Espanyol director: Lal Liga Clubs scared of Perez(+ Barca)

The previous week, Sevilla president José María Del Nido had invited 18 first division clubs -- all of them except Madrid and Barcelona -- to Seville to discuss the issues that confronted them. Del Nido's obsession was what he himself had called "A crap league -- the biggest pile of junk in Europe." In the end, 12 clubs turned up. On the agenda: the establishment of a central fund to control income, a central power to take decisions and a redistribution of TV money.
A recent proposed deal, established and prepared to come into force in 2015 sought to enshrine inequality, handing 34 percent of TV money to Madrid and Barcelona. Del Nido insisted that the balance needed to be made more equal to ensure a more comeptitive league. He was proposing Madrid and Barcelona receiving a little over €71 million ($93M) a season -- still far more than the others but a long way from the current €153 million ($209M) being proposed. But that was just one of the issues on the table and these were little more than preliminary discussions. A show of will; a show of strength.
Although concrete decisions were not made, there was a collective willingness to alter things in Spain -- an agreement that the current model could not continue. There were plans for more meetings, to which Madrid and Barcelona would be invited. "They weren't invited this time," Del Nido explained, "because their problems are so different to the rest of ours."
More discussions would be held but the first and most difficult step had been taken: they had recognized that there was a problem and vowed to so something about it.
"This cannot now be stopped," Del Nido said afterward. He even likened it to the French Revolution, adding: "and we all know how that guy ended up."
Seven days later, though, and it was Del Nido who saw the glistening blade of the Guillotene hanging over him. This revolution was crushed emphatically. When he entered the league's HQ in Madrid, Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez did not shake his hand. When he departed, four bitter and tense hours later, he did so defeated. At the moment of truth, he had been deserted. Madrid president Pérez and Barcelona president Sandro Rosell attacked him furiously. The 12 clubs that had been in Sevilla, the 12 clubs that had supposedly agreed on the need for change a week earlier, whistled and looked the other way.
"Madrid took a firm stance against Sevilla," the Sevilla vice-president José María del Cruz said afterward. "Some of the clubs even said sorry for coming to the meeting [in Seville] last week. This was a disgrace. The posture they have taken is: everyone against Sevilla. Some don't even want to hear of the possibility of a more just distribution of money. Only Espanyol and Betis stood by us. Everyone else has kept silent as if it was nothing to do with them."
Espanyol director Joan Collet -- who was unfortunate enough to be sitting between Pérez and Rosell -- described the scene. "I exposed myself [to their anger]," he said. "I said that I was part of the group of clubs [that had protested] and that Sevilla were merely the hosts. I said I hoped to be able to talk about the crap league and that I would do it again. But others backed out. The thing is, when Madrid and Barcelona stand before them, when Florentino [Pérez] starts to talk, the other clubs s--t themselves."