MADRID, 24 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of the Higher Sports Council (CSD), Víctor Francos, considers that, “whether a game is discussed or not”, the payments made by FC Barcelona to José Enríquez Negreira for 17 years “are unacceptable and have stained Spanish football” , while he also assures that the arbitration issue is one of the things that “most” concerns him at this moment and that is why he made “a call for calm”, but also the need to do “a deep reflection” on the functioning of this collective.
“The accusations of different presidents will be discussed by a judge, but the payments to Negreira, whether discussed by a judge or not, are unacceptable and have stained Spanish football. It is undisputed by anyone who has a little sense when analyzing that “You cannot pay 7.5 million euros to the second referee for almost 20 years. I am sure that it is also undisputed in Catalonia,” said Francos in ‘El Larguero’ on the SER channel.
The leader warned that he has an “excellent” relationship with President Joan Laporta, whom he has “a lot of appreciation”, and clarified that he did not ask for his resignation in an interview. “What I wanted to say is that in these cases it is very complicated for people not to demand responsibility for certain situations,” he said.
“On the fifth cross-examination, what I said was that I could speak for myself and what I am saying is that we have political responsibility on a bar where, sometimes unfortunately, the pain of the news can get ahead of you. I don’t have to “It is customary, and I certainly did not do it even with Mr. Rubiales, to ask for the resignation of third parties. I believe that resignation is a very personal thing that has to be the conclusion of someone’s reflection,” he added in this regard.
The president did not want to argue about Laporta’s words about the existence of a very influential sociological Madridismo. “Barça is a very beloved club in Spain and I notice it and see it. Laporta is a great Barça fan and sometimes he thinks that there is a Madridismo inoculated in the rest of Spain and I believe that Spanish sport and football would not be which is today without Barça, which has more respect than we imagine for what it is and represents. It has had glorious years where no one dared to discuss who played football best,” he stressed.
On the other hand, he confessed that he is “very concerned” about what is currently happening with the arbitration issue. “It is one of the things that currently worries me the most in Spanish sport and I would like us to calm things down,” asked Francos, who believes that “refereeing requires a more global reflection” and insisted on “a call for calm.”
“We have to think about some changes in the world of refereeing, things that we could reflect on naturally,” he said, citing among them, with “cautions and doubts,” that referees “can explain their decisions after a match or live in the stadium”, that the VOR room “is in the stadiums”, that conversations with this VOR room can be made “public” or that the designations are “by lottery”.
“SOME TURNED THE CSD INTO THE ‘RING’ OF THEIR FIGHT”
For this reason, he has spoken with Pedro Rocha, president of the RFEF Management Commission, about his desire to “talk about the issue of arbitration and reflect in depth.” “I want to protect the referees and I think the measures I have said can help them have more credibility,” he admitted. “Does the CSD want to decide the arbitration model? No. But it does put on the table that there is a problem and debates that we should not be afraid of,” he clarified.
Finally, Víctor Francos does not forget that in football “there has been too much fighting.” “One thing that I have not liked in recent times, and my predecessors have suffered more than me, is that some decided at some point to turn the CSD into the ‘ring’ of their fight and that if their president does not ‘it was wet,'” he lamented.
“I have suffered it too, I suffer it permanently. I am not saying it for my own comfort, but I am saying that football must calm down. And I also say, with all the tranquility in the world, that I believe that now, due to the circumstances that have given, we are in a position to have calmer football than five months ago,” stated the CSD president.