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IN June I published an analysis of several Spanish teams' finances, including Villarreal. And I said I would update it one figures became available. The Swiss Ramble blog has recently published a detailed analysis of our neighbors at Valencia, and some Villarreal figures are contained therein.
In 2009-10 I had figured Villarreal had revenues of €59m. This was correct, though matchday revenues and commercial sponsorships made up a slightly smaller percentage of the whole than I had thought. (I think the Europa League revenues may be included in the TV total; the breakdown was match day €8m, commercial €19m, TV €32m.
What was surprising to me, and no doubt troubling to Sr. Roig, was the expenses, €90m, resulting in an operating loss of €31m. This was made up by player sales so that the team broke even overall, but this is hardly a sustainable model.
The 2010-11 figures haven't been published yet but certainly the team slashed payroll in that year, and made €9m from the Europa League run. But as Sr. Roig said with the continuing poor economic climate in Spain, Villarreal wants to be in a position where it owes nothing to anyone.
In an interview published in AS on the weekend, Roig emphasized the goals of the team: developing the cantera first and foremost as a source of players, and also the need to come up with a fairer TV contract. Villarreal is more reliant on the TV revenues than any of the other competitive teams in La Liga: their small catchment area and limited stadium size caps matchday income growth, and their location in a small provincial town makes it hard to attract as many commercial sponsorship opportunities as clubs like Valencia or Sevilla, much less the big two.
Moving on, President Roig invited the entire team including coaches to a meal yesterday, 'personally supervising' the preparation of the paella according to EPM (though he did note his preference for ones made over a wood fire--I guess this one had to be made indoors so that was out).
Rumor: Javi Mata says "someone" (I think Sir Alex Ferguson) is watching Bruno....hoping a transfer fee of €10m or so would persuade Villarreal to part with him, the word is. Would we bite?
In other news: Angel trained yesterday with the team and is hoping to be 'unó mas del grupo' in two to three weeks. Understandably he doesn't want to rush things at this point, having already had setbacks in his recovery previously.
And finally, you might be interested in this story from ESPN's Jeff Carlisle on Jozy Altidore. I thought he was fairly diplomatic, but still critical of how he was used (or not used) here. Carlisle only mentions Valverde...I wonder if Jozy mentioned Garrido as well?