It’s 9:30 in the morning and in Mestalla they raise the blind to receive the fans who have decided to go to ‘Breakfast in Mestalla’, the groups are usually of up to ten people, but in this meeting there are seven who decide to go through the Valencian fiefdom. Once in the VIP box, a full breakfast is served that, from coffee to muffins, through omelette sandwiches, prepare fans and club employees for what will be experienced minutes later in a room inside the stage.
The ‘Breakfasts in Mestalla’ were born at the beginning of this 2021/2022 campaign with the aim that the fans could transmit face to face to club employees all those doubts, problems or questions they had about the entity. It is undeniable that the distances between the club and the fans have increased in the last two years, which is why the entity considered this act as key to know personal feedback of all those fans who would like to come to express their opinion, as well as other actions that they have been executing for a long time, such as the initiative ‘Talk to the VCF in all the trips it makes or the ninots to help Fallas artists during Covid-19.
The talk begins. Sitting in a small circle and after a short introductory speech, the conversation flows naturally. There are many issues that are discussed, from the prices of the passes and tickets until the controversial gestures of the president Anil Murthy. Meanwhile, an employee from the hobby area listens and responds to each intervention and two others take note of each of the suggestions that are carried out. The aforementioned employee explains the point of view of Valencia in each matter that is put on the table, makes self-criticism in some others as in the case of social networks and in other aspects justifies the club’s actions as correct, as in the case of season tickets, in which it details exactly the ‘why’ of the price of the tickets and of the tickets when capacity was limited.
However, there are two issues that dominate most of the debate: The relocation of the animation stands for those over 25 years of age and the impossibility of interacting with the club’s social media profiles. Curiously, within the group there are two people who were relocated from the animation stand and the rest admit to being habitual in social networks, it is not surprising that these two matters take up a large part of the conversation.
From the club they admit that these are two delicate matters and for which the perfect solution is hard to find. Regarding animation, the goal was that those classified as violent will not continueIn fact, Valencia himself made a statement a few days ago refusing to meet with Yomus representatives who wanted to return to the Stadium. While as far as the social networks The objective, according to the club, was to stop the disrespect and insults, which are experienced on Twitter, not rational criticism. For the club, as they say, what reflected their social media wall, plagued with insults and disrespect, it was very different from what they want to convey as an entity, in fact it was a situation that already affected sponsors and that the entity wanted to redirect in one way or another. The entity gives as an example that in ‘Tik Tok’ they have not limited the comments, despite the fact that sometimes they also receive criticism from that social network, as this is a respectful criticism.
The explanation does not finish convincing and debate is generated, especially with regard to social networks, not because the group does not believe what they are told, in fact, many consider that social networks have become a ‘jungle’ of insults, but because it is considered the unjust measure in which they pay just for sinners and limits freedom of expression. In the entity they recognize that they are trying to find new ways “so that this does not happen and the righteous do not pay for sinners”, so much for reopen social media, like to recover a family animation and with freedom of ages. The truth is that at the moment there is no progress, at least in terms of openness in social networks
After the event, some fans are more convinced of the club’s positions, others continue with their internalized opinions and do not understand some movements of the entity, however, all of them leave Mestalla having expressed their opinions face to face with club representatives. At the end of the day, as they transfer from the hobby area, from the first moment the objective is that: “We do not want to convince anyone of anything, we want to explain our position on certain issues and that you feel free to suggest and criticize whatever it is. “