The General News Thread

[joaquin17ireland]

01/June/2009

• Bruno and Irinery had clauses in their contracts that allowed them to opt out of Betis dropped to Segunda. They've opted out. Real Betis could, legally, push them into their respective contracts, but won't be doing so.
• Goitia, goalkeeper of Malaga, didn't have any such clause and should be our first choice goalkeeper next year - should Ricardo move, which he probably will. This is good news. We need a strong goalkeeper.
• Not one Betis play met with the media last night. They all went out the back door. Can't really blame them, but it would've been nice to hear something positive from at least one of them.
• Lopera has had nothing to say, well, nothing positive. This really is the time for the Beticos to put pressure on him to finally relinquish his control over the club.
• Nogues felt the relegation was an "injustice". I think it's really easy to go down the blame game, listing the amount of times we hit the woodwork, blah, blah, fucking blah. The fact remains, we came 18th. We were the third worst side in La Liga and we deserved to go down, no matter the lack of luck in certain games.
• Hundreds of Beticos gathered outside Lopera's home last night in protest. Many were arrested.
• Valladolid fans chanted "Betis! Betis! Betis!" after their own celebrations last night. My new second favourite La Liga side.
• TV and advertising revenue is to take a significant hit. Spanish football isn't like English football where you're given a financial parchute when you get relegated. When you get relegated in Spain, you're fucked financially. The revenue from TV and advertising would have been €20 million, but that has dropped to a mere €500,000.
• Juanito was dropped from Spain's squad for the Confederations Cup. A sad end to an awful season for the Atletico bound central defender.
• Fernando Vega, left-back, was the first player to talk to the media. He had this to say, "We can only apologise to the fans who only has a year burning in hell to look forward to. " Juanito, club captain and soon Atletico Madrid reserve, said, "the players obviously have the greatest responsibility. We have had a poor season, we haven't found any balance, we've been erratic, and missed out on chances to give us peace of mind."
• Manuel Ruiz de Lopera is "a collapsed man, broken, in pain, and can barely articulate speach", according to an announcement made by the official Betis radio today. The announcement went on to say that Lopera would be willing to leave the club due to "social pressure". (Bullshit.) Lopera is ready to relinquish power over to another who will gain majority control of the company. This new person or persons will need €15,000,000 to do so.

02/June/2009

• "We are all pretty screwed up. Sick. But, thinking of promotion. Among us,right now, all we talk of is promotion. The year in general has been difficult. What can I say? It's difficult to say anything. What can I say to the fans? I'm sorry. What understand what is being said. At the moment all the world is fucked up, I don't know what to say. This time next year, hopefully we'll give them some joy by climbing back into La Liga." -- Alberto Rivera. Finally, some optimistic and strong words. Pity it took a player leaving us on a free-transfer to finally say something. Bravo, Rivera.
• Lots of good words were being said about Odonkor lately, as he was the only player to show some emotion following their relegation. Images shown by Marca display the German on bended knee, crying at the steps that lead the players out onto the field. While on the field he has been poor, his attitude, energy, and enthusiasm cannot be matched. It's a pity he lacks the quality.
• Nogues will have a press conference tomorrow where he'll likely step down as Betis manager. He may be given back his role as the B team coach. Hopefully for him. I can't put any of the blame on his shoulders.
• Juan Carlos I, reigning King of Spain, has had some words to say about Betis today, as his mother was a renowned Betico. Nothing worth mentioning really, except to that he mentioned he was glad his mother wasn't alive to see the demise of Betis as it would have destroyed her. Charming.
• David Rivas linked with a move to Panathinaikos, thankfully.
• Pepe Leon, current 'President' of Real Betis, has said on Betis radio, "within a week or ten days we'll make clear some issues about the club and we'll read a statement, apologise to the fans, and give thanks to them for their support." Fuck off.
• Lopera, hidden away, has used Betis radio to get out his word. Presenters have stated that he is "broken with pain" and that the discussions of the the sale of his shareholding package are "derisory". He has also stated that the media have a "compulsion to attack him." And rightly so.

03/June/2009


Interesting developments with regards to Bruno. Supposedly Lopera, the c to the u to the n to the... that he is, is willingly to fight Bruno's agent, so that the right-back complies with the four-year deal he signed with Betis. Barcelona and Valencia are interested, so what Lopera wants to do is get Bruno to agree to become a Betis player, allow him to leave on loan, and then to return to Betis when and if we return to La Liga next season. Should be interesting to see how this works out. As far as I know, Bruno actually does have a legal right for the contract to be terminated, so I don't think Lopera has much to stand on with regards to this deal. Also, Malaga's goalkeeper, Goitia, has agreed to play with us in Segunda.

More news: Rivera has been offered a new contract. It'd be great if he would stick around. Negotiations with Malaga didn't go right, obviously. Nogues will continue to Real Betis B, or so everyone is reporting. We'll know for sure tomorrow.

Goitia's agent has admitted that the goalkeeper will stay with Betis, even though he'll be playing Segunda football. That's pretty much cemented him into the hearts of Betis fans.

It's also been revealed that Bruno, foolishly, agreed the deal with Lopera's business (or non-business or whatever) named Tegasa. This means that Betis don't even own him, but some other identity does. This is the case for many of the Betis footballers, who are more so owned by Lopera, not the club.

Finally, some really, really good news. Antonio Tapia, who has just left Malaga, has been offered the managerial job. He has had this to say: "It is true that my agent has told me there is a possibility that I might be in charge of Betis. I have said that it is no problem (Betis being a Segunda side) and if they can agree that I'm their first choice then that'd be fantastic. I am a coach and the only thing that ever worries me is what happens in the training ground and on the field, achieving goals week in week out, not what division I might be working in." Any chance of bringing Duda with him? No, but it would help.

Finally, Galatasaray are set to offer €5 million for Ricardo Oliviera. Go. ****. Yourselves. How-and-ever, Estadio Deportivo say that Ricardo Oliveira wants to stay and to become captain.

Okay, I said 'finally' already, but I'll say it again... finally, Betis are heavily linked with a moved for Murcia's 18-year-old left forward/left-winger, Daniel Aquino, whose father, also named Daniel Aquino, played 72 league games for Betis in the early 90's, scoring over forty goals. Well, if he can do as well as his father, sign him up. Also, the young Aquino mentioned in a recent interview that he too would like to play for Betis, as his father did.