Raúl Martín Presa, President of Rayo Vallecano, has been strongly criticized by fans.
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The ongoing battle between Rayo Vallecano president Raúl Martín Presa and the club’s supporters has taken another ugly turn as the two parties hit out at each other on Sunday ahead of the team’s first home league fixture of the 2025/26 campaign against reigning champions FC Barcelona.
In an interview with media outlets, including Diario MARCA, outside the Estadio de Vallecas, ahead of the match on Sunday evening, Presa exploded in a spectacular rant about his own fans, partly due to the statement that fan groups emitted on Sunday morning.
Honing in on the topic of one iconic chant, ‘The Pirate Life’, Presa insisted “we will not tolerate it” before adding that “the values they claim to represent in Vallecas are the opposite of those defended by these gentlemen, they are contrary to the club and we must say it loud and clear”. The song includes lyrics such as, “the pirate’s life is the best life! No work! No studying! Bring on the rum! Rum, rum, rum, the bottle of rum, I’m the captain, of an English ship, and in every port, I have a woman”.
He added that, “they talk about working-class neighborhoods, and as far as I know, working-class people work their fingers to the bone, what they’re telling people is to be simple-minded, lazy, drunks, and not to respect women, those values are the opposite of those of Vallecas”. He instead suggested that “We tell our children to study, work, be good sons and daughters, good husbands and wives”.
The Bukaneros announced a supporting strike
On Sunday morning, fan groups of Rayo Vallecano published a harsh statement which slammed the management of the club across several areas ahead of their first home game of the La Liga season against FC Barcelona, with fans set to stay silent in their seats in the Fondo behind the goal nets.
“Rayo Vallecano is a centenary institution that bases its strength on two fundamental pillars: its workers, including the entire technical staff and players; and its fans, capable of making the team soar in glorious days, but also of getting down into the mud and picking the Club back up during the most agonizing, harsh, and adverse moments that have occurred over more than 100 years,” the statement reads.
It goes on to directly blame Presa for the club’s problems, saying that, “everything else fails, shrinks, and there is only one culprit: the one who manages our entity and the small cohort of flatterers surrounding him”.
The statement goes on to criticize the “institutional abandonment” of the club and its stadium, damning the rise in ticket prices, cleanliness at the Estadio de Vallecas, the lack of away fan tickets made available for FC Barcelona, the ditching of the club’s traditional red stripe on jerseys, and the management of the club’s foundation.
“It is urgent that we Rayistas see a gesture of reconciliation from the board,” the statement ends.
Presa’s response to the statement
Asked about his thoughts on the statement, Presa reacted by saying that, “they are trying to extort money from the club, to open Rayo’s coffers, so that Rayo cannot obtain income from Conference League season tickets or other sources, we are considering filing a criminal complaint”.
The club president added that they “will not tolerate threats and extortion, those who want to go to the stadium and cheer, let them do so, and those who don’t, well, don’t, everyone is free to do as they please”.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/samleveridge/2025/08/31/rayo-vallecano-president-slams-his-own-fans-in-simple-minded-rant/
