Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1472871
13 NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 10 JULY 2022 secure any foreign investment in order to settle their debts and participate in the Premier League, Calleja said the foreign investors that came forward were not trustworthy. "It would have possibly left us in a bigger mess," Calleja said, having been unimpressed with the attitude and credentials shown by one particular for- eign investor, who did not even disclose his financial situation. "I wanted to safeguard the as- sets of the club and wasn't willing to risk compromising my club and my family, for the sake of playing in the Premier League." The reality of small clubs Calleja sounded his frustra- tion over the fact that the club is not backed the community of Pembroke, as much as the top Premier teams. "Pembroke is an expensive place to live in and people are moving out. That means that the majority of the residents are not root- ed in the community and they have no enthusiasm for the club. In order to compete in the top tier, a club requires the support and the financial back- ing of its fans." He said we was disappoint- ed that in the previous season, only one homegrown player featured in the squad, adding that he did not even feature in the plans of the coach, should Pembroke have played in the Premier League. He spoke fondly of the in- vestment and work that the club has put into the nursery and said that by playing in the Amateur League, more nursery players had a chance to play for their team. "In the Premier league we would have featured players who did not have a re- al passion for the club. In the Amateur League we will now give prominence to our home- grown players, who have a his- tory with our club." Calleja spoke about the harsh realities of Maltese football and said that clubs like Pembroke were not much of a benefit for the Premier League. "The at- tendance and support in the stands are what makes football attractive. When we played in Premier, we used to have sev- en people in the stands. If you can't provide decent support, you shouldn't compete in Pre- mier. This is my personal be- lief." He said that he believes the Malta Football Association should revamp the rules for "satellite clubs" like his, ar- guing that such clubs should serve the purpose of develop- ing players for the bigger clubs. He said that the current situ- ation for Maltese clubs was not sustainable, because the local scene was not attracting the right talent to help clubs make decent revenue. "We can't keep on spending thousands with no return on investment. The players that are coming in are not big enough to bring in the much-needed investment. Football in Malta has no fu- ture." "The presidency of Mal- tese clubs is a revolving door. Everyone gets into it enthusias- tically and with the best of in- tentions, but when one realises that money is simply pouring out his pocket, one would have no option but to re-evaluate. Many act as though tomorrow never comes. A club should not spend more than it could af- ford," Calleja said. Former Prime Minister Jo- seph Muscat was recently ap- pointed chairman of the Mal- ta Professional Football Clubs Association, which represents 14 premier league clubs. Calleja believes that Muscat's new venture in Maltese football is very positive, and discount- ed the political baggage of the former Labour MP. "He is ex- tremely talented and he looks at things differently than your average Joe. You need a person of great stature to shake things up... Malta is a small country, and talented individuals are very few." Santa Lucija FC reinstated in the Premier League The vacant spot left by Pem- broke in the Premier League will now be filled by Santa Luċija FC. They had originally been relegated to the Challenge League, after ending the season second from bottom with 27 points. MaltaToday spoke with the club president Robert Micallef, in order to understand better what it takes for a relatively small club to participate in the top division. "I certainly can't speak for Pembroke but all I can say about our club, is that from day one we set up a budget within our limits. We were responsi- ble with the club's administra- tion and we ensured the house was in order," Micallef said. "It is also quite expensive to participate in the Challenge League (First Division), espe- cially if you want to be com- petitive. If you play in Pre- mier without any silverware ambition, it doesn't cost you much more than the Challenge League." Micallef said the club's big- gest expense remains tied to the wages and stressed that clubs had to be realistic with their expenses. His club's ambitions for next season remain modest and re- alistic. "Our expectations can't be bigger than us, but football is not just about what happens inside the pitch. You need to have determined people work- ing for the club. It's not just about having 10 Maradonas on the pitch. What we can't do financially, we are doing by organising ourselves well... if clubs do not have the highest ambitions, it does not make sense to compete." The vacant spot left by Pem- broke in the Premier League will now be filled by Santa Lucija FC. Club president Robert Micallef (right) said the club's biggest expense remains tied to the wages and stressed that clubs had to be realistic with their expenses "What we can't do financially, we are doing by organising ourselves well... if clubs do not have the highest ambitions, it does not make sense to compete."