LENDOIRO: "IT'S DIFFICULT TO IMPROVE WHAT WE HAVE" Before the match of this weekend against Osasuna, Deportivo president Lendoiro commented to AS on several topics. These include the financial situation of the club, and the absence of signings which has been related to it. Q: Is it true Deportivo are financially broke? A: Not at all. Didn't AS wrote once I create wonders? Well, let us work some more on that. And that's normal. We come from a small city, and became big without the support of institutions or big companies... Q: The current situation isn't bad? A: Not at all. Deportivo are among the best European clubs if we consider the results of the past seasons. And we're the only club having finished among the first three in Spain in the last five seasons. Like Real Madrid, we played the last four editions of the Champions League. The capacity to continue in this way is as always based on the illusion of our supporters. About ten years ago at least three Galician clubs had more supporters than we had. Q: But this illusion is going down because the absence of signings. A: We did sign players: Momo and Ruben. It's another thing that in the end we decided to let them gaining experience at another club, because they would not have many minutes here and that would be negative to them and to Deportivo. We didn't sign other players because it's difficult to improve on what we already have. To sign is to strengthen, and every year that's becoming more difficult. Q: It's not because of financial troubles? A: We cannot afford investments of €30 million, that's evident. But during the Euro 2004 tournament and the first matches of Luis Aragones as coach of Spain, Deportivo delivered six players. Besides, we have Andrade, Munua, Pandiani and Scaloni as international players. And players like Manuel Pablo and Sergio could return to the Spanish squad at any moment. Like Duscher... How much will cost a player capable of improving what we have? We cannot afford to take risks. Q: But you're good in taking risks. A: Look, this team could have been crowned European champions last season! And we threw away the second place in the Liga by drawing against Valladolid and Betis. With a point more we had conquered that place instead of Barca, and everybody claims they were impressive last season. It's more important that we haven't lost one of our star players. Other clubs cannot repeat that. Q: Barca cannot. A: Exactly. They have signed players capable of deciding matches at important moment, but at the same time they let go players that were crucial last year like Cocu, Davids and Luis Garcia. One will have to wait and see what will happen to them. But I prefer not to change what's going well. Q: It's a question of trust? A: Of course. I believe in Depor. The thing is that the players, the coach and the supporters also must do so... The squad is very good, but we’re not obliged to win titles. This obligation is for other clubs because of financial possibilities. But we would love to win the Liga, the Copa, the Champions League. Q: What about Fran? A: The problem with him should never have been created, and that's why I prefer not to think about it anymore. Fran remains a player of us, like Mauro Silva. Why should we now sign players for their positions? Maybe within one or two years, but for now it's sufficient what we have. Q: Some say Deportivo have debts with other clubs. A: These are lies. We have not any debt with any club. It's the other way round, because we still have to receive money of some clubs. Deportivo have paid for every player we have bought. It's another thing that in some cases, like all clubs do, we pay in parts about which we reached an agreement. Q: Something else now. Sevilla president Del Nido protests because the Camp Nou still hasn't been closed while Riazor was some years ago after a kid threw a coin towards the referee. A: And what a coincidence that the first match we were obliged to play away from Riazor was against Barcelona... We protested, and achieved what we wanted. But then Gaspart felt treated unfairly. I am against closing any stadium, because that's not the solution. Q: What about Laporta wanted Luque? A: There never was a serious offer, not even €1 million. In fact, there was nothing. There was that thing when they spoke to him, in the same week Barcelona played in Riazor. That was a nasty thing from them to do, even more because they never were seriously interested in taking him. It was just something to put pressure upon us. We only ask respect from them and to leave us alone. Q: Are you never tired of all this? A: Never, because we still have to achieve so much! Now our target is to earn €60 million during five years and to keep Deportivo being property of our stock holders. We already have 25.000 of them, while the rule remains that a single person cannot have more than one percent. Q: What about the seasonticket holders? A: We get about fifty new ones per day and we could have 2.000 new ones this season, close to a total of 32.000. One of our targets is to attract more younger people. --

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