José Alonso: "We found chaos at Colón and a major financial mess" | OneFootball

The newly appointed president of Colón de Santa Fe, José Alonso, had an extensive conversation with Radio La Red of Buenos Aires about the critical situation the club is facing, the challenges of his administration, and the role of the new manager, Diego Colotto. Alonso did not hold back in criticizing the previous management, accusing them of mismanagement and plunging the club into chaos.

Below are the main topics addressed by Alonso:

1. Diagnosis of Colón's crisis:

Alonso described a bleak outlook for the past two years, contrasting it with the club's recent success, being champions with Eduardo Domínguez and finalists in the Copa Sudamericana.

"The truth is that the last two years were painful," he added, "I believe that in the last two years there was a kind of lack of management, and not just a lack of management, but it also turned into a sort of anarchy, in which the club lost its direction." "There was misguided management by those leading the club, and well, I think that led to what we saw these last two years, a hesitant Colón, soulless, expressionless, without claws, without courage, that is, that mystique that Colón had of sabalero grit was like anemic."

"Such is the case that we were practically on the verge of relegation, right?"

2. Critical situation of the squad:

The president agreed with previous statements from former players about the internal problems of the team, which he described as "soulless" and lacking the necessary rebelliousness. "It was a soulless team. Why? Because you didn't find rebelliousness. You didn't even find empathy among the players."

He highlighted the work of Ignacio Lago, whom he described as the "most outstanding player and the one who gave the most imprint" to the team, but emphasized that in the current category "that's not enough."

He explained that the Primera Nacional requires functioning "as a team," something that was not seen in the team. "The team doesn't just mean technique or tactics, but also integration and the conviction of where the player wants to go along with his team."

3. The role of Diego Colotto as manager:

Alonso expressed his satisfaction with the incorporation of Colotto, whom he considers a "prudent, very experienced" person and "a football fanatic 24 hours a day." He highlighted a fundamental quality that sets him apart from other managers.

"It's that Diego wants to be a manager, he's not stepping on the boot to see if he can be the future of the team, and that reassures the one who precedes him. I think that's a very important issue."

"And he's so intelligent that anything he says with the basic and prudent knowledge he has, when he expresses it, he expresses it with such clarity that it has conviction."

4. The internal "mess" and the economic situation:

Alonso, who took office on December 3, described the state of the club as chaotic, with serious administrative and financial problems.

When asked about how much mess he found, he replied: "A lot, a lot." "We have hidden an administrative disorder that we have to face in the coming days, I say days because there is not much time left, and a very significant economic-financial problem, very significant. But we have it under control, we will move forward."

5. Dismantling of the youth divisions:

Finally, the president harshly criticized how the previous management treated the youth teams, an area historically strong for Colón.

"We always had youth or formative teams, I don't like to say lower divisions, for me the word lower doesn't fit. Formative or youth teams."

"Well, these last two years they tore it apart, the two years practically let many players go for nothing, they dismantled them."

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.