Paulino Rivero Baute recounted, just after taking office as president of the Tenerife, that his heart had won over his head, that he had taken the step of assuming such responsibility for a matter of “affection” and “passion” for the blue and white club. He also recounted that during the two months that have passed since Miguel Concepción confirmed that he was going to leave office, while he was evaluating the proposal of the four majority shareholders of the entity –José Miguel Garrido, Concepción, Conrado González and Amid Achi– to take charge of of the representative, He lived “a kind of movie” in which he reviewed the moments in which he was very close to Tenerife, but not as a fan, which he always has been, but almost as a savior in delicate moments. Once as a councilor of the Island Council to promote the remodeling of the Heliodoro Rodríguez López and install the first video scoreboard, in 1986, later to agree with Javier Pérez on the sale of the stadium boxes and help the club overcome an economic crisis in the campaign 00/01, and finally when, in 2006, he brought businessmen together at the La Ermita summit to cover the power vacuum that had been produced by the resignation of Pérez Ascanio. Concepción emerged as president of those meetings. About 17 years later, Rivero took over from the businessman from La Palma.
It was 18:20 in the afternoon, when the notary Alfonso Cavallé closed the extraordinary meeting of shareholders of the club, held at the Hotel Escuela in the capital of Tenerife, announcing that the appointments of four new directors had been approved, the aforementioned Rivero, plus Alba Aula Sánchez, who will be secretary, Santiago Pozas Arjona and Juan Guerrero Sánchez. In this way, the vacancies left by Miguel Concepción, Milagros Luis Brito, Francisco Mares and Juan Manuel Quintero were filled. The council is completed by two of the members of the previous government group, Conrado González (vice president) and Samuel Gómez Abril. Concepción, after so many years presiding over the table, was a witness from the chairs, in the front row, together with accredited shareholders and other attendees. A historic relay had occurred within a historic year.
It was then that Rivero spoke for the first time as president of Tenerife. Expectation, great expectation. Radios broadcasting live and all eyes on the twenty-second president of the club since its founding in 1922. Without the need for a script or a written text, pulling tables for his long career in the field of politics, Paulino began his speech thanking the management carried out by the previous board of directors and he continued to naturally wrap his words of Tenerife, confessing that he had waged an internal struggle in which the yes had won over the no. On the one hand, his head told him “what need do you have to get into these eggplants“, but the” heart “also had something to say in this matter. “It has been my love, my passion and all my feeling for this club that has led me to accept”, he confessed excitedly.
From this introduction he went on to explain the five points on which Tenerife will be based in the next five years.
The sports area
Putting forward that in sport there is no guarantee of success, “not even with all the money in the world”, he placed the sporting objective in the promotion to First division in a period not exceeding five years, which will last his mandate. For this, he pointed out that the generation of economic resources will be essential. Rivero pointed out that having the eleventh budget of the Second Division, like that of Tenerife, “it may sound like a flute for you”, but he observed that “normal” is not to go up with such a disadvantage. Consequently, he pointed out that it will be essential to increase investment.
And there enters the quarry with a leading role. In this new stage, 20 percent of the squad will come from the club’s base. Something like that in a group of 25 footballers, five will be homegrown players. “But this is not a gesture for the gallery, but a necessity,” the president clarified. “If we want to aspire to be in the First Division, we will have to do it in a sustainable way, and for this we will need to have a greater economic capacity; and that can come with improved income, but also with being able to have a factory of players “he stressed.
Rivero did not reduce the recruitment of young values to the activity that takes place daily in the Javier Pérez Sports City. He widened the circle to the entire province. “There are 262 clubs on the island and that means there are some 2,600 teams. In addition, in Tenerife we have 103 fields and a total of 217 in the province; there are 25,000 federation records. Are we not going to be able to capture a part, to get them all involved so that we can nurture the team with players from the quarry?”, he stated before recalling that “Pedro and Moleiro are from the youth academy in Tenerife”. Along these lines, he affirmed that “any field must be part of the great project that this club pursues with grassroots football”, beyond the “blessing” of those in the City Sporty.
economic area
The priority of the newly appointed board of directors is to increase resources to promote the sports project. In principle, the alternative of applying a capital increase will be left later. In the short term, the plan will consist of negotiating with creditors to reduce the debt and be able to allocate some more money to sign.
infrastructures
For Paulino Rivero, the construction of a stadium is not something urgent, but it is the improvement of “the guts” Heliodoro Rodríguez López to make it a “worthy” installation. Apart from that, the club will work to complete the works of the Sports City and add the “last auctions”, and will meet with the rectors of the Tenerife Football Federation to give the El Mundialito complex a facelift. “We cannot give up complementary facilities like these, but it would be necessary to improve them,” he warned.
