Club statement

Alex Menta

As the General Manager, I consider it appropriate and necessary to express my thoughts on last Friday’s events.

Since taking over the club, the ownership has been making significant investments, with the intention of growing the club, ensuring its longevity, and building an organization that serves as a point of pride for the city. Unfortunately, the results do not currently reflect these aims, but every day I see the "live motive" for which they entered the sport – to highlight the values that football represents, such as loyalty, sacrifice, ethics, and mutual respect, while working to create sustainable sporting results.

Now we find ourselves in a difficult moment. The entire organization is under stress to work quickly with the new coaching staff. We must improve our results and continue to demonstrate a commitment to representing the characteristics of our ownership and performing up to the standards of our supporters.

We chose Clotet for his charisma and his eagerness to step up in the middle of a challenging season. The coach lives all week with a single goal: to WIN and to create a strong group among the players. We are all truly destroyed when we do not achieve what we work so hard for. 

This desire and passion led to an unfortunate incident that, though within challenging  circumstances, was not representative of our collective values. Pep knows this and he and I have had extensive discussions over the weekend, including with our team leaders, to discuss our collective path forward. We have agreed that, even in a short time, our new coaching staff and the team have forged a relationship of mutual respect, one with the fortitude to utilize and grow stronger from this experience. As an organization, we believe that together we can steer the ship out of rough waters and we look forward to continuing our collaboration.

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Pep Clotet

I would like to apologize for what I did on Friday night. I let my intense competitive passion lead me to an action that I sincerely regret. I should not put my hands on a player and, even though Raimonds made a decision that cost us dearly, my action went too far. I strive to model the behavior I would like to see from my players, and I apologize to Raimonds, the club, and our fans. Raimonds will be given the opportunity to earn his spot back with the team, and I believe in him as a player. As a team, we have used this event as an opportunity to have open and honest dialogue and I expect that we will only become closer and stronger because of it.