greatest beneficiary of Mallorca’s
promotion as the club owed €17m in
deferred tax payments, consumed by
mismanagement off the pitch – and four
different owners – after dropping into the
second tier in 2013.
Moreno kept faith with many of the
players who had got Mallorca out of
the third tier and the squad shared a
€3.2m bonus for reaching La Liga, whose
president, Javier Tebas, praised Mallorca’schief executive, Maheta Molango, for
the club’s “proper management”. Tebas
added: “It used to be that leaving La Liga
was an economic catastrophe. Not now.”
When Sarver took over in 2016 he
took care of the outstanding €6m
payment to creditors. His partners are
also American, with former NBA star
Steve Nash on the board, while Andy
Kohlberg, the Mallorca president, was
a US tennis player.
Ahead of the new campaign, Martin
Valjent and Croatian striker Budimir, who
were on loan last season from Chievo
and Crotone respectively, signed
permanent deals, while Argentinian
striker Pablo Chavarria arrived from
Reims and Aleksandr Sedlar, a Serb
defender, came in from Polish champions
Piast Gliwice. Alex Alegria (Real Betis),
Josep Sene (Deportivo Leonesa) and
Aleix Febias (Real Madrid B) have
also joined.from the project. Sarver also owns
Phoenix Suns basketball team but
the glamour of the NBA was a million
miles away when he turned up for
Mallorca’s first game in Segunda B
on August 20, 2017.
The photograph of the billionaire
queuing up for the only toilet at the
Municipal de Peralda – a portaloo – was
a cameo of the task facing Mallorca.
Artificial pitches, tiny stands, not much in
the way of a crowd. However, Moreno’s
side came through their test of away
games at village sports centres, and now
everyone at Mallorca can share in La Liga.
Exchanging Peralda for Camp Nou
is not the only bonus. So, too is the
lucrative slice of La Liga’s television
revenue. As a promoted club, Mallorca
will net €45m, compared to just €5m
in the Segunda, starting with their first
match, at home to Eibar.
The Spanish tax agency is actually the
Going up...(from
left) Manolo Reina,
Antonio Raillo and
Martin Valjent