Yankees get sent down to AAA league (AKA Ri'B'er relegated)

It's kind of like the first mate went into the hold of the Titanic and just came up to the bridge to report that the iceberg broke through six bulkheads.


There are reports that River officials ( directors and secretary ) allowed Barra Brava ( River's thug Fan elements) onto the field and threaten the ref at halftime, and that they told him he would not survive the day if he didnt grant a PK in the second half. ( none was given)

Now the good part.

The whole thing is reportedly on a tape that was presented to the AFA.

Reportedly penalties for River's first year in Nacional B will be imposed, to include the loss of 20 home games in the Monumental ( 38 game annual season, so more than a year) and docking river 18 points in the standings (6 wins). River President Passarella is not on the tape.

It would make it nearly impossible for river to make it back to the "A" in one year and it would also mean that if they made it back, they would have to perform well in the "A" right away. If they make it back in one year, they get to keep this year's results in the three year Promedio table that determine relegation. This year was fairly good.


Oh yeah... Have I mentioned that the River President recently called for AFA President don Julio Grondona's resignation on corruption charges and that Maradona, from the sidelines, commented that "they will make him pay"?


Welcome to the world of Argentine Futbol.

They tied 1-1 in their return match with San Juan. Coupled with their 0-1 loss last weekend, they go down along with los Milionarios.

With River's impending penalties, Gimnasia might get back sooner.

I told you Argentina futbol Is a lot more intereresting.

First, a recap.
River gets relegated shortly after club president asks for a corruption investigation on AFA president don julio Grondona. Conspiracy theories abound.

Diego Maradona is quoted " they will make River pay" shortly before that all shakes out.
Keep in mind that the greatest player in history was a Boca (River's greatest rival) player before he went to Europe. He is still a Boca hero.
He now sits on the Boca board of directors , also sits on the board of Argentinos Jr's. Club and, is part owner, and has the Argentinos stadium named after him.

When River gets relegated, riots broke out and referees were threatened at halftime of the relegation match, prompting the AFA to say it would doc River 18 points and 20 home games, which would make it nearly impossible for River to come back to the "A". This would have had implications if they ever did get back in carry-over points, and with future tv contracts worth millions. River is 20 million in debt.


Recent updates:

Boca Jr fans are on the sideline cracking jokes and adding to the rivalry songs and are generally reveling over the misfortune of their rivals, except one guy. You guessed it, Maradona.. He knows the Superclasico is the event of the year and even in bad seasons, the rivalry can be more important than the standings. It turns out Boca administrators agree. Their interest is to get their rivals back in the first division.

Five days ago Diego and the long time Boca fans attorney, one of the most well known and respected attorneys in the country, filed the complaint Passarella only threatened against both Grondona and the former president of River, Julio Aguilar, and the old board of directors who got River into the financial straights they are in.

Maradona also says he will add proof that Grondona provided amphetamines to National Team Players during Maradona's playing days, and once suspended drug testing for a FIFA tournament to mask it.

A judge just ruled the inquest will go forward and depositions are to be taken. No word on which team the judge supports.

Miraculously, the 18 point deduction threat and the closing of River's stadium for the year are said to have disappeared today.
Rumors are afloat that the AFA may have found ways to ease River's finances. Former River players are volunteering to play for River in their season to get back to the "A" ( some for "free". Rumors are that their salaries will actually be paid by a third party.)
The TV contract for next year will be what it was when they were in the first division.
Passarella was quoted as saying the River debt will be erased just by the sale of some players to Europe. Analysts think this is impossible, because the sales they made aren't worth a third of the debt.

Grondona may have figured that some of the 30% of the fans in the nation who are River fans are powerful folk..... River's stadium is on the edge of a couple of pretty wealthy neighborhoods, including the Presidential enclave in Nuñez. Famous and powerful people in Argentina's history call the area their home,including, well, me when I was a kid


Maradona is cheered every time he shows up in his box at Boca's stadium. He may now get a box at River as well.


