Santos, a club in crisis; “We need to regain our roots”

<a href="https://www.world-today-news.com/america-wins-3-0-and-sinks-santos-further/" title="América wins 3-0 and sinks Santos further”>Alejandro Irarragorri Kalb, the youngest president in the history of Mexican soccer, offers few concrete details about the future of the Santos club. The management committee of Grupo Orlegi, founded by his father Alejandro – today investigated by the Attorney General’s Office of the Republic for alleged tax fraud – made his appointment official last Thursday in one of the campaigns with the lowest attendance at the stadium. TSM Corona, in Torreón.

Irarragorri Kalb is 24 years old and there is no record of a younger leader in the first division. Jesús Martínez Murguía, boss of the León club, assumed the same position in November 2010 when he was 25. I don’t promise anything. We have to return the enthusiasm to the people from within and recover our roots, says the also graduate in business administration from the University of Las Américas.

At least 11 players on the current Warriors roster are older than Irarragorri Kalb. Anderson Santamaría (32 years old), Antony Lozano (31), Carlos Acevedo (28), Francisco Villalba (26), Hugo Rodríguez (34), Ismael Govea (27), José Juan Macías (25), Pedro Aquino (29), Raúl López (31), Ronaldo Prieto (27) and Vladimir Loroña (25). “Aleco grew up in Santos since his father took over the team in 2006. It is a very important leap, at a very difficult time for Laguna,” says former soccer player Marc Crosas, League champion in 2011.

Until last date in the Liga Mx, those from Torreón registered a total of 192,471 fans between the Clausura and Apertura 2024. Their lowest attendance was at the beginning of the month against Bravos de Juárez, when only 7,341 people entered the sports complex, whose capacity is 30 thousand spectators. “People are very upset, we have seen it with tickets that have been very poor in the stadium. Many have felt offended by Orlegi’s lack of concern with Santos,” adds the Spaniard.

Irarragorri’s experience in soccer began in 2017, when he carried out strategy, logistics and marketing tasks in different areas of the club. That took him two years later to Celtic in Scotland, where he had an internship before taking charge of digital marketing at Atlético de Madrid for seven months. “I understand that there is mistrust, but just as we have fallen, we also get up,” explains the young president. “It is a matter of commitment. I am confident that we will have a promising future, we will do more with less and generate young people from below. That is our philosophy.”

Santos, six-time champion in the professional circuit, is in last place in the League, with eight points out of a possible 36. Although he tries to be cautious in the face of a change of direction, coach Ignacio Ambriz recognizes that there is an increase in criticism and disqualification of his work. “I like Ale’s enthusiasm, his youth, but we have to go step by step,” says the former national team. “He is a young president, we have not had much time to talk. On Saturday (after the 3-0 defeat against América) he approached me and said: ‘Cheer up, teacher’, but it is another defeat and the situation is not easy at all.”

Aleco, as he is known by family and friends in the Comarca Lagunera, is part of a new generation of leaders in Mexican soccer. In addition to Jesús Martínez Murguía, who remains president of León, others such as Fidel Kuri Mustieles, from the extinct Veracruz (27 years old) and Jorgealberto Hank Inzunza, from Tijuana (28 years old), also took the reins of an entire sports project. As the relegation to the second category is closed – a decision promoted by his father Alejandro in 2020, along with other federations – the only penalty for the Warriors will be a million-dollar fine if they remain in the last places at the end of this campaign.

Last January, state authorities confirmed the death of a 54-year-old woman and reported at least five injured people outside the TSM Corona after a group of Monterrey fans were hit by a pick-up truck that was traveling too fast. of speed. Although security was questioned, the facility later operated normally.