Communication and marketing
Rivero has taken everything into account, including the club’s relationship with the media. “We have a very quarrelsome sports press that needs us to feed it,” he recalled, convinced that what the fans want is to get to know the players better through individual interviews., because footballers are “the protagonists, those who take part in the show”. Therefore, he promised to make “an effort” for the club to open up, because the entity needs the media as a vehicle to address society.” The president clarified that the press should not be conceived by Tenerife as its enemy .
Social area
“The soul of this project is the fans.” With this phrase, Rivero put Tenerife in a preferential place. It could not be less. And, of course, he has also thought about that essential part of the Tenerife environment, “because a club cannot be great without a social mass”. Rivero maintains that taking care of the relationship with other teams on the Island will promote the fluidity of the current of Tenerife. But it will not be the only thing. “A work will be carried out to bring members, season-ticket holders and fans in general closer so that the stadium becomes a party, and not only during the 90 minutes of play, but so that families can go and have a good time”he explained before adding the “tool of the Foundation, which allows the club to give back to society part of what it receives from it” with support for grassroots football, the incorporation of women into sport, with training work, with support for inclusive sport…
There will also be space for veterans, who will act as “ambassadors” of the club. “They could be a stiletto to enter schools or municipalities,” he said. And the museum will be launched, in principle, in the empty premises that are in the Heliodoro Rodríguez López. “We will speak with the Cabildo so that they give us those dependencies,” he advanced. Other ideas are the creation of a Tenerife card that would give the right to discounts and other advantages, the opening of official stores in other areas of the Island, the inclusion in the club’s board of directors of the figure of the fan’s defender…
With or without salary?
Rivero assured that no one is going to charge for being a member of the board of directors -the club’s bylaws would have to be modified-, but he qualified that whoever performs a “certain task” will receive a salary, because “this is a company”.
Relationship with Garrido
The organization of Tenerife changes from now on. The four main shareholders, José Miguel Garrido, Miguel Concepción, Conrado González and Amid Achi, agreed to go hand in hand, join forces and avoid discrepancies. In connection with them will be Paulino Rivero, sure that he will understand them “perfectly”, the same as with the other shareholders. “We are going to give everyone a voice so that they have direct contact with the club and with the president”said.
What remains of the League
Paulino Rivero will make his debut tomorrow as club president in a first-team match, coinciding with Andorra’s visit to Rodríguez López. With the entire second round of the 22/23 League ahead, he believes that Ramis’ men must continue fighting to “join the promotion bandwagon” to First Division. “In the last six games, removing the derby mole, the improvement has been notable. There is a very interesting and competitive squad and players who were injured have recovered, so we will have to see how things go in the coming months, but I am optimistic”, commented the new president of Tenerife.
The accounts and management, approved
Before the main course of the afternoon, the appointment of the new board of directors of Tenerife, the appetizer of the celebration of the ordinary meeting was served, the usual one every December, this time reduced to only three items on the agenda, the approval of the accounts and the management of the leaders in the last financial year and the question and answer session. For the meeting to take place on first call, it was necessary for a minimum of 25 percent of the club’s share capital to participate. 44,742 shares present or represented were required, and 94,598 were presented. Miguel Concepción brought 81,736, the company Only One Way (José Miguel Garrido) put 10,388, Eugenio Ibáñez Biondi attended with 1,718, Pedro Pérez did it with 511 and José Luis Hernández, on behalf of the Pequeños Accionistas collective, with 245. The meeting gave light green to the accounts and the management of the council with the same proportion of votes, 92,635 in favor (Concepción, Garrido and Pérez), 245 against (Hernández) and 1,718 abstentions (Ibáñez). Tenerife’s debt at the end of last year was 17.48 million euros and the balance was negative, with 1,888,095.52 euros of losses compared to the previous year. Spending on the sports squad was 10,872,000 euros. The ordinary meeting ended with a brief session for questions and answers. Only Hernández and Biondi intervened. The first had already taken the floor before the vote on the annual accounts to transfer a query about the dismissal of manager Juan Amador and the money allocated for director jobs. The answers, in writing.
Board Notes
Ramis and Lamb
Complete trust
Paulino Rivero highlighted the work of Juan Carlos Cordero and Luis Miguel Ramis. “There is no forecast of changes,” he warned.
Base
with the same boss
Without going into details, the club’s president confirmed that the head of Tenerife youth football, Juan José Rivero, will continue to carry out his duties. “At the moment there is no type of change,” he said.
Adviser
Charge for Quintero
Juan Manuel Quintero, adviser to Tenerife until yesterday, will be appointed adviser to the president at the first meeting of the council. He will take care of the relationship with the veterans and the clubs.
new stadium
not a priority
“I am in favor of having a decent stadium, which is the Heliodoro. The social, political, economic and sports conditions will set the tone to know if in other times we are going to need a new stadium,” he warned.
Voting
no opposition
The four new club directors were admitted one by one, with independent votes. All, with the same result, 94,353 votes in favor and 245 abstentions from the Small Shareholders collective.
