In a special programme broadcast by the club last night on its YouTube channel, influential figures from different sectors and periods of Mallorcan society came together to pay tribute to Miquel Contestí, a key figure in the our 110-year history.
RCD Mallorca begins today the events to recognise one of the most important figures in the club's history with a minute's silence at the first team's training session and flags at half-mast at both the Estadi Mallorca Son Moix and the Ciudad Deportiva Antonio Asencio.
Alfonso Díaz, CEO of RCD Mallorca
"This is very sad news for all Mallorquinismo. We would like to send our condolences to the family on behalf of the entire club and president Andy Kohlberg. He was a man who marked an era in the 1980s, leaving his mark and managing to return the club to where it belonged and lay the foundations for what RCD Mallorca is today. We will always remember him as a key figure in the history of the club, as well as being a warm, austere, decisive person with a deep sense of belonging."
Jordi Horrach, president of the Balearic Islands Football Federation
"Miquel has been a role model and always will be, not only for Mallorca fans, but for Balearic society as a whole. He was someone with the ability to turn a company around when there seemed to be no hope. I lived through that era at Lluis Sitjar when I was a child, with the first Cup final. That was when true Mallorquinismo was created, that Mallorquinismo of suffering, relegation, promotion, the Cup final. The work that man did, never expecting anything in return, that is Mallorquinismo, and we must be grateful to him and the entire board for that legacy."
Pep Calvo, former club employee
"He made me head of the ticket office in 1978, just when he had become president. Miquel had a lot of character and fixed ideas; you couldn't change his mind. If I had to choose three presidents, I would always remember him, Jaume Rosselló and Dalmau. Miquel consolidated the club and introduced new systems. One year (86-87) we had 19,000 members. It had been many years since we had had so many."
Margalida Garau, president of Penya Miquel Contestí de Llucmajor
"We were very fortunate that in 2014 he allowed us to use his name for the Penya de Llucmajor, which was already a tribute to us. I would like to thank his family, who always agreed to let us use his image. Miquel is such an important person for Mallorca and for us, and his passing hurts us deeply. He was a very wise, very intelligent person, who was decisive in what he had to go through, which shows that he was very Mallorquinista. I remember when we changed the name of the supporters' club and explained to him the importance of having his name, because of who he was, in order to regain the strength of the supporters' clubs, because in 2014 they had lost a little strength due to the situation of the club."
Miquel Alzamora, journalist at Última Hora
"The figure of Miquel Contestí is so great that a few double pages in the newspaper are not enough. The club was destined to disappear and he paid the players and, through the journalist Miquel Vidal, he was able to contact Pablo Porta, president of the Football Federation, with whom he was able to make a deal with the RFEF to pay off the debt."
Sebastià Adrover, journalist for Diario de Mallorca
"A very sad day for Mallorquinismo. He is the man who prevented Mallorca from disappearing. Young people know who Miquel Contestí is, but they cannot understand the magnitude of his figure; they will understand it from now on. Miquel Contestí was a very big part of Mallorca's crest. I remember an interview I did with him in 2017 and he said to me, 'You always say I took it over in the Third Division, but I didn't take it over in the Third Division, I took it over at a time when the club didn't even exist'. He had leadership skills and at that time his position was like being president of the Government."
Ricard Cabot, journalist
"An absolute icon of Mallorca and Mallorquinismo is leaving us. He was possibly the most important figure in the club's 110-year history, along with Jaume Rosselló, above all because he saved it from disappearing and revitalised it to what it is today. It's true that there were ups and downs, very difficult moments, it was a different era and it was more rewarding for a journalist, especially because he gave you a lot of headlines. He was a lovable character. If you didn't know him, within two minutes he gave you the feeling that you had known him all your life."
