2009 Club Presidential Election

[locoxriver]

As most of you know by now, River will be holding elections at the end of the year to choose the club's next President (farewell Jose Maria Aguilar!). Although many are aware of this, most seem to be unfamiliar with the candidates. I will posting information about each candidate here -- including stats, videos, opinions, etc. Anybody else is also welcome to contribute to the topic, obviously.

Furthermore, this thread will be used to post updates and the results of the election in December.

To kick off the discussions, here's the list of expected candidates (not all have "officially" confirmed their respective campaigns yet):

- Carlos Avila
- Daniel Bravo
- Antonio Caselli
- Daniel Cavallero
- Rodolfo D'Onofrio
- Juan Manuel Lanas
- Carlos Lancioni
- Mariano Mera
- Daniel Passarella
- Diego Quintas
- Horacio Roncagliolo
- Dario Santilli
- Hugo Santilli

Regardless of the outcome, I'm sure we'll all be happy to see Aguilar leave the Monumental.

[locoxriver]

Rodolfo D'Onofrio

Place of Birth: Ramos Mejia, Buenos Aires (Argentina)
Age: 62 Years Old

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a256/locoxriver/Donofrio02.jpg

Despite being somewhat less-known that some of the other candidates, the son of Raul D'Onofrio (President of AFA from 1971-1973) could have a solid campaign if Enzo Francescoli confirms his affiliation to his team. About three weeks ago, "El Principe" admitted to Ole (http://www.ole.clarin.com/notas/2009/05/26/futbollocal/01926419.html) that he had held meetings with Presidential candidates D'Onofrio, Passarella, and Avila. D'Onofrio was the one that convinced him the most. Although he hasn't officially linked himself to D'Onofrio's campaign, he could become a potential manager (a position similar to Carlos Bianchi's current role in Boca Juniors) if Rodolfo wins the elections in December.

D'Onofrio is an economist and has an extensive career in the insurance industry. He was President of the Asociación Argentina de Compañías de Seguro (Argentinean Association of Insurance Agencies) for four years and has also managed other important companies. His goals are to maintain a strong, steady financial backbone and focus more on the youth divisions.

In the following video Rodolfo D'Onofrio is interviewed on Fox Sports' "La Ultima Palabra":

YouTube - La Ultima Palabra - Rodolfo D'Onofrio 1/2

YouTube - La Ultima Palabra - Rodolfo D'Onofrio 2/2

[locoxriver]

Carlos Avila

Place of Birth: Paraguay
Age: 66 Years Old

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a256/locoxriver/carlosavila.jpg

(Pictured right)

As a young child, Carlos Avila migrated from Paraguay to Argentina. His youth years were full of struggles and financial problems: Carlos was never able to meet his father and lived in small bedrooms in houses his mother would clean. Incredibly enough, Avila would later make a huge transition into being of the biggest businessmen in the nation.

Nowadays, Carlos Avila is a symbol of the Football-Media business. The multimillionaire created TyC (the channel owns exclusive rights to televise Argentine football), owned important magazines (El Grafico) and popular radio stations (La Red), and has important links with AFA and Grupo Clarin.

Positives:
- Many compare him to Mauricio Macri: the ex-Boca Juniors President took charge of "Los Xeneizes" in a difficult situation that was very similar to River's present. Macri, having a businessman profile, improved Boca's footballistic results and stabilized the club's finances. With Avila being a wealthy individual that is known to generate large sums of money, similar results are expected from him in River.
- He claims that he wants River to own 100% of the player rights once again: no more "secret"/unknown businessmen and clubs buying percentages of young talent.
- Unlike many of the other candidates, Avila is not linked to the current dirigencia.

