Sevilla president plots revolt against big two

Sevilla president Jose Maria del Nido has stepped up his campaign to stop Real Madrid and Barcelona taking around half the audiovisual rights revenue by inviting all La Liga clubs except the big two to a meeting.

Del Nido, one of the most outspoken critics of the current system under which Real and Barca collect about 50 per cent of the annual pot of around e600 million, compared his campaign yesterday to the French revolution. He said as many as 15 of the 17 other clubs in the top flight had confirmed they would attend tomorrow’s gathering at Sevilla’s Sanchez Pizjaun stadium, which would be a chance for discussion rather than a forum for taking concrete decisions.

“This is an uprising by the rank and file,” Del Nido said. “We can compare it with the French revolution and look what happened to the king who was in charge in France.

“There is no going back here, as directors we cannot allow a situation where, because two clubs are very powerful, they bring about the demise of the Spanish league.”

The difference in class and spending power between Barca and Real, the world’s richest clubs by revenue, and their domestic rivals was underlined by their emphatic wins in their opening league games of the season. Spanish and European champions Barca crushed Villarreal, who are competing in this season’s Champions League, 5-0 at the Nou Camp, while Real demolished Real Zaragoza 6-0.

The results prompted the president of Villarreal to accuse the big two of killing Spanish football, while Del Nido said La Liga was “a load of rubbish” as only two teams had a realistic chance of winning the title.