Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Madrid Burns


Madrid has been a bit too hot for the last few days, but it shouldn’t be so hot that buildings burst into flames. Last night a new office block that is projected to be the tallest in the city was on fire for several hours; illuminating the nearby celebrations of the Spanish basketball team, newly crowned world champions. The building is being constructed on the site of what used to be Real Madrid’s training ground, that is until the city administration decided to give the club a very succulent gift by reclassifying the valuable site as suitable for construction. The operation wiped out Real Madrid’s massive debt at the beginning of the Florentino Perez era, allowing them to embark on their expensive purchase of some of the world’s best known players – money down the drain as it turned out. Not surprisingly, given the heavy presence around the club of those who make their money from construction, the building that was partially burnt last night belongs to one of the (losing) candidates who stood in the elections to replace Perez as club president.

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