After a week when a friend of mine came back from a pop memorabilia auction in LA with two shirts and some neckwear that used to belong to John Phillips of The Mamas and The Papas – all the sleeves are brown and the tie is grey! – Real Mallorca fans are devastated and the tension is palpable after last Sunday’s 2-0 capitulation away at Levante. The team’s life in La Liga is on a knife edge and the odds of us staying up are heavily stacked against us.
However, with one match remaining in La Liga tomorrow (Saturday 23rd), the outlook for Real Mallorca’s game against already-relegated Oviedo in the Son Moix at 9pm is agonising to say the least. We have no margin for error and are clinging to one word – hope. We MUST WIN, Girona must beat Elche, Levante must get a point and Osasuna must lose at Getafe. Support from fans would be hugely beneficial, and a full stadium to cheer on Real Mallorca may help to inspire confidence in the players to go the extra mile – a theme I’ll return to in a moment.
Whatever happens, this game will be etched for a long time in the memory of Mallorquinistas. After two hours (ish) we’ll know the destiny of the team after what has been a catastrophic campaign which has pushed the players and their long-suffering fans to the brink. Staying up is possible but it’s going to be nerve wracking.
Remaining in top flight Spanish football is imperative because the monetary difference between La Liga and the second division is massive. Clubs relegated from La Liga lose 60-70% of their TV revenue in the first term in La Segunda. Under the current deal, the lowest ranked La Liga clubs receive around 42 million euros per season in broadcasting income, while a mid-table Segunda league club receives a paltry 8 million.
So with the importance of tomorrow night’s game, wouldn’t it have been a good idea to drop the ticket prices and fill the Son Moix? Bafflingly, the club management appear to be cashing in on a possible miracle escape with ticket prices between 80 and 100 euros! At this extremely delicate moment, both on and off the pitch, given the implications of relegation, the decision made by the Mallorca hierarchy is unbelievable and is causing much consternation.
The Association of Real Mallorca Supporters Clubs has gone ballistic about the club’s pending demotion to the second division. They issued a statement during the week asserting that they warned earlier in the season about the dangerous direction the entity was going in, which fell on deaf ears, and they now demand that the powers that be in the directors box (palco) take responsibility for the current situation and leave.
The defeats to Levante and Getafe have provoked a barrage of criticism. Over 500 fans made the trip to Valencia last weekend and they made their feelings felt at the end. These fans demand explanations and criticised the players’ attitude in what in effect was Mallorca’s biggest game of the season. The fans club statement also said the club needs a complete overhaul with qualified people (who know about football) and who have the necessary experience and professional capacity to lead a club of Real Mallorca’s stature. Not just anyone will do, and even less so people who don’t know the feelings it evokes over 20,000 Mallorca fans.
We have no Plan B available
Another comment made about the situation in hand is one that’s close to my heart. Real Mallorca is first and foremost a football club. It’s not a convention centre or a gym or a social club and not a children’s play park. While the club’s board have to be congratulated on the improvements made to the stadium and the fact that they are willing to open Son Moix for other activities 365 days a year, it’s important not to lose sight of its main purpose – football. We have no Plan B available. With one match remaining our fate is in the hands of other teams. Somebody should be leading from the hierarchy, banging their fists on the table and issuing a rallying cry. Instead the last two away game defeats gave a funereal impression. They were an embarrassment to all local fans.
In all that’s been going on over the past few days, our president/owner Andy Kohlberg has been very quiet. Some say he should stop hiding behind our CEO, Alfonso Diez. Us fans need an explanation and action as many of our young supporters have never seen a relegation situation. I’ve witnessed five!
PS The odds on Real Mallorca remaining in La Liga don’t look good. Most betting markets imply we have roughly a 90-95% chance of relegation meaning only about 5-10% of staying up. On Wednesday one bookie had us 1/14 to go down which translates to about 93% implied relegation probability. A fair estimate would be around one chance in 10 of remaining in La Liga.
AND FINALLY, Once upon a time there was a Japanese emperor who needed a new chief Samurai, so he advertised for a replacement. A year passed and only three people applied, a Japanese Samurai, a Chinese Samurai and a Jewish Samurai. The emperor asked the Japanese guy to show him why he should be the new Chief Samurai. He opened a matchbox and out popped a fly. Whoosh went his sword. The fly dropped dead chopped in half. The Chinese applicant stepped forward. He also opened a matchbox and out buzzed a fly. Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, the fly dropped dead cut into three pieces. Last but not least, the emperor turned to the Jewish Samurai and watched as he opened another matchbox, out flew a tiny gnat. His flashing sword went Whoosh, but the gnat was still alive and flying around. The emperor, disappointed, said “Very good but why is the gnat not dead?” The Jewish Samurai just smiled and said “Circumcision is not meant to kill!”