You Think Your Club’s in Trouble? At Least They’re Not Levante.
By: Martha | January 15th, 2008
Levante are bottom of La Liga. Distant, distant bottom: They’ve got eight points through 19 matches, nine fewer than Deportivo La Coruña, their closest rivals. In those 19 matches, they’ve scored just 11 goals and conceded 35; joint top-scorer Christian Riganò scored three of his grand total of four in a single match, notable because it was one of two times Levante have scored more than once in a La Liga game. They’ve not scored a goal in league play for more than a month and, oh yeah, no one is getting paid. Is it any wonder everyone is leaving?
Since the transfer window opened, goalkeeper Marco Storari has returned to Italy with Cagliari (from the bottom of one league to the bottom of another — but at least he’s getting paid now), fellow Italian Bruno Cirillo is on loan with Reggina, Laurent Robert joined Derby County, Sávio just took off and never came back (he was eventually granted a release), and Riganò is doing his level best to join someone — anyone — in Italy on loan. Got all that?
What makes this state of affairs so sad is that, according to Sid Lowe in The Guardian, everyone saw it coming:
… It got worse when star signing Shota Arveladze got injured using the club’s makeshift gym, comprising of a couple of weights slung across a pair of chairs, and never played again, spiraling headlong into depression. It got even worse when the club ignored the coach and signed seven players over 30; when Savio is so past it his manager describes him as a “dead man walking”; when they couldn’t even find a proper ball with which Javi Fuego could do a few kick-ups at his presentation; when only three of the new boys play regularly and striker Alex Geijo hits a whopping no goals in 17 games.
Yikes. And there’s reason to think any of this is getting better, either: The financial situation is a disaster and shows no sign of changing, the transfer window is still open and the exodus will continue, and the club’s management and ownership are apparently so bad that the Spanish media refer to Levante as a “makemelaugh” club. Even if they could just pack up and go home, sparing themselves the humiliation of the rest of the season, how are they going to survive in the second division?
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