Espanyol recovered its identity at the decisive moment with the command of coach Manolo González and the goals of captain Javi Puado and achieved promotion after a season of sporting loss – it has had up to three coaches: Luis García, Ramis and González – and disinterest from its owner Chen Yansheng. The fans, always faithful – members exceeded 28,000 in September and subscribers totaled 24,311 – gave themselves to the team when he recognized the players and tuned in to the game plan at the Stage Front Stadium. The communion certified in the last match the return of Espanyol to the League as already announced just after losing the category for the sixth time in May 2023 in Mestalla.
The blue and white have never been in the Second Division for two consecutive seasons; in their 123-year history they have always risen the year after relegation, the sixth club with the longest time in the First Division. Although its survival manual was proven, promotion had never been more essential than now due to the delicate situation of the entity: the owner does not invest or sell or has not yet found a buyer, the sports policy has not stabilized since Rubi’s departure in 2019 and the team’s fall coincided with Girona’s success. Barça’s Catalan opponent became Montilivi’s team. One more year in the Second Division could have been unbearable for Espanyol.
The negative economic impact was estimated at more than 50 million and it was taken for granted that many employees would lose their jobs due to the need to settle accounts at a time when, in addition, the market value of the entity had fallen – it ranged between 100 and 160 million—and a debt of 60 million to Rastar Group is still outstanding. It is not known what the plans of Cheng Yanheng will now be, the businessman who bought the shares from Daniel Sánchez Llibre in 2016 and who has not visited Barcelona for a long time, confined in China. In any case, the crossroads have a much better solution because interest in Espanyol has grown.
A city that boasts of its sporting offer needs the best football derby, and even more so if it is Barcelona, which for years has prioritized the rivalry with Real Madrid and last season even with Girona. The Barcelona brand intended to recover Barça-Espanyol and Espanyol-Barça without delay to complete a catalog that has been expanded with such sought-after events as Formula 1, the start of the Tour or the Copa América. The mayor’s statement was unequivocal: “All of us together (…). Espanyol is a First Division team. “Barcelona is with you,” Jaume Collboni wrote on social media before the 2-0 win against Oviedo.
There are institutional messages and there are also individual statements from different politicians who have been identified as parakeets such as Salvador Illa (PSC), Daniel Sirera (PP), Jordi Turull (Junts), Gabriel Rufián (ERC) or Gonzalo de Gold (Vox). The blue and white colors are represented in practically the entire parliamentary arc after a time in which there seemed to be a certain tendency towards silence or anonymity, as if being from Espanyol penalized in the years of success of Barça, when Cruyff, Guardiola, Ronaldinho or Messi. Today there are notable fans and thousands of anonymous ones who support the team and ask to end Chen’s lack of definition.
The challenge is to finally come up with a firm economic and sporting plan that stabilizes Espanyol after the parakeet sentiment and the blue and white essence have been endorsed by Manolo González and Javier Puado. The merit of the former reserve team coach and also former bus driver, as well as the controversial captain, is priceless, as is usually the norm at Espanyol. Perhaps many today remember, for example, Juanjo Díaz and Diego Orejuela.
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