The other Qatari venture (Part 2)

On her departure Al Sahoud said that she “cannot accept (Ghubn’s) management decisions that take risks for the viability of Málaga CF.” More specifically, and worryingly, she went on.

“Although in theory the situation is that NAS are very well off, the new property has had considerable difficulty making payment of wages (including mine, agreed with the Sheikh before my contract) and the transfer of players. In this area my continuous messages of care have been unheard.”

By this time rumours had already circulated that the reason for Al Sahoud’s exit was due to the inability to sign up goalkeeper Galatto from Atletico Paranese in time for the Valencia game, but she again laid the blame at the door of the increasingly mistrusted board.

“Much has been said that the reason for my dismissal has to do with the failure to register Galatto, and his absence in the game (against Valencia). The reality is that last Thursday Sandro Silva, Sebastian Fernandez, and Quincy were also still not registered, plus Galatto. Moreover, in many cases, both I and the existing management team in Málaga before the acquisition had to intervene to prevent some of the players who are now part of Málaga CF from returning to their home clubs. “

As the prominent club on the Costa del Sol, los Boquerones boast around 3,000 English supporters, many of whom are familiar with the crisis at Portsmouth, taken over by Sulaiman Al Fahim, the seemingly penniless Sheikh. With the fans in need of placating, Ghubn came out fighting.

Referring to Al Sahoud’s statement, Vice President Ghubn said “I gave her only two minutes and I laughed a little” before answering the more serious question on whether there was a legal case that could be brought against his former employee, “Actually, yes. Everything is documented and not just small details.” He also claimed that Al Sahoud wanted to be paid more than the highest earning player at the club, before addressing the accusations levelled at him and attempting to reassure an uncertain fan base.

“The Sheikh is shocked, but it is also important to clarify that we are not here for personal questions. The club must not be moved by something personal. Rather, he worries about what is really important, which is Malaga. The intention is not to offend, not to attack. And while we are in a position of great strength, we have no time to quarrel or get into fights, but to think about the team.”

He also brushed aside the financial concerns, saying that “there is no complaint from anyone about the economic chapter. The facts are very clear. Since we arrived we have spent €7.3 million in wages of players and employees. The budget is open.”

Ghubn certainly demonstrated a better defence than his team could muster. After five games, Malaga had conceded 11 goals, the most in the league, and lost their three home games. Interestingly, they had won both away games, and had also scored 11 goals, again the highest in the league. But the attacking quality soon dried up and they went five games without a win, losing four of those.

In the midst of the poor run, Ghubn reiterated the long-term goals.

“We said that we have a plan ‘A ‘and plan’ B ‘. The next year there will be more investment, with a much larger capacity. The cantera is an enduring project. Malaga does not belong to Sheikh Abdullah, but the entire world.”

Not that the world would have wanted them much at that stage. Talk of concrete plans may sound reassuring, like they were fairly shallow. Plan A was to simply buy players before the season started, Plan B was to buy some more in the winter transfer window. The cantera translates as ‘quarry’ and represents Spanish clubs’ youth development programmes, such as La Masia at Barcelona, but nothing has been done to contribute to that yet.

It would, however, be unfair to suggest that the new owners have not made any efforts to renovate the club in other, non-playing areas. On the Sheikh’s arrival a new playing surface was installed to rival the best in the country. The pitch was complimented by new, smarter dugouts along with larger offices for club staff. For the fans, the new regime introduced online ticketing, a better quality of merchandise, improved catering (supporters can now order pizza to their seats at every home game) and cheaper ticket prices, as well as an English language version of the website to run alongside the Spanish page.

In another demonstration of great wealth, the Sheikh cancelled the remaining two seasons of a three-year shirt sponsorship deal with gambling firm William Hill on religious grounds, and the club played without a sponsor.

Last season's home stripe

However, life on the pitch was not running quite so smoothly. Of all the summer recruits only Quincy and Rondon had begun to show any quality whatsoever, the club had lost five home games on the bounce and the white hankies were out by late Hallowe’en. With the club’s early wins no longer enough to stave off a place in the bottom three, Ferreira was ruthlessly given the chop.

Just days later the new regime pulled off their biggest coup to date with the appointment of highly-rated Chilean manager Manuel Pellegrini, who had been cruelly relieved of his duties by Real Madrid after guiding them to a club record 96 point haul.

A very good manager though he is, Pellegrini was no miracle worker. His side sat one point above the relegation places with one half of the season gone. The Spanish season is a mirror image of itself, meaning that the second half of the season is played out in the same order as the first, and with Plan B now coming into effect, Pellegrini had a clear shot at improvement and the team comfortably finished in 11th place.

At the end of 2010, Ghubn returned from attending to other NAS business a reinvigorated figure. Far from the bored figure many in the press made him out to be, he addressed the progress so far and outlined plans for the coming months at the club’s annual shareholders’ meeting.

Despite some controversial issues, namely changing the colour of the team’s shorts from blue to white and the proposal of a new 65,000 “Qatar Stadium” (the club regularly attracts just 17,000 fans to La Rosaleda on a matchday as it is), as well as revealing that money spent on wages has gone up 50% to €24m, Ghubn was given a standing ovation at the end of the meeting.

He also shed further light on the recruitment policy that had failed to capture the imagination so far.

“We have a plan in a concrete long-term sense, not like at Manchester City, for example. We’re trying to build trust. There are players who are not doing their job, but right now we instil a winning mentality and that is much more important than bringing in superstars who will unbalance the books with their salaries.”

Many are split on whether that demonstrates an unwillingness to spend big money or rather a refreshingly wise and prudent approach to running a football club, but nevertheless January saw several reasonably high-profile arrivals.

Rhe chequebook came out several times, as Malaga secured the services of Roma’s attacking midfielder Julio Baptista and former Juventus midfielder Enzo Maresca, along with Bayern Munich defender Martín Demichelis on a season long loan.

They also drafted in Atletico Madrid’s Ignacio Camacho and Sergio Asenjo, the latter on loan, as well as goalkeeper Ruben Martinez Andrade, Sporting left back Jose Angel and Rosenborg’s Kris Stadsgaard. Diego Buonanotte signed an agreement to join from River Plate at the end of the season.

And that doesn’t look like all. Malaga have also been linked with moves for the unsettled Lassana Diarra of Real Madrid and Manchester City’s Emmanuel Adebayor. A move for Barcelona defender Gabriel Milito was only scuppered when the Argentinean was persuaded to stay at the Nou Camp by his team-mates.

With yet another influx of players and another new manager, Malaga’s season looks to be a more of a mirror image than for most in the league. This time around Sheikh Abdullah and Ghubn will be hoping that Plan B will be far more successful than Plan A. With even more spending promised for this season, everybody at the club has their work cut out to make sure the anchovies are no longer regarded as the league’s small fry.