Negatives:
- Avila may possess "too much" of a businessman attitude. He has previously declared that he isn't very familiar with football (golf is his true passion), which leads to a frightening question: is he doing this primarily for personal economic benefit? It doesn't help to see him personally admit to being friends with several infamous "mafioso" figures such as Julio Grondona, Carlos Menem, Eduardo Duhalde, and Fernando de La Rua.
- So far Avila has proposed many ideas he has to improve the club (he wants to improve the institution, modernize the stadium, bring back important players), yet he lacks detailed projects. Sure, we'd all love to have a team that constantly wins International tournaments and purchases star players.. but how are we going to do that?

Interview with TV show "Por Amor a River":

YouTube - AVILA (PARTE 2)

YouTube - AVILA (PARTE 3)

[locoxriver]

Carlos Avila

Place of Birth: Paraguay
Age: 66 Years Old

Negatives:

I didn't have time to mention one of the most important points because I was running late for soccer:

Carlos Avila became well known in the River world after publicly negociating the return of Ariel Ortega to "los millonarios" in February of this year. While on live television, Avila reached an agreement with River's dirigentes to pay Independiente de Rivadavia $800,000 to bring Ortega back to "La Banda" from his loan six months early. At first, I was quite excited over the possibility of seeing "el Burrito" return sooner then expected to River. But the whole deal brought up one big question: why would Mr. Avila do this? Sure, he would win votes by it, but how would he get almost a million dollars cash? What if he paid the large sum and still didn't win the election?

Upon further research it was discovered that Avila had close ties to Daniel Vila (owner of Independiente de Rivadavia) from his days in the radio station "La Red". After thinking it through a bit more, one can't help but wonder if Avila really was going the $800,000 or if the two friends had reached a deal. Maybe Vila owed Avila money?

The point is, Avila went from being one of the many people in the list of candidates to one of the top favorites in just a matter of days... and it didn't even cost him a penny. Just by chatting with Riverplatenses or surfing the web, one can see that an incredible amount of fans support the businessman just because of the whole Ortega incident. It's fair to say that he is one of the top favorites to win the upcoming elections, if not THE top candidate.

[locoxriver]

Daniel Bravo

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a256/locoxriver/fotoenlaradiobravo.jpg

Place of Birth: ?, Argentina
Age: 51 Years Old

Daniel Bravo claims to be a loyal candidate who places honesty, solidarity, ethics, and professionalism as some of the main traits of his 2009 campaign. But how loyal, honest, or professional can you be when you've been linked to Aguilar heavily in the last few years?

In 2001 (year Jose Maria Aguilar was first elected President of the club), Bravo was given the position of "First Representative of Socios". In 2007, he became the President of River's Education Department. When asked about his thoughts regarding the Aguilar era in a 2008 article (http://www.bravo2009.com.ar/uploads/image/Notas/5.jpg), Bravo seemed quite satisfied and didn't seem to highlight the horrific results Aguilar has brought to the institution. Instead, he chose to applaud the expansion of the parking lot and the creation of the team museum (the latter being a project that has yet to be completed), and also cheered our few championship wins ("It is not bad to win one tournament every two years, because it corresponds to River's historical accomplishments", he said). To top it off, he says he has not doubts that the club has improved in the last six years.

YouTube - DANIEL BRAVO

[locoxriver]

I'm sorry I never updated the thread the way I had originally expected to. It simply took a very large amount of time to research and post the information on each presidential candidate, yet I wasn't sure if anyone here was even reading what I wrote (notice the zero replies). I apologize to anyone who wanted me to continue posting information on each candidate, next time just let me know if you want me to continue.

Anyway, the elections will be held in a month and anyone who is looking to run for the position must officially present his list by tomorrow night.

The biggest surprise so far is that apparently Carlos Avila dropped out of the race! :eek: The creator of TyC Sports was one of the favorites to take it all, so it's a huge shock to see him step aside at this point.

Another important possibility is that of several candidates grouping up and running as a single body: it is said that Diego Quintas and Hugo Santilli could form an alliance, while rumor has it that Antonio Caselli and Daniel Passarella may opt to team up.

I will post the official list of candidates on Wednesday.

