Florentino Announces Running Mates As Another Candidate Drops Out

By: Corey | May 28th, 2009

The elections for president of Real Madrid have taken yet another twist as the remaining candidate opposing Florentino Perez dropped out due to financial concerns. This of course leaves little time for any other candidate to challenge Perez as the deadline for applicants is only a few day away. And given the nature of these elections, it would take months of planning, palm greasing and boisterous bragging of ones signings to be fully prepared for the election.

Today it was announced that Eduardo Garcia has withdrawn from the election because he could not raise the money needed to stand in the election. Here is his official announcement translated:

I hereby want to communicate separation with the OID before the activities and commentaries spilled against Real Madrid and want to communicate that the demands interposed in my name finally were retired in the morning of Wednesday, after communicating it personal lawyer (Jose Maria Waiter) before the reluctance of the lawyer of OID (Javier Gallego).

So he did not have the capital, and challenging the rule with legal action was not going to go anywhere either. He was never a serious contender to be honest, so I was not surprised to see him drop out. It paves the way for Florentino to take control now, which seemed a forgone conclusion as soon as Ramon Calderon resigned. Florentino has thus confirmed many of his running mates, who are mostly carry over board members and other officials that are still at the club from his time in charge anyways. The list below:

Entre los directivos se encuentran de nuevo Fernando Fernández Tapias, Enrique Sánchez o Jerónimo Farré. También estarán José Sánchez Bernal, Santiago Aguado, Raúl Ronda, Gumersindo Santamaría, Manuel Cerezo, Nicolás Martín Sanz, José Manuel Otero Lastres o Ángel Luis Heras. Una de las novedades es Eduardo Fernández de Blas, que presidió la asociación Ética Madridista.

It is still unknown whether or not Jorge Valdano, Zinedine Zidane, Emilio Butragueno or the lot will return in the technical roles, as most of the names above are board members. But Perez will probably make that more clear once he is officially declared the winner of the election as he stands unopposed.

Florentino Perez has just won the election by default. Hooray? I dont know, it seems a little strange to have him back in charge after such a disastrous exit. He may restore the glory of the club, but at what price? And where will our long term future be if he is only concerned with signing stars to win the Champions League every other year? Florentino Perez will be our next president whether we like it or not, so your thoughts on Galatico’s Dos?