Sr. Roig's message to supporters; team news--Villarreal news, May 9

Sr. Roig met with representatives of Villarreal's supporter groups today at El Madrigal, in a session open to the media and whoever wanted to attend.  It's summarized here on the official site, but here are the main points.

Our President reiterated that we are a model club as far as operations go--we don't owe anyone--banks, Social Security, players, etc., and going forward we need to make sure our fan base is a model as well.

He condemned all forms of racist actions, xenophobic actions, violence against other fans, etc. and said that while Villarreal will accept the sanctions imposed on it, first and foremost we will become a model for Spanish football as far as not tolerating these sorts of acts under any circumstances.  He did not dwell on the specific incident versus Barcelona, saying "you can't demonize an entire fanbase by a single short, spontaneous act." (well, the media can, and have in some cases, but I digress)

Sr. Roig said the level of tension needs to be lowered.  Fans should be for Villarreal, not against the opposition.  He doesn't want to hear chanting against another team in El Madrigal.  It's a difficult time in the country, and we need to be positive in our support for the team, not negative.

Hard to disagree with any of that.

In case you missed any fallout from the 'monkey chants' and 'monkey gestures' directed at Levante's Diop from a section of the traveling Atleti support (NOT one solitary person), that's because there were none.  The referee didn't include anything in his match report about it, so as far as the league is concerned, it never happened.  The Madrid-based papers attacked Diop for "provoking" the Atleti supporters.  And of course all anyone cares about is who wins the league title, if you read the papers.   What message is being sent here?

As far as the match tomorrow against Rayo, Oliver Torres has come down with a muscle injury so the list of 18 doesn't include him.  No Perbet, Pina, Dorado, Iñiguez; it's same as against Sevilla except for Manu Trigueros returning and Oliver dropping out.

Oh, and if you go here, you can see Jeremy's new footwear, as he tweeted yesterday.  Recovering from the ankle injury.

Animó Jérémy!