Valencia's Anil Murthy: "We are going to have a complicated season and must be responsible"

After sanctioning the departures of Ferran Torres, Francis Coquelin and Dani Parejo from Valencia, Anil Murthy has given an interview to 'The Straits Times'. Valencia's president finds himself in the eye of the storm but feels the decisions being made right now are to guarantee the club's future.

"We are going to have a complicated season because of Covid-19, so we must be responsible and control costs tightly. What use is a bankrupt club? If things go very wrong in the financial aspect due to Covid-19, all clubs will be in trouble. We have to lead through responsible management during the Covid-19 crisis."

Whilst avoiding topics about specific transfers, Murthy did explain the overhaul of the backroom staff at the club. Valencia have essentially removed everyone from the Marcelino era, as well as some members of the medical team who have been at Valencia for years. "We hired new people and are building a new team. This is very normal in football. We are preparing ourselves for the future with a strong and professional medical team so that we can fix the injury situation and have our players fighting fit on the pitch throughout the season."

Murthy, as you'd expect, also came to Valencia owner Peter Lim's defence as he's set to face fresh protests over his management of the club. "Before Peter Lim took over, the club were unstable. We are in this for the long haul to grow Valencia into a stable and successful club. We accept we can make mistakes, but we will always work towards guiding the club towards being back among the best again."

The Salvem Nostre Valencia CF (Save Our Valencia CF) group have called for a protest outside Mestalla on Wednesday  12), with more than 500 people expected to attend.

Despite Murthy's words, he does hope to open up dialog with Valencia fans soon to address some of their concerns. "As the club's management, it is our responsibility to empathise with the fans. As we have done many times, we always seek to have direct communication with fans. But every club will have their problems and group of dissenting fans."