Pandalone: ​​”We want the new generations to follow Balona before the greats”

This January 4, the Balompédica Linense celebrates 110 years of history.

That means having a lot of history. I am very proud to be the president of a historic club in Spain. And being a foreigner more. It is a big responsibility. We must continue working so that this club continues for at least another 110 years.

Why did you decide to be president of this team?

When I arrived in Spain, I was already working in the world of soccer and I got to know Balona by Mario Galán and Alfredo Gallardo. After a first contact I went to work in Marbella and after a year I came here. I love the people, the city and the club. It was a year of study. And now it can be said that I am one more fan.

Sad loss of Alfredo Gallardo (historic president who passed away last year).

A great loss. It is not easy to manage a club for 16 years. And more in these categories. He has been 10 years in a row in Second B. He managed in his own way, but we must congratulate him because this world is very complicated.

Is the First RFEF harder than the previous Second B?

It is much harder, but at the same time more beautiful. It is closer to professional football and is being seen with the Copa del Rey where clubs of this category compete with those of First. It was an important step to bring the third category closer to the second. And this in the future is going to come in handy for Spanish football. There are very important teams, provincial capitals. You have to be very careful because if you are careless …

That’s it. Teams like Córdoba, Murcia or Hercules in the fourth category. Not to mention the Marbella hit that has gone to fifth.

Clear! In this category you have to be a specialist because it is not a third, but not a second or a first and you have to know how to act. It is a very fucked up category and as you are careless, you get down.

What is the budget for the Balona?

The total, including travel and club expenses, is 1.2 million euros.

It is covered?

It is covered because we have external investments, which is me. This year we have collected money with transfers of footballers such as Stoichkov’s to Eibar (from Mallorca) because we had a percentage. Or Kimbamba to Sevilla Atlético. At the end of the season it will be a loss of between 150,000 and 200,000 euros. Then things can change because if you transfer a footballer the dynamics of the balance can change. Our social mass is small and we have to make a living from that. These three years have gone well, but we have to keep working. We are strengthening the quarry because there is a lot of talent in this area.

We have seen that La Balona brings good footballers of African descent. Koroma for example.

Before COVID, I had people who worked internationally. And in Africa. Now with the pandemic everything is being more difficult. We want to keep the work in Africa because there are very talented footballers.

He has commented on occasion that the Balona has a following in Italy.

Because I am Italian and the one who until recently was my vice president, his family had owned the Atalanta (Nicola Radici). I have worked in Italy and they know us. That is why the Balona is known in Italy. Before arriving here I did not know what the Balona was either. It is something that I have wanted to do internationally and not only in Italy. In Africa, in the team where Koroma was, they have dedicated a stand with our name (it is in Sierra Leone and the team is the East End Lions). At the international level we want to be known as a brand, saving the distance because we are neither Barça nor Real Madrid. Our goal is to be more of the world.

How much social mass does the Balona have?

1,500 partners. We are a small city of 60,000 inhabitants. We have the problem of our stadium, which is in the process of reform. It’s very old. A more modern stadium, which we want to do in the coming years, will attract much younger people. Because the problem we have, in quotes, is that in our fans we have not had this generational change that gives us what the old fans gave us. So we have to work so that the new generations follow Balona before the big clubs. And to do that you need a modern stadium. And that’s where we are.

And then there is the lighting thing that is not finished being fixed.

It is not finished being fixed because the stadium bidding has been delayed due to a problem that has increased costs. I hope that this year, yes or yes, we will have lighting, which will be the first thing to do with the reform of the stadium. The illusion is that we will have a nice, tiny stadium… but we will have to be patient. The Federation has been very patient. But next year we will have to have light if we want to compete in this category.

How is the process of becoming a Sports Limited Company?

The first round of stock sales is over and it’s practically done. it’s a matter of time. We have already had the capital stock and the assembly of the partners. They know they have to buy stocks. I think that, if nothing happens, in mid-February the Balona will be Sociedad Anónima Deportiva. One of the reasons for this transformation is that football has changed, it is more modern and in the future being SAD it will be easier to find help than being a sports club.

Can La Balona fight for promotion to Second?

Ambition and dream should never be removed. But if it is true that we must be professionals and be with our feet in the dream and know the reality. The end of February and March will be long because big teams will be fighting for important objectives. And that is where we must know how to suffer and we all want to stay in this category. You have to be realistic because there are large clubs that have made significant investments. Excluding the Sanluqueño, us and some other team, the others should be at the top. Sabadell and UCAM are big teams that are down. But look at Albacete, Castellón or Atlético Baleares. They will be up for sure… I don’t know if Villarreal B will last because the subsidiaries are unpredictable.

