Atleti need a new home – and a new clock

Around 10 years ago the rumours started. Then a few years later it was made official and a deal was agreed. Then the plan was delayed, then it was delayed again and then, well, you guessed it, it was further delayed. Technically Atletico Madrid are homeless.

They sold the Estadio Vicente Calderon in a deal with the Mahou Brewery a few years ago and were supposed to kick off life in their new home next August. Right now, the plan for the new ground has been put on hold once more. That’s no surprise but what may be worrying some fans is that the plans to build on the Calderon site look set to be confirmed and so Los Rojiblancos are being pressed to move and move soon. It is a situation that has many comparing it to another historical and much-delayed move.

El Escorial is a village to the north of Madrid and one of its most famous buildings is a monastery. It was here that the mighty Felipe II moved his royal seat and ruled the new world. While it is from this its worldwide fame stems, locally it is famous for another reason – the 20 years it took to construct. Delays and problems saw construction drag out and many believed that it would never be finished.

These days, it is not uncommon to hear Spaniards complain about a builder’s work-rate by using the monastery as a reference. The saying goes: esto dura mas que las obras de El Escorial – This is taking longer than the building of El Escorial. It seems that the 21st century version of this project may be La Peineta.

It was a ground that was built in the 1990s for athletics but was allowed to fall into disrepair. When Spain decided to compete for the right to host the Olympic Games, La Peineta was seen as the key to it all. The problem was what would happen after the games. After building the original structure and being lumbered with the costs of maintenance and repair, the city council were desperate not to be caught out again. Step forward Atletico.

Whilst Atletico may have been on an upward trajectory in the late 2000s, the balance sheet told another story. Relegation, poor signings and unpaid tax bills had been ignored for years and while on the field the club had returned to European football, the accounting department at the club were busy holding off creditors. With the property boom still being enjoyed across the country, an opportunity that was too good to pass up fell into Atletico’s lap.

They were handed an offer that would see them buy and build a new ground at La Peineta – the price is still unclear – and they would sell Vicente Calderon for a small fortune that would clear the club’s debts. When the global recession hit, the need to sell became even stronger for the club as the taxman clamped down on unpaid debts and forced the club to repay all that was owed.

The problem was that with the property bubble now burst, the deal with the constructor was on the verge of collapsing and so what we have seen in the past four years has been nothing short of a circus.

Originally La Peineta was to be built for the Olympics with a running track and handed over to Atleti after the games. But, Spain lost in its attempt to host in 2012 and also in 2016. Madrid was still determined to host the Olympics and decided to throw its hat into the ring for 2020. It was decided that the reformation would be done with Atletico moving in first but handing over the keys for the summer in 2020.

According to some, it would be the Madrid city council who would foot the bill for the reconstruction, although others argued that costs would be shared. The Atletico board continually said that the club would not be paying anything but most of their comments were taken with a pinch of salt.

When Madrid lost out to Tokyo for 2020, the city council pulled the plug on their side but Atletico claimed that the move would still go ahead and said that the team would be playing in the new ground in 2016, this after originally stating that the move would happen in 2015.

A big ceremony and even bigger declarations were made and work finally started but now it has stopped again as the constructor, FCC, wants to renegotiate the deal. It is now believed that work will not be finished until at least 2017. Some may say that whilst they still have the Calderon, there is no hurry but in the next few days the city council look set to give planning permission for the area around the Calderon. The clock is ticking.

Yet, the Calderon hasn’t escaped problems either. A supporters group, Senales de Humo, brought the city council to court over the proposed plans for the brewery and the stadium. With the brewery and stadium gone, high-rise luxury apartment blocks and skyscrapers were planned to replace them as Madrid looked to build a metropolis close to the city centre. Under the then existing law, nothing over four floors could be constructed in the zone that the ground was situated on and so planning permission was denied.

The local government has since changed that law and as Spain recovers from the recession, the first steps towards the redevelopment of the area are expected to be taken soon. It is estimated that should everything go according to plan, the new area will be completed by 2022. This means that the Calderon/Peineta issue needs to be resolved as soon as possible.

Atletico fans have always opposed the move. La Peineta is 14 kilometres north of the Calderon in an area that isn’t easy to get to. Originally fans were told that new Renfe and Metro stations would be opened but these now have been shelved. Rojiblanco fans seem to have accepted that the move will eventually happen, though they still rejoice with every delay.

In the Atletico museum, there is a clock that counts the days since Atletico made their announcement that they were moving. So far it has counted far too many days for those at the club. There is a private joke among fans – the clock can only count up to 30 years. The way things are going they may need to get another clock as well as another ground.

La Liga - Club News