“There will be painful decisions,” warned the Orlegi executives as soon as they took control of Sporting, in June. The new owners shook – and a lot – the structure upon their arrival. It was at that moment – even without detailed knowledge of the club – that they started a profound revolution announcing a series of dismissals of names that had been in the entity for some time with the previous ownership. And bringing together professionals he trusts, with whom he has begun a profound internal restructuring. The process began in the summer. But those changes were already planned. Especially those that affected positions of responsibility, where people from the Group’s rope entered. What is now known as “the direction of Sporting”. Those who make decisions. But now, seven months later, Orlegi has accelerated what is known as the “process” to reach an end, which is none other than seeking to strengthen the structure and obtain results, with his methods, of course. The latest example (perhaps the loudest and also criticized) has been the dismissal of Antonio Maestro, who had been the head of medical services at the rojiblanco club for almost twenty years.
The decision has aroused strong social criticism, due to the fact that one of the most valued professionals in Mareo was fired. An eminence in surgery and highly valued in the sports medicine sector. But the measure –although “painful” and complicated to take due to the social wear and tear it has aroused– responds to the intention of the new owners to break with some dynamics that they understand to be harmful. And, ultimately, bet on his way of understanding the management of a football club. That is to say: for being faithful to their model and way of acting. Also for perceiving in the day to day in Mareo – after seven months – incompatibilities between the ways of working of each other.
Abelardo, in fact, leaves the club more because of the differences with the owners than because of the same results. The straw that broke the camel’s back, in fact, was the appearance before the match in Santander, when he announced the injury of Ignacio Jeraldino, brought to Gijón by the Group to strengthen the lead. No longer because of the game at El Sardinero or the fall of the team, which have also affected. Now comes this delicate dismissal of one of the most important professionals in Mareo. A dismissal that again occurs more due to differences – in this case, let’s say daily criteria – between Toño Maestro himself and Odín Vite, highly respected by the Group, who is creating his own work team and is looking for another more face-to-face profile. That does not mean that the Mexican doctor breaks with everything. Because, in fact, doctors Gonzalo Revuelta and Juan Cachero remain on this “staff”. In the same way, other estates are satisfied with the work of professionals who arrived with the previous property and who remain with Orlegi Sports. But with the dismissals in less than a month of Abelardo Fernández and Antonio Maestro, two highly respected figures for sportingism and deeply rooted in the city and the club, in Orlegi it seems that a certain social toll is being assumed, because internally they believe that they are movements than in the medium and long term.
