October 25, 2014 Peter Lim was received at the Mestalla with a red carpet and 5000 people cheering him on his first visit to Valencia. At that same point, on Sweden Avenue, a demonstration against his management will end this Saturday, an initiative organized by LibertadVCF and CurvaNord, to which various platforms have joined, and which aspires to become a demonstration of social muscle and rejection of Lim's model. “This game is played by the fans”, emphasizes José Perez, from LibertadVCF.
“It is an SOS of Valencianism”, remarks Josep Bosh, from Últimes Vesprades to Mestalla, “we want to tell the lords of Meriton that they don't paint anything here and they have to leave“.” When they entered, their model might more or less like … but now their management is irresponsible and full of lies; since Mateu Alemany was fired, everything is pure improvisation“, he concludes.
“This game is played by the fans, we have to show how we feel about his management”
Jose A. Pérez (LibertadVCF)
Lim celebrates his seventh season as the owner of Valencia (84% of the share capital). The trajectory of the team, beyond the Copa del Rey in 2019, is sawtooth: three qualifications for the Champions League, four outside Europe. Lim has had detractors from day one, although there is a before and after to his decision to dispense with Alemany. “Since that day, Lim's credibility is zero“, affirms Vicente Balaguer, from Peña Campanar.
Valencia, who fired Gracia on Monday –eighth coach firing Lim– and entrusted salvation to Voro for the seventh time -fifth with Lim-, He has only added 41% of the points at stake since Marcelino's dismissal (85 of 204)The departure of the Asturian being the beginning of the end for Alemany, an executive who left a workforce worth € 474M and is currently trading for € 228M less. “It is time to go out on the streets in a massive, peaceful way and complying with health protocols, but we must show what we feel for the management that is being carried out in the club,” emphasizes José Pérez.
“The demonstration is an SOS of Valencianism for its irresponsible management and full of lies”
Josep Bosh (Last Vesprades of Mestalla)
The demonstration in Valencia coincides in time with those that are taking place in England by United or Arsenal fans against the management of their investors. The mobilization, whose organizers are convinced that it will be a success as it was the civic march of the Centennial, also aims to be “a reason for the institutions not to help Meriton in the extension of the Mestalla ATE (which would expire on May 15, although the pandemic gives three more months of margin to the institutions to decide whether to extend or cancels the conditions of the ATE, whose deadlines with or without greater bureaucratic margin will be breached) and that serves as an incentive for Valencian businessmen to get involved “in saving the club.”
“Do not shake the pulse of the institutions with the issue of ATE, that society is with them, and It is also a message to Valencian businessmen, because a change is needed, “says Josep Bosch.” It is idyllic to think that the club is going to democratize, but it is absolutely necessary that other people come, people who respect the club and the fans, who want to get involved, because the management of Meriton is unworthy of an institution with 102 years of history and that during its history it has been a leading club in the Spanish League “, emphasizes Balagué.
“It is absolutely necessary that other people come, that they respect the club and the fans”
Vicente Balagué (Peña Valencianista Campanar)
The response from the social mass on Saturday it will give or reduce strength to the platforms and will show or relativize the discontent of the fans towards Lim's ways of proceeding. The march will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Plaza Zaragoza and will cross several streets until it reaches the Mestalla. It has the relevant permits and social distance measures will be followed and use of masks. The demonstration will take place the day before the end of the agony against Real Valladolid, in which Javi Gracia will not be there.
“The circumstances that have surrounded the team have never been the most appropriate to work with the ideal stability for the coaching staff and players,” Gracia wrote in a farewell statement. The decision to dispense with the Navarrese coach four days from the end of the League is seen by Lim's critics as another example of his way of acting. “The removal of the coach is another smoke screen for Meriton (…) Such a determined exercise of business incompetence, sports negligence and institutional irresponsibility, “De Torino denounced Mestalla, another of the platforms that joined the demonstration.
Kempes: “These people from Meriton have to go”
Mario Alberto Kempes, a black and white legend, will follow the demonstration from his home in Connecticut (United States). But he will be present “with the heart.” El Matador, champion of the European Cup, Recopa and Super Cup with Valencia, in addition to his second all-time top scorer (116), has been erected in recent years As the most important critic of the management of Peter Lim. He already was when he served as an ambassador in the world of the club and he has not stopped being it after relegating Meriton from his representative functions.
“On Saturday there will be a revolution of the Valencia fans to be heard by the people of Meriton, because what they are doing is very regrettable; Meriton has to go so that Valencia is what it always has to be, a club that is fighting with the greats “, Kempes commented on the social networks of the LibertadVCF platform, organizer of the demonstration together with CurvaNord.
Kempes is not the only ex-footballer who has joined the cause, although there are many who still opt for public silence. Javier Subirats or Manolo Botubot there are two who also side with the social movement against Lim's management. “It is a time to be united and fight for a happy ending,” they advocate.