Miguel Ángel Ramírez: “I apologise to all UD Las Palmas fans”

“My appearance today is due to the fact the team has been relegated, and there is no need to wait now until the end of the season to analyze what has happened. The first thing I have to do is to apologise to the fans of UD Las Palmas. I would like to apologise to each and every fan one by one. It has been a highly disappointing season. We have made lots of wrong decisions. This is the first year I have experienced failure in all my years of running the club, although our relegation should not be considered a drama”, the UD Las Palmas president, Miguel Ángel Ramírez, said today, to the media in a press conference held at the press room at the Estadio Gran Canaria. 

“We didn’t get our trainers right, nor with the great majority of our players. We worked hard to get Vitolo here, as we have acquired 12% of his rights in a future transfer from Atlético de Madrid. This has cost us 6 million euros, he did not come here for nothing”. He reminded those present that the team had spent “eleven million euros more” in the first team squad compared to last year.“I will continue to fight for this club, and to motivate our fans”.

”Today we are a solvent club, a financially solid club, that has built its own Sports Complex with our own money. Nobody has given us a penny. We hope to officially open it towards the end of the year”, the president stressed. “I hope that in 2019 with seventy years of history, the club will be able to boast our Sports Complex to be able to develop our youth setup, which is the future of the club. I guarantee that our new project will involve many more youth team players".

The president has announced that sports director Luis Helguera will not be staying with the club next season. “He has been a very important figure in the sports commission since he arrived at the club three years ago”, recalling that it was he “who brought in Quique Setién”, while saying that “until the season is over we cannot say who our trainer will be, nor which players will be coming and going. I can tell you that players currently on loan, namely Livaja, Araujo (AEK will not be buying him), Borja Herrera and Lemos”. Ramírez admitted that he already has a new technical secretary lined up, someone who is already working on putting together a new squad, but he will not be revealing who it will be until further notice.

“We are going to construct the best team, without believing that because we have been relegated to the second division we can bounce straight back up. It has to be earned with lots of hard work out on the pitch. We need to pull together to achieve our goals. The pledge I give to the fans is that as long as I am president, the club will not run the risk of getting into debt or going under. We are going to strive really hard to make all the right decisions”.

Regarding information about the sale of the club, the president of UD Las Palmas confirmed that “I have had offers that involved buying the shares I own in the club. One was from a Chinese investment group and another from Americans and Russians. They offered us 140 million euros in the first division and 120 million in the second division. It is an offer that is on the table permanently. I would not sell the club to people who do not share the club’s roots. They would never understand the meaning of the club and its badge. Any sale of the club is down to the share-holders, not me”, he pointed out. “I will continue to be president of UD Las Palmas as long as I am the major share-holder. I do not own the sentiments the fans feel for the team colours and our great history. I would never go against this sentiment”, he assure everyone.

As a first measure, the president has announced for next season that “season ticket holders will have their season tickets swopped to make up for everything that has happened this season. It is the least we could do”, he concluded.