Florentino Perez: 'We believe in this team and in the best coach in the world: Jose Mourinho'
Real Madrid President Florentino Perez gave the opening speech in the club's 2011 General Assembly.
First team & Jose Mourinho
"We believe in this team and in the best coach in the world: Jose Mourinho. He has assumed what it means to be Real Madrid's coach and he has a high level of empathy and compromise with the club. His Madridismo is unquestionable. We want the dream of winning our tenth European Cup title to come true soon."
"We should remember the team wasn't even a top seeder in the Champions League when this new era at the club began two years ago. Last season we reached the semifinals, something that hadn't happened since the 2002/03 campaign. We took more points than any other side in the group stage, and were the top scoring and least scored upon team."
"The experience of last season proved we needed a new and modern organisational structure at the club that would give our coach autonomy and avoid disfunction due to the existence of a Sports Director General's office."
New signings
"We've increased the talent of the squad, rejuvenating and improving it. I hope we can soon enjoy the talents of Sahin, who was the Bundesliga's best player last season, and Altintop, who came from the same league. Callejon is one of the fastest players in La Liga and a youth teamer with a solid present and future. Coentrao is a great addition to the tean."
Excellence
"Our essence makes us better ourselves. We have the best players in the world and they are reinforced by the academy. We're on the right path, sailing the right course; we've laid the groundwork for it to be so. The pursuit of victory is part of the identity of this team and we want the dream of winning our tenth European Cup title to come true soon."
Copa del Rey
"We had one of our best moments in recent years in Valencia. It was one of the most intense finals in the competition's history and more than 20,000 of our supporters were there for us. Madridistas were very excited about winning the title and the team took it at the same stadium where it last won it 18 years after ago."
Basketball signings
"We signed Carroll, Pocius and Rudy Fernandez. The latter recently won the EuroBasket with Spain. They will all be coached by Pablo Laso, a man of the club who played for the team and knows our values."
"The team reached the Final Four and were top seeders in the group stage for the first time since the creation of the Euroleague in 2000/01, but we aspire to reach farther."
"The team will return to the Palacio de los Deportes this season, a venue that brings back fond memories for all Madridistas due to the success the team found at the pavilion between 1986 and 1998. We knew our supporters wanted us to return there and we believe it will help strengthen the team."
Real Madrid City
"We've continued to improve the existing facilities at Real Madrid City. We installed a recycled water supply system, improved access to sports grounds and reformed our Medical Centre."
"Construction is currently being finished on the first team and academy halls of residence, which will be located around the training pitches."
"We also continue to work on building a theme park on the 120 hectares at Valdebebas. We want it to be a place where Club Members and supporters may enjoy themselves learning about our 109-year history."
Realmadrid.com
"Our website has doubled in hits. Our record was 15,016,714 visits in April. During the 2010/11 season the website had 93,903,631 hits."
Social media
"Real Madrid is the most popular sports club in the world's social media according to FameCount.com. We have close to 20 million fans on Facebook, more than 2 million followers on Twitter and 37.5 million views on Youtube. All this gives Real Madrid a 53.76% in popularity and makes it the largest growing sports club on Facebook."
Realmadrid Foundation
"Our social and sports academies continue to prove football and basketball are excellent tools with which to instill positive values."
Traditional values
"We must watch out for those who endanger the conditions we've inherited throughout generations: solidarity, respect for fair play, fight against racism... We are all aware of our Madridismo and it's important that we work for it."
Santiago Bernabeu Stadium reform
"The stadium must be subjected to constant evolution and must become a symbol for state-of-the-art facilities and excellence. We want to transform it and make of it a leading example for modernity, for sports, for Madridismo and for the city of Madrid. We want it to be a building whose singularity, quality and beauty goes beyond our borders."
"We want to provide it with enveloping skin that will serve to roof all seats so that our supporters won't suffer from adverse weather conditions while watching a game."
"We will move the Esquina del Bernabeu shopping centre to the Paseo de la Castellana, where our facade will be enlarged by 24 metres. We will enlarge and improve our museum and the Stadium Tour, which currently have 750,000 visits per year, making it a strong touristic destination in the centre of town."
"We will use state-of-the-art technology and renewable energy sources. An underground parking lot for 1,000 vehicles will be constructed, but we will also keep the 500 capacity parking lot on the corner of Concha Espina and Padre Damian."
"To sum up, this is a unique and exceptional opportunity. The stadium of our dreams must become the best stadium in the world and must have universal appeal."