I couldnt make a story like this up.

And the AFA now appears to be going out of it's way to play nice-nice with River.

Daniel Colasimone (@ArgentinaFW)
7/4/11 10:44 AM
AFA are considering re-allowing (?) away fans at Nacional B games. Just when a big team got relegated. Funny how things work out, no?

The AFA, in consultation with a deputy in the administration of Presidenta Kirchsner, is considering canceling relegations for this year and going to a system where the last four teams go down. The explanation is that they want to be more like Europe. The government must sign off on the change-corporate law.

River was 8th from the top of the 20 team league.

No word from the officials of the clubs Olimpic and independiente, the teams which were 17th and 20th in the last year's standings and escaped relegation.

River fans were not very happy on relegation night..



Umm ....heritage words discussing issues of provenance of players and coaches.

Purplegeezer wrote:River fans were not very happy on relegation night..



Umm ....heritage words discussing issues of provenance of players and coaches.

There are English translations available now.

Even without the translations I kind of understood that he was not amused by the players.... or their mothers.... Why is it that the spanish versions of our worst swears seem just a little more elegant?

As some people predicted, the AFA was not going to let go of 30% of the TV market without a fight.

In Argentina, by law, futbol games in the Primera division are all on free tv. The government kicks in some to sweeten the pot. The second division can do it's own contract, and many or most of the games are on cable. The Primera contract is divided up equally in the league. Not sure about the cable deals.

This means that the second division, Nacional B, had the potential for a larger contract than the Primera, and tv contracts were to be negotiated in October. Interestingly, Boca has had 2 years as bad as the last two years of River's three year relegation average. If they went down, 70% of the tv market would switch to cable to watch River and Boca.

Yesterday the AFA officially announced that the A and B leagues would merge into one giant league starting " at least by" August 2012. It would be a year long single table with no season averaging. Each team would play all other 39 teams.

Just an hour ago the president of the AFA, don Julio Grondona, went on the air to explain the new system, offered that it had NOTHING to do with River, and that he will walk away when his term is up in 2015. (he is the presumptive heir to Sepp Blatter at FIFA)

Nobody believes a word of any of it. some still cling to the idea that the leagues could merge by the Summer break in January. They don't think he will leave, and his son will take over the AFA.

He also said they are looking at how there could be a Superclàsico this year with RIver and Boca in separate divisions..

DaTruRochin wrote:Even without the translations I kind of understood that he was not amused by the players.... or their mothers.... Why is it that the spanish versions of our worst swears seem just a little more elegant?

Yeh.

In Argentina you can't do much worse than calling somebody Paraguayan...


Did I mention that his nickname ( El Tano) is short for Metano-- methane?

Futbol in Argentina is different. River Plate, like most soccer clubs, is an actual athletic club. It has 81,000 members, many of whom are well connected. It is the 9th largest club in the world. ( Benfica is # 1 with about 171,000 members, Barça has about 163,000, Boca jr's a mere 60,000) Think MAC club on steroids.

So in addition to having 30% of the tv audience, it also has a lot of political clout. When the AFA decided to unify the A and B leagues to solve the tv contract/relegation issue, River came out against it because they thought they would get a TV windfall this year (wouldn't have to share TV money with the rest of the A league). They also thought it would dilute the TV money in the future.

So when River fans organized a protest rally to be held at AFA headquarters, mafia AFA boss don Julio Grondona canceled league unification for next year pending a vote in October. (actually said he had no idea why people thought the leagues would be unified--see posts above), which will surely come out however he decides. The betting line is he won't anger River management.

Also, the threatened closing of River's stadium for home games was rescinded, the AFA having called the riots the fault of the Police for letting thugs into the stadium and not the fault of River fans or management. ( pretty gutsy in Argentina to buck the police).

The River management has decided not to press corruption charges against Grondona and his family for colluding with the old River management to bleed the team dry. No world on whether Maradona has backed down with his threat to do the same.


