Valletta FC president Claudio Grech is focused on steering Valletta towards long-term success as the Citizens prepare for their first season back in the Premier League.
The City supremo, who last month was handed a new three-year mandate, told the SportsDesk podcast that his administration has been working hard to put the club on a solid foundation and confirmed that talks are progressing with the government that will finally see the club being awarded a piece of land to construct their training facilities.
The past 12 months have been very challenging for Valletta after they found themselves in the Challenge League, but Grech said that there were a lot of positives to take from this experience.
“It has been 11 months since I was part of a group that took over the reins of the club and knew the difficult situation the club was in,” Grech told the Sportsdesk podcast.
“Everyone is aware that it was not the team’s relegation that defined our club but the relegation, ironically, brought the best characteristic of our club and what renders us different from other teams.
“One has to remember that the club was coming from several years where they had won a lot of major domestic honours, thanks to the investment and sterling work of previous presidents and their administrative teams.
“The club passed through a major shock as nobody in our club ever considered the idea that our team could lose its top-flight status. In that difficult time, the team’s relegation restored a sense of belonging at our club as everyone united together, not just club officials but also all our fans, to try and lift the club out of that difficult situation.
“It has also made us realise all the good work that was done in the past and look for all the positive things that remained in our club and try and build on it.”
The Valletta FC president said that in that difficult time, the club returned to its roots and turned to their academy, on which the club had invested significantly in previous years, to lift the team’s fortunes.
“Over the years, Valletta FC has invested a lot so that our academy was put on solid foundations and nurture young players that will eventually represent the club in the Premier League,” Grech said.
“Our administration shared that vision, and last year we used a lot of our club youngsters in the Challenge League. We also handed five professional contracts to young players to form part of our senior team.
“Apart from that, we have started our preparations to make the next step in our grassroots sector.
“One of the pillars we set to transform the club is the programme Gen V, which is aimed at creating a generation of young players that will represent the future of our club for the next decade.
“One has to invest in these talented young players to ensure we maximise their potential. And to this end, we started this programme, which ranks at par in terms of importance as the senior team, and little by little, we help these youngsters develop so that we build the spine of our future team.
“Top-quality overseas players will join these young players in the team and will help them maximise their potential. In this way, they will continue to grow as a team and increase their level of performance.
“Our end goal is that they will reach a level of performance that will enable them to not only be selected by our national team but will have an opportunity to continue their career abroad.”
Grech confirmed that the club have brought in renowned coach Alessandro Piscina, who will be in charge of the development of all the competitive teams up to the U-21 squad, and will work hand in hand with head coach Thane Micallef and his technical staff to help the players’ transition from one age group to the other and eventually into the first team.
The Gen V programme, inevitably, needs to be backed by a strong financial plan to operate smoothly, and Grech said the club have created a strong financial model to sustain it.
“Valletta FC, unfortunately, does not have commercial facilities from which it can generate revenue,” Grech said.
“Instead, we created a financial model based on the contributions of people who have Valletta FC at heart. We have a strong sponsorship structure that enjoys a reach that no other club has.
“We have created a financial frame that will generate the club’s financing for the next three years. We are blessed to receive the financial support from our fans through the V43 scheme, which reflects the greatness of our club.
“Our fans and members contribute considerably to our financial needs, and we are confident that in the next five years we can nurture players who will have the ability to play in our first team.”
In the past few weeks, Valletta FC have strengthened their first team with some quality signings, raising the expectations of the club fans that the Citizens can challenge for the major honours next season.
However, Grech called for calm and said that his main focus on attanining long-term success for the club.
“For me personally, we have already attained our biggest success with the administrative structure that we have introduced in the club,” he said.
“If you have a good organisational structure in place, then you can dream of challenging for honours consistently each year.
“Success on the pitch depends on how our first-team performs. We have brought in several players, and I believe that we have a very competitive team.
“Here at Valletta FC we are always ambitious to try and be challengers for the main honours, but it’s important not to get carried away. I expect a very competitive championship with many teams fielding strong sides, but I hope that we will have a team that makes our capital city proud.
One of the biggest disappointments for Valletta FC over the years has been their failure to be granted a piece of land on which they can build their own training pitches.
In the last few years, the Citizens were forced to higher other clubs’ pitches to train, and Grech said that it has become the biggest ‘wound’ of the club.
“Our bid to have our own football ground has turned out into an infinite saga that was dealt with by the different governments over the past 20 years, but so far there has been no solution to it,” Grech said.
“At present, the club has been given a piece of land that cannot be developed due to the nature of the area. We are operating with a major disadvantage as the biggest club in Malta does not have its own facilities, and we need to hire training pitches from other clubs, or else we don’t have anywhere to train our teams.
Government collaboration
“In the last few years, we found the collaboration of the government which recognised the need to have our facilities, and we are in an advanced stage to settle this issue once and for all.
“I am confident that in the next few weeks we will take another step in the right direction. Our goal is to have a football centre of the highest quality, and we have a financial plan to sustain it.
“I am confident that we will agree with the government, and all parties involved will benefit from this project.”
In the last few years, Valletta FC have also fielded teams in the women’s competitions, and Grech confirmed that
they plan to solidify this project and have appointed Claudette Taliana as the person in charge of all the women’s teams.
“The women’s teams started their operations in recent years, and this year we attained our first success when we won the Under-16 KO against Birkirkara,” Grech said.
“This year, we included Claudette Taliana in our committee and will coordinate all the womens’ teams. She managed to set up a management team that is operating, and we are confident that they can play an important part in our club in the coming years.
“I believe that by the end of this year we can look forward to have a team that can be more competitive.”