[locoxriver]

The final list of candidates for River's 2009 club presidential elections has been determined. The five candidates that will be fighting on December 5th for the spot to replace Jose Maria Aguilar are:

- Antonio Caselli
- Mariano Mera Figueroa
- Daniel Kiper
- Rodolfo D'Onofrio
- Daniel Passarella

If I'm not mistaken, Daniel Kiper is the only candidate that participated in the last elections in 2005.

Mariano Mera Figueroa will be forming an alliance with several other figures that were previously attempting to fight for the Presidential title: Carlos Lancioni and Horacio Roncagliolo both form part of his team.

Of the the five participants, there are three main candidates: Antonio Caselli, Rodolfo D'Onofrio, and Daniel Passarella.

Antonio Caselli is the candidate that has spent the most money on campaigning: numerous flags with his name can be seen at almost every River game -even away matches-, while advertisements and billboards sponsoring him are all over Nunez. If he were to win, ex-President Alfredo Davicce would be his Vice President. Caselli has gained the support of many fans, though there are still several who compare him to Aguilar.

Rodolfo D'Onofrio instantly moved up the ladder after gaining Enzo Francescoli's support. D'Onofrio promises to give Enzo the title of club manager (similar to what Carlos Bianchi is currently doing at Boca) if he wins the elections in December. Like Mariano Mera Figueroa, his team is also composed of some candidates who dropped out of the race: Diego Quintas and Dario Santilli.

When Daniel Passarella's name is mentioned in River, there always is a line that is drawn between those who favor and those who oppose him. Passarella has stated that he wants to "Europeanize" the institution, while maintaining a classic "South American" soccer style of play. He has a large percentage of socios who support him, yet there are still many who call him a "Bostero" and claim that he would rob the club.

[snowboarder]

Thanks for bringing this thread back to life. I appreciate your efforts to keep everyone up to date with the candidates and the process. Thanks.

This election is going to be very important for CARP to regain the history and championship level of the past. Hopefully, no matter who is elected, he will bring the fire and passion needed to ignite los millonarios to victory in all tournaments played throughout the year.

[Illrod3]

Thanks for bringing this thread back to life. I appreciate your efforts to keep everyone up to date with the candidates and the process. Thanks.

This election is going to be very important for CARP to regain the history and championship level of the past. Hopefully, no matter who is elected, he will bring the fire and passion needed to ignite los millonarios to victory in all tournaments played throughout the year.

Yes, thanks Loco!! your efforts do not go unnoticed my friend. I know that you have helped me to get a clearer picture of what's going on in Nunez, specially while living in such a futboless area such as Kentucky. Thanks again.

[berloha]

I just read that the candidates do not want to sell Buonanotte !:) So for me, all can become Presidents. :D

[snowboarder]

I just read that the candidates do not want to sell Buonanotte !

This would be a step in the right direction. I'm not suggesting that Diego Buonanotte has a desire to leave River more than it may be the desire of the current President wanting to get rid of him for financial reasons. In my opinion, a player needs to not only help bring one championship but multiple championships in different tournaments to the club prior to the desire of moving onto a bigger paycheck elsewhere in the world. It is a case of "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours." A decent President would grant the wish of a player that brings pride and glory to the club over a two or three year period. It's only fair.

[locoxriver]

I just read that the candidates do not want to sell Buonanotte !:) So for me, all can become Presidents. :D

Of course they're going to say that. I'm not saying that it's a sure thing that Buonanotte will leave at the end of the tournament, but we all know that politics is full of empty promises.

We must also remember that Aguilar is still our president till December (till the second week of the month, if I'm not mistaken), so he will be looking to get the transaction through before the new candidate takes over. Hence why he's trying to seal the deal now. :(

[snowboarder]

Worthwhile goal.com artilce (http://www.goal.com/en/news/60/south-america/2009/11/17/1629315/south-american-dispatch-still-waters-run-deep-as-river) from yesterday that has some Daniel Kiper, Mariano Mera Figueroa and Rodolfo D'Onofrio quotes.

