The History of Sporting: 1998-2006, "The Dark Years"

It was a dull afternoon in September 1998 when Sporting played against Toledo in the first match of the season. It was not a typical Sunday football afternoon. Sporting were playing their first match in the Second Division after more than 20 years in the top flight of Spanish football. At the end of the match, the goaless draw seemed to predict what was going to happen over the following ten years.
These were tough times for Sporting supporters (Sportinguistas). Managers and directors spent money without any control and Sporting was near to folding several times.
The situation became critical during the summer of 2001. The local council had to buy the Mareo training grounds and the official trade-marks in order to provide to the club the necessary money to pay players and staff.

During the following years, the situation did not improve at all. David Villa (above), the new young promise had to be sold to Zaragoza for only €3 million in another desperate bid to raise cash. In the summer of 2005, the administrators took control of the club's finances in order to assure payments to staff and creditors.

Without a stadium, training grounds and trade-marks, a club in administration celebrated a hundred years of history. It was one of the most poor and depressing celebrations. The thoughts of the fans were centred around the potential disappearance rather than commemorating this historic birthday.

The external control of finances saved the club. This process stopped the club spending money and an austerity policy was imposed at El Molinón. It remained important to gain promotion to the first division and this was achieved in 2008, as I outlined in earlier posts, during "The Preciado's Era"