By David Gold
July 8 – Racing Santander have filed for voluntary administration due to debts of €33 million (£48 million/$47 million), blaming the move on the sale of the club to businessman Ahsan Ali Syed (pictured) and his failure to make debt repayments.
“Today isn’t a good day for the club and it will be very hard now to have to tell the players and the suppliers who we owe money to,” Racing President Francisco Pernia said.
He also said that the club was taking the step to avoid dropping into the second tier of Spanish football and complained of problems accessing credit.
Syed bought the majority shareholding in the club in January but he has failed to honour financial commitments made when he purchased the La Liga outfit.
Racing had asked the Regional Government to step in to guarantee their debt if Syed continued to fail to make the payments expected of him.
The club’s website said: “[Racing is in] a complicated legal position that was impossible to solve in the short term.”
Racing finished 12th last season and are one of a number of teams in La Liga facing financial problems.
Real Mallorca and Real Zaragoza are both in administration, as are the three teams promoted from the Segunda Liga last season, Real Betis, Rayo Vallecano and Granada.
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May 2010: Syed defaults on Racing debt repayment