the most meetings in the top flight. Now he is facing his second campaign as general manager of CF Talavera, one of the 40 clubs that this weekend began their career in the inaugural season of the First RFEF, the new third step in national football. On a morning, that of this past Thursday, where the activity in El Prado is intense to continue finalizing details, Muñiz attends AS in the Blue and White stadium to talk about his experience in the Blue and White entity and the challenge, sporting and economic, that it entails compete in the new category that starts up.

—It's not common to see a former referee in offices. How did Muñiz Fernández get to Talavera?

—After 18 years of professional soccer between the First and Second Division, I wanted to be able to be in non-professional soccer. I went through there as a referee and in the end it is a challenge. We have come here through some friends who knew Talavera. It is a very soccer city, with a team that was financially limited. With the idea that it would not disappear, we wanted to contribute our experience and our knowledge and try to re-float the team and take it to professional football. At the arbitration level, I had the challenge of becoming international and I achieved it and another important challenge for me is to turn this club around, achieve short and medium-term objectives and be able to be a bit like Eibar, Leganés, Getafe , Huesca … Reaching the Second Division and, why not, one day at the First Division.

Speaking of challenges, your first year has been a real challenge. Arrival at the club, the restructuring of the competition, the covid …

“We are privileged.” You have to say it out loud, so that people are aware of where we are and what we have done. This club, which ran the risk of disappearing and was going to have many financial problems, manages to be promoted to the First RFEF in the same year, when there are teams with great potential, such as Marbella, Recreativo or Córdoba, which are in categories below us. . You have to look at your navel and acknowledge the extraordinary work that has been done to be in this category. From now on, continue in line with what we have done well, retouch what we have done wrong and try to improve in all areas of the club.

—How do you face, in sports, economics and institutions, the debut in the new First RFEF?

—It is a very beautiful and attractive category for everyone and that demands a lot. Competing in this category is much more expensive: travel, tokens, arbitrations … All expenses are much higher. Also to footballers, to have a quality squad, you have to pay them much more. Then we would like the income to be much more, but we are going to walk there. For modest teams like us, who do not have a social mass like that of Dépor of 20,000 subscribers or that of Racing, it will not be easy. We have a field of 4,500 spectators, we go for 1,800 members and we have to fight against those weapons. We are going to have a hard time in that regard. From here we go to the city, City Hall, institutions, partners, businessmen … The train is at this station and we have to get on it. If we do not take advantage of this moment, it may still take us many years to return to this category. Everything is little to cover the budget. Building a competitive squad to fight one-on-one with the greats requires more support.

—Apart from expenses, how else have you noticed the impact of going from Second B to First RFEF?

– On the part of the Federation there are more and more demands. The objective of the RFEF is that the clubs that try to reach the Second Division notice less the abysmal jump from Second B to Second A. That is why the Federation is placing great emphasis on all these reforms, so that the club that reaches the top notices less changes and adapts much better to professional football.

“Are you satisfied with the amounts for the television rights?”

—The expectations that all the clubs had were different. We always thought there was going to be a lot more money. In the end it was neither as much as we expected nor as little as they later told us, but a middle ground. We have to adapt to what there is, kicking is useless. You have to look ahead. As I said before, it will not be easy for modest teams like us. We will have to look for economic resources, commercial actions to generate income to maintain this workforce and this level if we want to compete for something in conditions and look at higher levels.

“Are you satisfied with the membership campaign?”

“I've been here for a year and a half and I've always been told that in Talavera it costs a lot.” I expected to have at least 3,000 partners, because it is a unique opportunity. Being in the First RFEF, seeing Deportivo, Racing de Santander, Ferrol, UD Logroñés … I thought that people were going to turn much more. We hope to play a good game on Sunday in Badajoz, give one last arreón, that people cheer up and be able to reach those 3,000. The warmth of the fans is very important to make our stadium a fortress.

—How do you rate the staff?

—We have a compensated squad, with two footballers per position. Having a bench gives you a guarantee. We know that this league is going to be complicated, difficult, long. Whoever has more bench and more regularity will notice it.

—What is CF Talavera's goal for this season?

“The first objective is to stay.” We are a modest team, with few partners, in a small city, and we cannot aspire to more. But I have a lot of confidence in this squad and in this team. I think it will surprise us. The competition will tell us where we are: the eighth, the fifteenth or the third. But I think that in this squad, which maintains last year's block, there is a very good atmosphere and they know what they play at, they are going to give us a lot of joy. Apart, of course, from permanence, I think we can be in the top ten.

—The club, to grow, decided to become SAD. How is that process going?

—Most sports clubs are facing this process, because if you want to grow you have to be a sports corporation. The file is in the Higher Sports Council and I trust that in September we will be able to give the final folder. Being SAD is the way to have travel companions who see that this sports project can be sustainable and that companies can enter to strengthen this club much more and be able to reach higher heights.

—How can a club that is not SAD face the demands of the First RFEF?

“Putting money out of your pocket.” From the Second Division down you are constantly putting money out of your pocket. Being a sports club is complicated, because you never know if you are going to get it back or not. Being a SAD is different. The city must be aware of the effort we are making, that we are betting sportingly and financially on this club and putting money into it. It should be appreciated that we are doing everything to try to achieve permanence in the First RFEF, improve the structures and that we can one day reach professional football.

—What is CF Talavera's horizon in the medium and long term?

—You have to be modest and humble. I don't like to sell smoke. We are in the First RFEF and we are going to enjoy it. But because we are humble, we are not going to stop being ambitious. We want to look up, but we know that we cannot go from 0 to 10 only through 8. We have to go through 2, through 3 … We are now in 4, building, with our sights and the objective of being able to reach some day to professional football, but at the same time with his feet on the ground and with humility. If together we are able to add and support this club, we can achieve it.

—You who have refereed all over Spain, now you have to visit as a leader large fields in which you whistled …

—It will bring me good memories when I go to Riazor, to El Sardinero to Las Gaunas … They are mythical fields in which I have refereed many times in Second B, Second and First. I have friends among directors and delegates who remain in those clubs. It will be a reason for happiness. Being able to take the Talavera through those fields and remember with old friends moments we shared on the lawn.

– From the box do you empathize with the referee?

“It's a different role.” In life, if you leave a good trail, in the end you leave friends. In an arbitration career of more than 300 games you cannot leave everyone happy

—Talavera has a player on the squad, Rubén Miño, whom they have refereed …

“Now we agree on the same adventure.” He is happy to be here with us, to see that the squad we have is a family and that we can do great things. If people are happy, excited and happy, many things can be done.

– Now the referees when they retire they go to the VAR, would you have liked to develop that facet?

“No, honestly.” When I stopped refereeing I completely disassociated myself from the Federation. I tried to follow my path in a different way and now with this challenge of being able to reach professional football, which with a more modest club the satisfaction is greater. In First or Second you handle a lot of money and it is very easy, in quotes, to manage a club. The difficult thing is here, that you have to look for resources and if you achieve the goal, happiness and satisfaction is double. And hopefully we get it.

—The league begins on August 29, they will end it on May 29. What would Muñiz Fernández like to talk about in nine months in the week before the end of the championship?

—First, to be in this category, having competed and leaving a good taste in the mouth. Let them say in the fields that we pass: “What a team you have, what a squad you have made.” When the teams come to El Prado, they see the effort that we are making to improve the stadium, that people keep in mind that we are undertaking a change for the better. I'd stick with that. Having competed face to face with great monsters and keep this block to try in future years the challenge of reaching professional football.