Pilar Bernabé: “Time is running out, Murthy has already insulted enough”

Every day that passes the city of Valencia grows as the city of sport. The capital of Turia is celebrating after the success of Valencia Basket achieving the Women's Eurocup, look forward to Eurobasket 2021 and opposed to host the Professional Soccer League in the Women's section.

Pilar Bernabé Councilor for Sports of the Valencia City Council is so satisfied with the growth of women's sport in the city “they have exceeded any expectations”, as ambitious for hosting the women's football competition “is justice “, as concerned about the situation of the New Mestalla whose ATE (Strategic Territorial Expansion) concludes in exactly one month. “Murthy has already insulted everyone enough, they haven't lifted a finger, they haven't done anything “he says to ACE in a conversation in which all the current affairs of Valencian sport have a place.

Eurobasket and the success of Valencia: “They have exceeded any expectations”

Let's start with the most recent, the success of Valencia Basket in its women's section, not only achieving the title but also for the project it has created.

The feat of Valencia Basket in just over three years that it has been in the highest category is undeniable, not only because of the title it has achieved but also because of how it is growing. Look, the other day Jorge Garbajosa (president of the FEB) told me that when a few years ago the directors of the 'taronja' club presented him with the project they wanted to carry out, he thought “my mother, they are still going up a bit, What high goals “because not only is it that they have met it, but that they have surpassed them in an unthinkable way.

Certainly the commitment to the women's section of Valencia Basket is paying off …

Valencia Basket has equaled the female section to the male section, it has given them everything in the same conditions, at the same level … Without going any further the other day the male squad made the female corridor, they use the same Twitter account to both, L'Alquería is used equally by women and men … The philosophy that Valencia has acquired is commendable, equalizing both sections.

In this spirit of encouraging women's sport, it would have been great if the public had enjoyed the success of the 'taronja'. Missed an opportunity to 'hook' more people?

Look, it would have been great if the public had attended the pavilion to celebrate it and probably more people would have been hooked on the team, but they are so good that I am convinced that they will win again soon and if everything goes well people will be able to celebrate it with they.

And next summer the Eurobasket arrives

We want Valencia to be a basketball city and proof of this was what was experienced in L'Alquería last summer in 'the bubble' when we celebrated the playoffs. We have collaborated a lot with the Basketball Federation because the objective is to have Valencia as an ideal city to carry out sporting events, basketball, tennis, hockey …

Garbajosa said that he valued “a full Fonteta” more than a “possible gold medal.” How is the possibility of public access to the Eurobasket (Beyond the 150 fans that today access the Fonteta)?

We are currently very aware of the Covid-19 of the effects that it may have had after Easter, the next ten days will be key to know how the evolution has been. I honestly cannot venture to say if it will be possible because it will depend on the fourth wave and how the vaccination goes, but in any case we are working on a formula so that the city notices that a Eurobasket is being held

Generalitat Valenciana. '); Return false; “class =” item-multimedia “>

---

Candidacy to host La Liga Femenina: “It's justice”

Let's change the ball, Valencia wants to be the headquarters of the Professional Football League, a more than interesting proposal for the city to have a leading role in the professionalization of women's football.

It is a question of justice. At this moment there are two professional sports leagues, the football league in Madrid (the first city in Spain) and the basketball league in Barcelona (the second city in Spain). that is going to professionalize is in the third city of Spain.
Furthermore, no one will be able to deny that here in Valencia we have opted for women's football, Levante has an undeniable dominance, Valencia is growing a lot in the Iberdrola League and Villarreal I am convinced that it will not take long to rise.

What does it depend on right now that this objective is achieved?

Well, the CSD is supervising the process of professionalization, so we have sent them a letter already stating our intentions to be the headquarters, our facilities and above all that if there is something else that we can or should do to become the headquarters, tell us, that we will.

When is a response expected?

We do not know it yet.

---

Nuevo Mestalla: “They have laughed enough at everyone”

Just one month from now, the deadlines for a Strategic Territorial Expansion that favors Valencia Club de Fútbol S.A.D will be met in the construction of the New Mestalla, which will not be met. What does the City Council have to say about it?

The issue of the new stadium is a question of legality, not Ximo Puig, not Anil Murthy himself or anyone else, but of legality. The City Council and the Generalitat are the guarantors that the law is complied with, we cannot do anything else, only show our maximum disappointment at the repeated inaction of the property. This city and the administrations have given everything to Valencia, but we have reached May 2021 and nothing has happened, they have only taken us for a ride.

Ximo Puig ended up very angry about his last meeting with Anil Murthy …

The President of the Generalitat has received Anil Murthy twice, first to ask for time and the second time after going to Singapore, theoretically speaking with Lim and asking Murthy himself for an audience with Puig. There he arrived and again asked for more time, to make matters worse he even allowed himself the luxury of disrespecting the President when he is not there to give management lessons to anyone. I sincerely believe that Anil Murthy has insulted us all enough, us for her repeated jokes, the fans for kicking her out of Mestalla a couple of years ago.

If you don't mind, I'm going to play the devil's advocate: From the entity that alludes to the economic crisis that Covid-19 is causing as an argument for the difficulty of building the New Mestalla. Certainly all economic indicators agree with them in that sense, given that Europe and the entire world are living in a huge crisis derived from Covid-19. Therefore, are those arguments by the club that allude to Covid-19 as a justification for not having made any movements fair?

The Covid-19 argument is not worth us at all, because the pandemic has been here for 13 months and they should have started moving much longer ago, at least since 2018. I can understand that due to the pandemic they would have been delayed a bit, but it is that they have not been delayed because there is nothing, they have not moved a single role. They ask us for more time and I say, for what? If they haven't done anything. The only impression it gives is that they are waiting to see who they endorse the club to get rid of it.

Would you have opened your hand if the club had made some kind of movement?

Time is running out and they have not taken a single step and we have actively and passively told them to take a step, not just to build the entire Stadium, but to make a gesture, to take a step forward, but not even that. . If we had seen that there was some kind of movement on the part of the property to carry out the project, we would have understood everything because we are the first interested in everything going well, but there is nothing. They have given ample evidence that they have not the slightest interest in finishing the field.

Among the Valencian fans there is a certain fear that when the ATE ends and it is not fulfilled, the club will be in a very compromised situation (it could enter into cause of dissolution). Would the institutions do something to avoid such a situation?

This is no longer a matter of any institution, neither the City Council nor the Generalitat, it is a matter of the property that has left the club as it is, no one else. Valencia is a private entity, we would not have the capacity to do anything because we have already put all the facilities we could, but we can no longer look the other way, we would be prevaricating.

Let's go to May 16, one day after the ATE ends. Now what?

They will have to make decisions about it to balance their accounts, like all companies in the world, I want to believe that they will be looking for a solution, I really would like to believe it because I am concerned about the future.

DAVID GONZALEZ & nbsp; (DIARIO AS) '); return false; “class =” item-multimedia “>