The Getafe Conundrum
Dear Al-Maktoum family,
Thank you for choosing me as your manager of Getafe for the 2011/2012, 2012/2013 and 2013/2014 seasons.
What I propose to you is a root and branch review of Getafe’s current and potential possibilities. What should be improved, what our short, medium and long-term goals should be.
I will set out a point by point plan on how we can capitalise on the new found wealth that this club has found itself in and the possibilities for us.
1) Sponsorship. Whilst we have a deal with Burger King on our shirts, I believe we should terminate this deal. For one a sporting institution should not have a fast food chain as its main sponsor as it gives the wrong perception to others looking at us. We should exploit this area as it would give us much needed revenues and we can sell this club in a better light with you on board
2) Invest in better commercial department for us. This should be a critical
for us to improve the club. Being able to communicate with our supporters is an issue which needs addressing. We need to attract new supporters to our club. The market in Asia, North America, Latin America are the 3 big markets that we should aim at. La Liga is the 2nd most marketable league in the world. We should aim to be the 3rd most attractable team in the league, behind the big 2 of Barca and Real.
3) Investment in the team. Success breeds success. For us to be a successful team domestically and hopefully in europe, we need to invest in the team and I will want to slowly build us up in Spain and cement a position as the No.3 team in Spain in the first instance before we can even think of challenging the big 2. The better we get means we attract more media attention and thus will make more people aware of us. Getafe had a very poor season last season I am ambitious enough in the 2011/12 season to aim at 4th place. I also will aim for the Copa Del Rey. Believe me when I say there is nothing like silverware on the table. I will get into the transfer issues later.
4) Financial Fair Play. These are the new rules about to come in play in 2012/13. What we musn’t do is make the same mistakes others like Man City are doing in spending wastefully on players that we do not need and much more importantly we do not spend over our prepared wage bracket for each player. If they want double or treble here than what they’d receive at another club, then we must move on to other targets. Keeping the wage bill to an acceptable level is a must for us. I want you to keep an eye on this, as I will do.
5) Getafe are historically a very small club and are often seen as a feeder club for Real Madrid. Whilst I want to remain on good terms with Madrid, we must be be perceived as anyone’s feeder club and we must compete against Madrid on the pitch. In the last few years Getafe have been in europe and have done reasonably well in the league, however managers have come and gone in quick fashion and top players that this club have had during this period are soon snapped up.
6) The Stadium. With a capacity of 18,000 it is a very small stadium that we have. We must look to either expand this or build another stadium, if in the long term you do want us to be a force in Spain and Europe. I think this needs urgent attention and should be your number 1 priority. As once we have the stadium issue done with, with increased revenues and a more attractive stadium, Getafe can be a top club in Spain.
7) Location. As you know we are based in Madrid and are the 3rd club in this city and way behind Atletico’s presence let alone Real Madrid. We can never ever replace Real but I do feel there is an opportunity to userp Atletico as the No.2 team in Madrid and gain more level of popularity and more media attention from Madrid. Madrid is a city where you can use your business expertise very well and this can give us opportunities in the future. I do want to have some communications with Real at a personal level. They can help us in the short term. Madrid look at us favourably and I want us to have good relations with them. It makes good business sense for us to have relationship, but we must make people aware, and we should use our communications department for this, that we are not a feeder club for Real.
As you have given me a 3 year contract and carte blanche to do things my way I do have some ground rules and policies that you to adhere to.
A) I have the final say on all transfers in and out of the club.
B) I want the final say on the firing and hiring of coaches.
C) I want to hand pick coaches to develop our youth system.
D) We stick the agreed wage structure. No player under any circumstance goes above it.
E) We improve our image of the club. I want to see actual improvements on this.
In the long term I want to compete with Real Madrid and Barcelona for the la liga title, it will be difficult, but with the finance and investment we should be looking at this challenge.
In the medium term I want us to be a regular club in the champions league. Being a regular in this competition helps raise our profile and will also make us more attractive to sponsors and players.
In the short term, which is the 2011/12 season I believe with the right investment into the team we can compete for 4th place. I do not want to put pressure on us to achieve 4th as from our position at the moment it is a tough ask, but we privately I want 4th next season. Publicly I will say to the media that I just want to see gradual improvement and maybe a place in the Europa league, however I want to aim higher privately.
We must look to improve our youth development scheme. We should send scouts to south america. I would like you to make an offer to the scouts currently at Villarreal to come here. Double their current salary if needs be. There is good, cheap and young talent in south America.
In our current squad we have some decent players. Ustari is good goalkeeper and Dani Parejo is our best player, however Jose Mourinho has contacted me about Parejo and seeing as our squad is short of talent and seeing as we are friends with Madrid, they have offered me 2 players in exchange for Parejo. Pedro Leon and Royston Drenthe. I have decided to accept this offer. Pedro Leon has been a disappointed at Madrid and has some issues, but he has the raw ability to be a good player. Drenthe will improve our left flank. He is also a decent player, though not excellent. He gives us some much needed pace on the flanks.
I believe we need another 5 players added to the squad. 2 Defenders, 1 midfielder and 2 forwards. The players that I want are:- Federico Fazio from Sevilla, Mamadou Sakho from PSG, Riccardo Montolivo from Fiorentina, Miroslave Klose from Bayern and Ezequiel Lavezzi from Napoli.
With Fazio and Sakho at the back, Pedro Leon, Drenthe and Montolivo in midfield and Klose and Lavezzi up front I am sure we would compete with Valencia, Villarreal, Sevilla, Bilbao and Atletico Madrid for a top 4 place and 5th place, which is the entrance for the Europa league. Also it could win a copa, if the draw goes our way.
I would suspect around 60m euros should get those players. Fazio we should get for 7m-10m euros, Sakho we should get between 10m-12m euros, Montolivo we should get for 15m-18m euros, Klose we should get for 3m-4m euros and Lavezzi we should get for 18m-20m euros.
Finally I want to impress on you the importance that you have given me and Getafe the opportunity to make history and make Getafe a force.
I thank you.
Edward P
