Rayo Vallecano fans tend to sing for President Raul Martin Presa to leave the club in every match, but it was sung with special fervor on Monday night, after he declared that he wanted to build a new stadium on a different site.
Situated in the heart of the Vallecas neighbourhood where they hail from, the old Vallecas stadium has housed Rayo for 70 years, but Presa declared that it was ‘obsolete’, as there was ‘not enough space to grow’. He said that they would look for a site that is as close to Vallecas as possible.
There is little doubt the stadium needs renovation, as several areas of the stadium are showing signs of wear. It is owned by the Madrid Council, but leased by Rayo, and the former had to carry out some basic maintenance in recent years to make it safe, as Presa refused to do so.
While Rayo do tend to fill the stadium for the most part, there are still 2-3000 seats free for every game on average. During their match with Sevilla on Monday night, Rayo fans also sang defiantly that they would not take Rayo from Vallecas, that Vallecas is their home, and that is ‘their stadium, their neighbourhood’.
Relations between the fans and Presa have been strained for some time, due to a lack of investment, a failure to fulfil basic needs for some of the women’s and youth teams, and his political views. Tired of fighting these battles, ex-captain Oscar Trejo recently stepped down from the role after several years.