Clarin.com has the articles (http://www.servicios.clarin.com/buscador/jsp/clarin/v9/rc.jsp?fDesde=20091115&tagId=22830) regarding the election as well.

[locoxriver]

Interesting goal.com artilce (http://www.goal.com/en/news/60/south-america/2009/11/17/1629315/south-american-dispatch-still-waters-run-deep-as-river) from yesterday that has some Daniel Kiper, Mariano Mera Figueroa and Rodolfo D'Onofrio quotes.

Great article! Thanks for posting it!

[Andrés_]

locoxriver, last week i heard that in case of winning one of the candidates would lure an investor group to invest 60 million dollars so River can build a winning squad, do you know who is it? How much of that is true?:confused:

[locoxriver]

locoxriver, last week i heard that in case of winning one of the candidates would lure an investor group to invest 60 million dollars so River can build a winning squad, do you know who is it? How much of that is true?:confused:

I heard it was 60 million pesos, so we're talking approximately 16 million dollars. I've been trying to find out which candidate it is: many say it's D'Onofrio, some say it's probably Passarella due to his history with investor groups. Still, we have to see if this rumor is even true to begin with.

It would most definitely be helpful to have that money brought in since quality players would be able to be purchased. Then again, I don't know if it would be a step in the right direction. Remember that when we dealt with an investment group a few years ago, we didn't earn that much from the sale of the Higuain, while they took over double what they invested just three months earlier. If a group invested 16 million dollars this time around, I wouldn't be surprised to see them leave with 50 million in their pockets. :rolleyes:

[locoxriver]

Some updates on the candidates were published in Ole today:

Daniel Passarella

"El Kaiser" may be reaching an agreement with Ramon Diaz within the next few hours. It is said that in the coming days several ads may be seen showing Passarella with ex-River players that could be some of his reinforcements.

Rodolfo D'Onofrio

Enzo Francescoli, who already forms part of D'Onofrio's "team", will be trying to convince another giant River legend to form part of the project: Norberto Alonso.

Antonio Caselli

Caselli is beginning to think of possible squad reinforcements in case of his election. David Trezeguet, Diego Lugano, Dario Cvitanich, and Mariano Pavone are some of the names rumored to be on his list.

Mariano Mera Figueroa
Figueroa reached an agreement with Guiseppe Dosenna. The ex-Italian NT player would get the company Deloitte to invest 30 million euros on the club. The money would be payed back with 20% of every future transfer.

[locoxriver]

Great interview (in spanish) with Rodolfo D'Onofrio:

http://www.clarin.com/diario/2009/11/13/um/m-02040136.htm

I liked what he said about linking River with China:

"I want to bring one Chinese player to play on the team. Why? With a population of 1.4 billion people, there has to be one that knows how to play well. I'm not saying he has to be a playmaker, but there has to be a #2 or a #4 that could play in River. I don't want him to come for two months, I want him to play here for two or three years. If we get 1% of the Chinese population to become River fans, we'd have the same amount of fans as we do in Argentina. This is how you open the market."

[Andrés_]

I've heard about that before, they were looking for a chinese(or korean) fullback.

So it's 16 million? Oh well, 60 million sounded a bit too much, but nevermind 16 million is enough to get at least 3 good players on the coming transfer window.

[snowboarder]

Rodolfo D'Onofrio's thoughts about China are intriguing. Immediately, I like that a candidate is thinking of how to generate more money/fan base around the globe. As far as actually being elected and following through with ideas/promises is still to be seen in all politics. Not to say that the politicians don't want to do everything they say, just that sometimes the priorities simply get turned around after the election.

Slightly off topic - As far as I can recall, CA Boca Jrs. have been one of the clubs to go after Chinese players in the past. Also, I thought that CA Banfield had a player born in China but raised in Argentina with their Reserve team.