Victoria Pavón, Felipe Moreno and Jeff Luhnow appeared this Thursday at the Estadio Municipal Butarque in a press conference in which the transfer of the majority shareholding to Blue Crow Sports Group, an American group headed by Luhnow, was made official.
Victoria began her speech to open the press conference: "After thirteen seasons as president, today I say goodbye to all of you. I have preferred to leave a written letter to say goodbye expressing my gratitude to all those who have been part of this project. It is a day not to look back and to make space for new projects. What we have experienced is part of the club's history, and I want to focus on the new project. They are here to stay, and we have to show them what kind of fans and what kind of city we are. We will be there to live this journey, which will have its drawbacks and good parts, but together we will reach the best years of this club, which are still to come.
Afterwards, it was Felipe Moreno who took the floor: "We have had many groups interested in taking over this great project, but Jeff and his group gave me a lot of confidence. I think the club is in very good hands. We have offered to help them in everything they ask of us, and here we are. This morning I could hardly believe what we are going through, these are very emotional days. It has been fourteen very exciting seasons, we have worked as hard as we could and we have had good and bad experiences. I feel a little sad, because in football we suffer a lot and now we will experience it as fans".
"The memories of the last 94 years are very important, but for me the ones that we are going to create are more important"
In third place it was Jeff Luhnow who addressed the audience: "Thank you all for joining us. I want to thank Victoria and Felipe. This process began on the 2nd of September, when I met you. We intend to take care of what you have done here. Yesterday was a very exciting day, we have a great responsibility just on the day of the 94th anniversary of this club. I represent a group of very serious people, in love with the sport. What we want is to make Leganés grow and to continue what Felipe and Victoria have done in these fourteen years.
"I feel the sentimiento pepinero," he continued, "I know I'm new, but I come here with a lot of enthusiasm. We are from all over the world, but we are united by our love for the sport, for making things grow and for winning. The reason why we are in the sport is because we love to win. I know it's a feeling that can't be applied to other parts of life, it's something that is shared and it's what we're going to fight for. We are going to make a big effort to improve this club. We have executives from various sports, American football, baseball, basketball, Formula 1, e-Sports... and hopefully we can add things from those sports to football.
I have a lot of confidence in the people that are here. I have met the people who are in the organization: sports management, general management, communication, sponsorship... They have all done a great job. We are here to add, not to change. The memories of the last 94 years are very important, but for me the ones we are going to create are more important".
"We want to win every game, compete and create a squad that can play againts every team of the category"
Luhnow commented that "the project of looking for a club started eight years ago. Spain is the fastest growing market because of the work of LaLiga, there is a lot of potential for it to continue to grow. It is the centre of football all over the world, it has the best teams and the best history. If you are in football, you have to be in Spain. Leganés is the best combination: potential to grow, fans, stadium, sports city, proximity to Madrid... This club has been taken care of by Felipe and Victoria, the employees, the fans... We have reviewed all the plans, we have met people from the City Council, and I am very confident that it will go well. To invest in the stadium, in the sports city, we have to be sure that we will be here for a long time.
Jeff assured that "I've been in sport for twenty years, and success is not short term. We are not going to sacrifice the future for the present. We will try to win every game, the goal is always to win, wherever you are. But to be successful in the long term you have to have a productive youth academy. We're going to use technology to help. What we want to compete is to create advantages in all areas. We will invest the necessary resources to progress, we are here for the long term and that requires investment. We want to win every game, compete, to institutionalise a process to develop young players, and to build a squad that can compete with all the teams in this category.
"This club is of the fans, we want to continue what Victoria and Felipe have done"
Regarding their immediate plans, Luhnow stated that "we are going to build the squad for next season, we are working on it every day and we are going to invest what is necessary within the limits set by LaLiga. We have resources to invest in the sporting side, the infrastructure. Felipe has been developing plans for a long time and we will try to take advantage of that. All sports have used technology to have an advantage over their competitors, and sometimes only the big teams can do it because it requires a big investment. We have a group of experts in various leagues (England, USA, Italy...) who know what technologies are available and what technologies we can use. The process of working on the staff has been in place for the last few months, nothing is slowing down because of this transition. We will review the economic situation of the club and make decisions. We will make the best decisions with the medium and long term in mind."
"I'm going to be here for quite a while," he continued, "but I want to express the confidence I have in the people who are here every day. Today it's easy to stay connected wherever you are. Victoria is one of the leaders in women's football, and we are going to do our best to continue that role. Women's football is also going to be a priority for us, and we want to build on its growth and the recognition of Leganés as a club that is progressing in that area. This club belongs to the fans, we want to continue what Victoria and Felipe have done and that legacy, and hopefully when we say goodbye we can have the pride that they have for what they have done here".
