Jose Maria del Nido has asserted his belief that one way or another he will remain as Sevilla President pending an appeal to the Supreme Court.
The President is seen as having a contingency plan in place at the club for his succession, if an appeal against a seven-and-a-half-year sentence originally handed down in December 2011 is unsuccessful.
Del Nido, who is accused of sending fake bills for legal services totalling €6.73m to Marbella city hall between 1999 and 2003, saw the Supreme Court delay their decision on his appeal at the weekend until later in the year, pending one party’s request to have a public hearing on the matter.
“At the end of the year there will be a resolution. Whatever happens, there will be a successor, there will be relief at Sevilla,” mused Del Nido this week to his club’s in-house television channel.
“If Jose Maria del Nido Benavente leaves, then he will be succeeded by another Jose Maria del Nido Benavente.
“I’m used to living with pressure but I will say that on a personal level this is difficult to take. I endure it with humility and with character that I have always shown. Whatever happens, I will not step down.
“The people around me are suffering as they know I am relying much on the appeal. We are confident that everything will be okay.
“I am calm and I want to pass that on to everyone. It is good that they have accepted the appeal.”
Del Nido also spoke of Ivan Rakitic’s performance for the club in the weekend defeat to Barcelona.
“If I could, I would now sign him to a contract until he retires. He has shown professionalism, dedication, pride, fight for the badge and our colours and has earned the respect of the dressing room.
“His teammates named him captain and he is worthy of that.
“Rakitic slept four hours having returned from representing his national team, but wanted to play against Barcelona and every scored, helping his teammates like a fighter.”
