The nightmare season for 2nd Division CD Tenerife continues, with another headline-making presence for the wrong reasons.
Already relegated to the ranks of semi-professional football next year after a disastrous campaign that has seen three managers unable to turn things round, and with in-fighting in the boardroom causing multiple problems throughout the year, the club has been hit by a new scandal, this time involving the disappearance of official jerseys.
According to local daily El Día, police have been called in to investigate reports that a large number of shirts that have found their way onto the black market were stolen by persons linked to the club.
The probe was ordered after the club became concerned that the number of team shirts worn by fans appeared to be considerably higher than sales via official channels. The shirts were genuine, not fake, and it has now emerged that they likely formed part of a large batch provided by the club’s official supplier, Danish sportswear manufacturer Hummel, for the club’s first team and reserves for use during the year.
Suspicions were triggered some time ago by the appearance on various Internet sites of shirts at prices far below official prices in the club shop. It is believed the investigation now centres on a small number of club employees who had access to the shirts and other sportswear received from the supplier and who are said to have diverted a significant number to accomplices for their unauthorised sale.
News of the scandal has led one of CD Tenerife’s biggest supporters’ clubs to post messages on social media denouncing the fresh damage to the club’s reputation. “It is the latest in a long line of incidents in what is fast becoming a Netlfix series. A lot has happened to the club this year but this is particularly damaging as employees appear to be involved. We fully support the club in taking action against those concerned” said the Peña Ibérica supporters.
A club insider quoted in El Día said that it was “no secret” that the number of shirts available to the first team and reserves was very small this year but nobody had thought to raise the issue until now.
