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Valencia's story of decline - and revival?

An interesting analysis of how Valencia lost their place as the third force in Spanish football: Importance of Champions League money

The article argues, 'It would be fair to say that up to the collapse of 10 years ago, they had been run into the ground by successive owners. Unlike Real Madrid and Barcelona,both embarking on stadium rebuilds of their own, the club have been denied by Spanish law the right to constitute themselves as member-owned. It left the club, considered to have the third-largest supporter base in Spain, at the mercy of bad owners.

'Now under the stewardship of the Singapore billionaire Peter Lim, who has an interest in Salford City - currently competing for promotion to the Football League - they have some stability. Their year-to-year finance plan relies upon the fragile premise of Champions League qualification which the club has achieved five times since Emery arrived there in 2008, including last season.'

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