Red Star Fallout over one million Euros

Belgrade, July 9 (Serbia Today) – Fallout is at hand after the season in which the basketball team Red Star has organized, consolidated its finances and results, and formed a new ambitious, young and talented management with Svetislav Pesic as director.
While everybody expected a confirmation that the trophy master Slobodan Vukicevic will continue his cooperation with the red and white team, he submitted his resignation as a president of a club and main investor (there is a rumor that he infused 2 million Euros in the club accounts).
The reason for his resignation is purely of financial nature. The management could not provide an annual budget of 4.5 million Euros, as the operating management, that is, the manager Milan Opacic and a coach Svetislav Pesic have determined.
Vukicevic closed the financial structure at 3.5 millions, but according to his words, “the players and the management team were not willing to lower their incomes during this period of global economic crisis.”
Both sides, of course, consider themselves to be right. It is however, interesting to compare the above-mentioned numbers with the neighboring teams. The Red Star would have the highest budget of all the clubs in Serbia! However, they will not compete in the Euro league as Partizan will, nor they will have so many expenses, or the income coming from that elite division.
The sport’s director of black and white’s, Mladjan Silobrad said their last year’s budget was around 3 million Euros and they had functioned very difficultly. “The global crisis has entered our backyards, so we will lower our budget and it will be certainly smaller than 3 million Euros”, he added.
The main people from Hemofarm have at their disposal 2.5 million Euros (including the women’s team, which is the state champion), while FMP with the best youth categories and 3 Halls in possession, will not spend more than a million Euros.
The days of uncertainty are in front of the Red Star. If the compromise is not reached at the last moment, the team will stay without a president Vukicevic, a coach Pasic, and probably without a big number of lead players. They are at the edge of an abyss.