Ray of light for Vallecano's players?

The players of Segunda División leader Rayo Vallecano have spent more time over that past couple of days discussing the club's woes than preparing for Saturday's match at Valladolid. Wednesday's training session was postponed by an hour and Tuesday's began two hours later than scheduled. The players, who have not been paid in weeks as a result of the crisis gripping the Nueva Rumasa business empire of controversial magnate José María Ruiz-Mateos, were more concerned with the possible arrival of a buyer for the club than the need to practice.

"At last we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but all the hopes we had that somebody would come in with a sum of some kind to keep things ticking over came to nothing," said club captain Míchel. "Neither has the Ruiz-Mateos family given us an explanation since we had a meeting with them in February... We are on our own." Nueva Rumasa began bankruptcy proceedings in February. Its forebear, Rumasa, was expropriated by the government in 1983.

"We can't go up to the Primera in this state. Our families must come first"

"They have lost confidence but they'll get paid before the end of the season"

Míchel and the team's vice captains, Coke and David Cobeño, voted against a motion to refuse to play this weekend. On Thursday, after a meeting with the Spanish Footballers' Association at Rayo's southern Madrid training ground, the players decided to honor the tie at the weekend for the "pride" of the club and to avoid further worsening the situation for fans and staff.

Rayo's supporters have been actively protesting the state of affairs their team has been left in and raising funds through the Planeta Rayista supporters club to cover immediate necessities for the first team, the reserve squad and Rayo's female side. The team has to make its own travel arrangements as the bus company the club uses hasn't been paid in a year.

Leadership of the division has ceased to be a consolation for a squad among which 13 of the 22 first-team players have not been paid since February. Some players, including those who arrived in the summer lured by Rayo's fame as a high-paying club, saw their last pay check in November. "The average salary in the division shouldn't go beyond 200,000 euros a year, because income derives from television revenue, advertising, season ticket sales and if a team is lucky maybe a subsidy of some kind. At Rayo there are people earning 400,000 euros a year," say sources from other clubs in Segunda.

"Rayo is worth zero euros, but anybody who comes in will have to take over liabilities of over 30 million euros," says a Rayo employee, who adds that the club's directors are being paid more regularly than the players and staff. There was hope on Tuesday that Carlos González, who ran for vice president of Real Madrid in 2009, was going to take over. Sergio González Sobrino, a construction entrepreneur and president of regional division side Humanes, also stated his interest in the club.

But the money did not arrive, even though the Ruiz-Mateos family devolved power to a notary to negotiate the club's debts with the Social Security and the Treasury. The potential buyers wanted a two-month period to study the debts, which are so grave that Rayo's television deal, worth 2 million euros a season, has been embargoed for the past two years.

"We cannot go up to Primera in this state. What we want more than anything it to be promoted, but the needs of our families come first and they are not being met," said Míchel.

Club president Teresa Rivero, after whom Rayo's stadium is named, has become the focal point of fans' ire: at a recent home match, a 4-1 defeat by Huesca, Rivero told Canal+ television: "It looks like they don't want to go up to Primera. They have lost their confidence but they'll definitely get paid before the end of the season."

Rivero was wrong. Rayo's players have shown on the field that they have unquestionable professionalism. But then Rivero wouldn't know about not getting paid; she is married to José María Ruiz-Mateos. "My husband has never left anybody in the lurch," Rivero said. "He's never had yachts or aeroplanes. He's only ever worried about giving work to others."