River has sprung for a better group of players for the B league campaign than they had in the A league. It makes you wonder why they didn't do that a year ago.

And to top it off, As a consequence of being sent down, the team announced that ticket prices would go UP 20% this year and an additional 5% the following year to pay for the stadium damage, the better players, and the fiscal mismanagement (or theft) by the ousted club officials. They are about $19 million in debt.


And today Erik Lamela, the young River striker who missed a PK that could have avoided relegation, struck two of them for Argentina's u20 team as they beat Egypt 2-1 to make the quarters in the u20 World Cup. River fans don't know whether to laugh or cry... I bet El Tano had words.


Don't know how to fit in that Argentina has a new National team coach after the Copa fiasco. Did I mention he has ties to River?

Told you it was different.

Purplegeezer wrote: They are about $19 million in debt.

Hahaha it seems this is the kind of debt the big Euro clubs would find in their proverbial couch cushions....

(I'm really trying hard to not somehow relate this to the overall debt madness that is the world of Western economics.)

It's actually a pretty big deal for them. They figured to make a pile by selling players to Europe, but that didn't pan out. The ticket increase won't come close to doing more than paying interest on the debt, and TV money has to be shared with the league.

Rock and hard place.


Don't even want to get into Real's $180 million debt for just two players and the effect that has on the two biggest lending institutions in Spain...

I mean you hear MLS is the most economically stable league in the world, look at the quality of players and popularity overall and wonder how that can be. And then you peek behind the curtain of these seeming superpowers and realize what a mess it is....



Honestly it's gonna take a Barcelona or Madrid to go belly up (Which both basically should be right now if the govt wasn't covering for them) before people start having to totally re-evaluate how the footballing world works.

DaTruRochin wrote:I mean you hear MLS is the most economically stable league in the world, look at the quality of players and popularity overall and wonder how that can be. And then you peek behind the curtain of these seeming superpowers and realize what a mess it is....



Honestly it's gonna take a Barcelona or Madrid to go belly up (Which both basically should be right now if the govt wasn't covering for them) before people start having to totally re-evaluate how the footballing world works.

Last year when Garber came to town and had a Q&A session with fans he recounted how Platini told him, "Don, we [at the UEFA offices] love your league. Your clubs are stable and responsible with money."

As for the Eurosnobs who mock MLS for not being "major," there but for some behind-the-scenes scrambling at the EU goes your "big club." It's funny how fans can look at how Portsmouth nearly went out of business two years in a row and think "Well that's different. They were small/mistakes were made/our club is better run." Look at where Leeds was, and they only just got back to the Championship last season. If Gillett and Hicks hadn't been forced out at Liverpool who knows how far that would have gone.

I guess if the clubs won't look at what's happening around them and cut back, the governing bodies have to do it for them with Financial Fair Play.

PS: I think Tano would have said something like, "Lamela, why couldn't you do that for River, the [noun] who [verb]-ed you?"

The Paraguayan that relegated you?

After a year in limbo in Nacional "B", River Plate just beat Almirante Brown 2-0, won the division, and is promoted back to The first division.

A long year for River fans.

Lots of credit going to former River great Mattias Almeyda, who stepped up as technical director never having had such a job.

The day isn't complete without checking in on our hero "El Tano" Pasman on this momentous day. They didn't film him, but they did get this reaction...

¡Siii, estamos en la A, estamos en la A, carajo!"

Ya está, se terminó este suplicio, punto final a esta pesadilla, a este sufrimiento orillando permanentemente el infarto. Chau desgracia, tormento, angustia, dolor, desazón, ansiedad."

Finally, this ordeal is over, an end to this nightmare, this suffering permanently bordering on heart attack. Goodbye  misfortune, torment, anguish, pain, distress, anxiety."

Tano....there is always next season....

Hahaha what, no credit for David Trezeguet?