Historic clubs in the football pit: "There was a time when, if it wasn't for the people, Murcia would throw the blind"

On May 25, 2005, Antonio Núñez (Madrid, 1979) lifted the Champions League known as The Miracle of Istanbul. The Spanish footballer belonged to Rafa Benítez's 'Spanish Liverpool' who would turn around an adverse 3-0 defeat in just 45 minutes against Milan led by Carlo Ancelotti. Finally, they would get the historic trophy in the penalty shootout.

10 years later, in 2014/15, Núñez was relegated to 2nd B with Recreativo de Huelva. “They are mentally similar situations. You live them with the same intensity because you are doing a lot and you are aware of all the people behind you,” the former footballer told EL MUNDO.. Four points separated the 'Dean' from salvation, when the previous year he had stayed one point away from the playoff promotion to the First Division. From touching heaven, to hell.

Although Núñez thought about hanging up his boots if that happened, the connection with the fans and the city was such that the footballer, a Real Madrid youth player, stayed with the team for two more years. “Circumstances encouraged me to continue. Recre is an important club”, points out the former player, who now lives between Huelva and Madrid.

“Multiplies it exponentially”

Recreativo de Huelva is the oldest club in Spain with more than 130 years of history. Although it has only played five seasons in the First Division, it is among the 50 most important teams in LaLiga (42nd place).. Real Murcia occupies 32, Hércules CF 29 and RC Deportivo de La Coruña, 12.

The four have been in semi-professional football for several years. Hércules and Real Murcia celebrate 10 years out of professional football, although the people from Alicante do so in the Second RFEF while Murcia managed to be promoted to the First RFEF last year, Recre and Depor, also in the First RFEF, have been 9 and 4 years respectively.

“Just as when you go down from First to Second you lose a lot of income, doing it to First RFEF multiplies it exponentially,” explains Jorge López, a professor of Sports Management at the European University, and details how television earnings are reduced, mainly, but also sponsorships. , which go from a national influence to a regional one and, of course, debt problems appear in a scenario not contemplated. “You cannot think that you are going to go down or you would not compete,” he adds.

Debts

The debt of Recreativo de Huelva finally had to be taken over by the city council itself; from Deportivo, the financial entity Abanca and from Hérculés and Murcia, various private businessmen, some more successful than others. “The entry of Felipe Moreno has been a breath of fresh air, the debt is great because it is added from other seasons. It is being solved and now Murcia is on its way to getting people to talk about the sporting issue and not the economic one”, reveals Paco López, General Director of Real Murcia.

A team, by the way, that was not relegated sportingly but was the result of a judicial decision derived from “non-compliance with financial economic ratios”. Other clubs also suffered declines in the offices such as Guadalajara, Oviedo or Elche, although the latter two have managed to return to professional football 10 and 5 years ago, respectively.

A soccer player from Recre crying after the failure of his team.

Just 10 days ago, Social Security lifted the embargo on Real Murcia accounts. The situation, a few years ago, became critical. «There was a moment here, that I thought the blind would be lowered. Fortunately, the social movement saved the club”, explains José Manuel Sánchez, manager of Real Murcia.

“A large social mass helps because it is easier to generate income and compete in better conditions but there is also greater pressure. It generates more frustration when the objectives are not achieved”, says Jorge López. “We start with the advantage of our fans, but sometimes it is very demanding,” says Paco Peña, Sports Director of Hércules CF. Something that is also experienced in A Coruña.

Three years in a row in Primera RFEF with an average attendance of 20,000 people in the Riazor cheering on a team that has always fought for promotion, but for one reason or another has not been able to achieve it. Goals in extra time, absurd expulsions and all kinds of misfortunes, more typical of a television series than of reality itself. Then every summer a lot of noise until the latter has resulted not only in the departure of the coach, but also of the entire Board of Directors, including the president, to “favor the restructuring process of the Club for the new season.”

each year more difficult

With each passing year, the stay in semi-professional football for this type of club is more complicated due, above all, to its large structures. Depor, for example, budgeted 8 million for the 2022/23 season with almost 5 million in losses. «Many things reduce you, mainly in the sports field. You are reducing the club areas and, if you do not come back in a season, it costs a lot, “reveals the General Director of Real Murcia.

«The more time, the less ability you have to meet your expenses. They are very large teams with a lot of costs for everything they have: youth academy, sports cities…”, adds the professor from the European University. And he is seconded by the Sports Director of Hércules, «We need to go up now, the demand is maximum. It is what we transmit to all the players.

Hercules fans show a protest banner.

First comes the decrease and then, if there has not been good economic management, the feared defaults. “We went 6 or 7 years without getting paid and of course in that situation, the heads of the players were not clean,” reveals the Manager of Real Murcia.

Something that corroborates a player who lived through that situation and who defines it as “the whiting that bites its tail”. «The more economic difficulties, the more sports. It is not that the player does not run, it is that enormous problems are created in the personal life of each one and it ends up affecting their performance, “explains Antonio Núñez and recalls cases of his colleagues at Recre with problems even paying the rent for their own houses.

The formula

The Holy Grail would be finding the effective formula to return to professional football, although José Manuel Sánchez knows that it does not exist since “sometimes teams with small budgets rise, other times, with large ones”. Doing so means adding those 6 million more on television to the merchandising, advertising and subscriptions that these historic clubs have. “In professional football, subscriptions and advertising represent a small percentage, while here, together with the contributions of the owners, it is everything,” says the Manager of Real Murcia.

Antonio Núñez does not have the solution either, but he does give a very simple key “first cover holes and then return”. Because the fans, of this type of historic clubs, will always be there. A Coruña, Murcia, Alicante and Huelva have a population of almost 1.2 million people, 50,000 of them are members of these historic ones who yearn to be great again.