Ramón Calderón
| Ramón Calderón | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
José Ramón Calderón Ramos 26 May 1951 Palencia, Spain |
| Residence | Madrid, Spain |
| Nationality | Spanish |
| Alma mater | University of Navarre |
| Occupation | Lawyer |
| Known for | Former President of Real Madrid |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
José Ramón Calderón Ramos (born 26 May 1951 in Palencia, Spain) is a lawyer and an ex-President of Spanish sports club Real Madrid.
Life and career
Calderón was elected President of Real Madrid on 2 July 2006, winning the elections with 8,344 votes whilst Juan Palacios was second with 8,098. After discussions with his football director, Predrag Mijatović, Calderon hired Fabio Capello as club manager, after initially considering Bernd Schuster, the manager of Getafe.[1]
Amongst his promises when running for election was the signing of Arjen Robben from Chelsea, Cesc Fàbregas from Arsenal and Kaká from Milan. Calderón fended off allegations of making illegal approach from the clubs in question. He was only successful with Robben.
On 19 July 2006 he announced his first two signings, Fabio Cannavaro and Emerson; both signed from newly demoted Juventus for an estimated €20 million.
He later signed Ruud van Nistelrooy from Manchester United and Mahamadou Diarra from Olympique Lyon as well as delivering on his promise to acquire Arjen Robben from Chelsea. A year long loan swap deal was also concluded with José Antonio Reyes from Arsenal moving to Real Madrid in exchange for Júlio Baptista. Before the start of the 2008/2009 season, he tried to deliver Cristiano Ronaldo to the club, however failed in this ambition. Due to his re-election bid he was eager to promise securement of Ronaldo. This had been a common strategy to promise big names during re-election.[2]
On 16 January 2009 he resigned as Real Madrid President following allegations of vote-rigging for the confirmation for the financial budget. He was replaced by Vice President Vicente Boluda, who took the presidency for a short stint, before Florentino Pérez's second term.
Controversy
In January 2007, it was reported that Calderón had made defamatory comments about Real midfielder David Beckham, who had been out of favour at the Spanish club and had just signed a deal with MLS team Los Angeles Galaxy. Calderon was quoted as saying that Beckham would amount to nothing more than "an average cinema actor, working in Hollywood".
He is alleged to often refer to FC Barcelona as the "campesino" (peasants) of Spanish football.
He is infamous for his quotes to the media, he stated before being elected president that Madrid will sign some of the world's elite. The names of the players that would have been of the club's overtures to acquire were Arjen Robben, Kaká and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Real Madrid and Calderón have been criticised by Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson for what he called their immoral actions relating to their desire to sign Cristiano Ronaldo. He also prevented Robinho moving to Chelsea in the summer of 2008 saying he would rather sell to a club not in the Champions League.[3][4]
References
- ↑ http://www.tribalfootball.com/article.php?id=14251title
- ↑ http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jPeZJ-IMpSRjSFBHmbRajwoF2pZQD97ESP0G2
- ↑ Sir Alex Ferguson: Real have no morals | Manchester United - Times Online
- ↑ Premier League - Fergie blasts "immoral" Real - Yahoo! Eurosport UK
| Other offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Luis Gómez-Montejano |
President of Real Madrid 2006–2009 |
Succeeded by Vicente Boluda |