Antonio Palma has broken his silence after resigning as president of CD Ibiza. In a personal letter, the Spanish-Swiss businessman confirms the information advanced yesterday by this newspaper linking his resignation to the breach of the new Vila government team, the PP, of its commitment to allow CD Ibiza to play at the Can Misses stadium alongside the UD Ibiza.
This is the complete letter from Antonio Palma:
“Dear followers of CD Ibiza,
At first, I limited myself to sharing with the members my decision to leave the presidency of Club Deportivo Ibiza, a reason they could understand because I previously announced that if the new council did not respect the promises they made to me before the elections, I would not be able to continue at front of the club I also conveyed this feeling to the town hall, explaining that playing at the Can Misses Municipal Stadium was vital for the club because it needed that visibility to recover its sponsors, season ticket holders and other supporters, also compensating for all the wear and tear of the last two years. Now, seeing the circumstances and the pressure of the environment, I am forced to extend my explanation to all the people who may be interested in knowing the reason for my decision.
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I have not left the presidency due to problems with the club or any of its representatives. I have resigned after understanding that it was not only the old government team that did not support CD Ibiza, because the new government team acts in the same way. I have defended the club against people who did not show, in my opinion, adequate and dignified behavior towards the club, but now it cannot be done again against the decision of another new government team.
The previous mayor and the councilor for Sports told me that they had to sacrifice themselves for UD Ibiza. The current mayor and the current councilor for Sports informed me, along the same lines, that the person who would decide on the use of the facilities would be UD Ibiza. In the last meetings of these days, they offered us the option of paying to be able to compete in the Can Misses Stadium, a question to which we responded with enthusiasm and hope, even in writing in the affirmative, as long as the amount was communicated and calculated. by the Eivissa Town Hall. The councilor told us that she was upset to communicate a price for use since she did not have access to bills for expenses. She added that the expenses and investments of UD Ibiza in Can Misses were unknown due to lack of access to invoices. Would it be due to the legal impossibility of invoicing expenses without auditing that made the City Council renounce our ability to compete in Can Misses, after having difficulties justifying a billing amount to our club?
We were even asked if we would agree to pay half of the stadium’s expenses. We responded that if we had half of its usage, we were up for it. But we explained that we understood the preference given to UD Ibiza for being in a higher category and that our request was nothing more than to be able to spend four hours twice a month in the city’s municipal stadium, owned by its citizens. I told them that, the rest of the time, UD Ibiza could do what they wanted with the field, call it what they saw fit and paint it the color they liked.
Finally, this Friday the 14th, we were informed that the president of UD Ibiza had finally decided that we would not be allowed to set foot in the Can Misses Stadium even if we paid our part of the maintenance, posing a threat to the City Council itself not to pay anything if CD Ibiza competed in the aforementioned stadium. My answer was clear: «You force us to pay or else we don’t play. Why don’t you do the same with UD Ibiza? The councilor’s response was: “Because we cannot do that to UD Ibiza and the City Council needs UD Ibiza to take over the maintenance costs.” Therefore, the fate of CD Ibiza is in the hands of UD Ibiza. She left each one to draw their own conclusions about that submission to the president of UD Ibiza. Another question I ask myself is whether what the previous mayor failed to achieve in two years could the new mayor achieve in two months: that CD Ibiza falls into the hands of UD Ibiza.
This strong commitment by the City Council to UD Ibiza generates further damage to our entity and a lack of respect once again for those of us who make it up, especially my trusted people in the sports management, who have been tremendously harmed even on a personal and professionals. All this means that my position as president is not an added value for Club Deportivo Ibiza.
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As if all of the above were not enough, the straw that broke the camel’s back came hours after receiving the refusal to play the first team matches at the Can Misses Stadium. In the afternoon, the manager of the Patronat Municipal d’Esports calls us to propose a match between the first squads of our club and UD Ibiza, coinciding with the celebration of Festes de la Terra and as a sign of reconciliation. Political error or provocation? They deny us to play the Copa del Rey against Betis and Eibar in Can Misses and offer us to play a ‘friendly’ match against UD Ibiza after having disrespected us again. In any case, one more humiliation.
The new mayor has shown that he does not want to serve two clubs in the city (both teams in the national category). He even announced that he would not accept any more clubs, a statement that democratically seems to sound strange. This new situation, which was totally unimaginable after my interviews with the mayor before his election, makes me not want to be identified as someone who fights to fight. Of course, those responsible for these decisions could one day have to justify their decisions, apparently devoid of any legal protection, an issue that time will tell us if this is the case or not. I want to add that I do not have any negative resentment against any political party. I have always given the utmost importance to people who take a step to represent the citizenry. I have and will continue to have many political friends from different parties, whose behavior I have always valued and remembered.
What is also striking is that the former mayor asked the president of UD Ibiza to pay 2.3 million euros in investments for a period of two years to be the only user of Can Misses. How much is the current mayor going to ask for the same favor?
I don’t know what the club’s board will decide on how it will continue its activities, whose permanence I wish with all my heart, knowing also that the club existed before my arrival and can continue after my departure. In any case, the board and members know that they can count on my support so that their grassroots football academy continues to grow and improve as it has done in recent years. Those who know me know that grassroots football has been my true priority in this project, growing from 50 to more than 400 girls and boys during my tenure. A medium has given me a red dot mentioning that it seems that I do not care about the future of the club. I inform you that I am the only member who has put money into the club so far so that it can start the 2023-24 season.
CD Ibiza deserves, for its history, its values and above all for the quality of the people in the club, young and old, the utmost attention and respect from certain political leaders”.
Up Cedé!
Anthony Palma
Former president of CD Ibiza
2023-07-16 21:17:24
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