Oscar Mayo, one of the most important figures in Atlético de Madrid's recent past, gave a talk yesterday at the World Football Summit in Seville. He spoke about various recent aspects of Atlético de Madrid in which he has been involved. His work attracting sponsors and generating profits for the club has been key in the last transfer market season.
"We try to do things differently, in a way that matches the spirit of the club, and it's not spontaneous at all, it's part of a strategy." Oscar Mayo spoke about what led him to sign for Atlético de Madrid, leaving a project like LALIGA, as well as the future plans of the club.
"Our fans are not customers"
"We are part of the entertainment industry, which is more than just soccer. Obviously, soccer is the most important thing for us and that's why we offer our fans a lot of experiences. They are more than just a customer, they are part of the club and we want to take care of them."
This way, the red-white manager introduced the construction of the new high-performance complex that will be totally different from what has been seen until now. It will be available to all users who want to visit it, but destined to be innovative in multiple ways.
"It will not be a normal sports complex, but a completely groundbreaking one. There will be space for entertainment, surfing, golf, digital sports and sports that are more common in Spain such as soccer itself. Obviously it is necessary for our first teams and the second team."
He was also clear about the club's medium-long term objectives: "We want to be positioned in this area of entertainment and as a club, when it comes to doing things differently. This is the game we are playing and we are proud of the path we are taking. We want to be different from the rest of the clubs."
During the 40-minute conversation between Óscar Mayo and Joan Mendoza, moderator of the presentation, he repeated ad nauseum: "We want to be different from the rest."
His "transfer" for Atlético de Madrid
"The decision was made in January. Personally, I am very proud of the process that has led me to Atlético de Madrid and for me it is a great opportunity. I wanted to change several things about the stadium, in terms of "branding", we changed the website, the app, the e-commerce."
Similarly, he talks about the famous four legs of the table that Diego Pablo Simeone constantly mentions, this time referring to the club's management. "We have the challenge of keeping all the parts of the club unified: fans, players, legends, companies and organizations related to the club..."
And he insists on the importance of the fans in this regard: "Throughout this process, fans are helping us a lot. I am very proud of everything we were able to do last summer with respect to what was mentioned above."
Finally, he specified something that is important: without investment there is no reward. "We had to invest money to change the club and we did a lot of things that we wanted to and we have today."