How much do they receive in Primera RFEF for television rights?

It depends on the classification at the end of the season. But between aid and television rights the average is about 350,000 euros. Here I include the subsidy that the Federation gives us. If we get among the first four we can reach 450,000 euros. Then there are clubs that have more audience and can get more money. The base is 237,000 from television each team and with the aid this number comes out.

Do you support the implementation of the salary limit in the First RFEF?

I think that is the key to football. Professional football must have an economic control in entrances and exits to protect the clubs. If in a company they give me the opportunity to spend what I don’t have and I don’t do things well, the company goes bankrupt. Over time there must be an economic control of inputs and outputs. If you take a million euros you have to spend 950,000 euros. That would be very important so as not to adulterate the competition and there is a balance in this category and fair play. And I think they are going to do it because if not, in two years in the First RFEF there will be footballers who earn much more than in the Second because they have a salary cap.

A shame about Extremadura.

Extremadura pays the consequences of having been in Second. You have to be very careful with the management when you go down. The key to the club is management. If I have to compete with the budget of the Balearic Islands, Castellón, Sabadell … I’ll kill myself. I fill my club with debts and the following year I may not be able to and I will leave the club like this. That is why it is very important to have a cool head in any category and a controlled management.

We are in the winter market. Do you have proposals for players like Koroma or goalkeeper Nacho Miras?

We have Masllorens or Bandaogo, a young footballer with a lot of projection. I do not know. Soccer is very special and changing.

Masllorens, who wants to play for Colombia.

She is of a Colombian mother and a Catalan father. He is a boy who was part of the City Group and was at Girona. They sent him to Uruguay and he was not happy. We have been able to get him back. He is young, from 2001 and has to keep growing.

Stoichkov time.

When I came here he was one of the players that when I came I renewed him because he charged very little and had a low clause. You could see that he stood out. He will be in the First Division very soon because footballers like him are getting fewer and fewer. He plays with both legs, he throws you a pass in front of the goal, he plays between the lines, he is a midfielder who, as I am Italian, reminds us of Baggio or Del Piero … people like that you see less and less. He is a different footballer. I want him to go up this year with Eibar. Also, if it goes up, we still get little money … although Mallorca would charge more than us.

We return to the dream of seeing La Balona in Second, a category that has not been on since 1955.

You have to be careful with dreams because sometimes they distract you from reality. More than a dream it is an ambition because every day you have to work for something good. When you start a company you must have a clear objective. Afterwards, the road can have many problems and difficulties. And there you must have the courage and ability to manage a problem. You have to give everything to achieve the goal. My goal is the best for La Balona. Second? Of course. But I don’t want to call it a dream. The goal is to do a ‘piano piano’ job, as we say in Italian. Step by step and maybe in a year or two this category is too big for me because it grows more than I expect. I want to see Balona not in Second but in First, in my dreams. Here in Spain the Christmas lottery is fashionable and that is a dream. And seeing the Balona in First is like winning the Lottery. I must have my feet in the dream and work. The results will come.

Is it costing you money to be president of the Balona?

I have a very important investment made. I am not investing money in the club to give it to someone. I have invested money because in the future I believe in the football industry. I think soccer can and has to be a business like Villarreal in Spain or Atalanta in Italy, small teams that do business with soccer. We must not take away people’s passion for football or their enthusiasm for coming to the stadium. I have a very clear objective: in the future, I want to recover that investment of money and earn money with the transfer of footballers or if I raise the club to Second Division or if I sell a part of my shares. That I don’t know. I have made an investment to be able to recover and earn money.

How much money are we talking about?

As of October 30, it was 1.5 million euros.

And to finish. Who sees as favorite to move up?

I see two teams that are going to fight for promotion. It is a personal impression. They are Castellón and Albacete because they are two very big teams and when you reach the end, Castellón puts 20,000 people in you. Albacete scored 11,000 people on a Friday against Alcoyano. Castellón is the team that I liked the most, although we beat them and they have a chance to win the league (of Group II RFEF). Then there are Albacete, the Balearic Islands or San Fernando, which will be greatly strengthened in January. Watch out for Villarreal B or Barcelona B. Be careful with the subsidiaries. Be careful with Andorra, who scored seven goals for us.