We analyze from the bench, the box and the stands the complex situation of this hundred-year-old Catalan club, in Segunda B not so long ago
Both the coach Jorge Sánchez and the president Iván Carrillo are optimistic for the future with “a team in the process of consolidation”
Not so long ago, Gavà was one of the reference teams in Catalan football. Regular of the old Second B, in 2017 he achieved a creditable tenth place. Due to financial problems, he was demoted one category and Six years later, he is a member of Segunda Catalana, where he will spend at least one more year after being left at the beginning of February with no options to fight for promotion. Despite this situation, both the club, the coaching staff and the fans are confident that they will be able to return Gavà to the place that this hundred-year-old entity has historically occupied.
“At first the objective was to try to get promoted,” admits Jorge Sánchez, the blaugrana coach. This is his second stage, after in 2020/21 he was very close to going up to Third. “Gavà gave me the chance to coach an amateur team. That squad was much more made and established, although the covid issue caught us…& rdquor;, he recalls.
One step below, he assumed the reins again in November 2022 after the departure of ‘Chiri’. His resignation was accompanied by the departure of several players, which led the team to lose 0-3 against Vista Alegre due to not having enough chips. “You have to be objective and realistic when the ideal circumstances have not occurred. There have been many changes of players and in the end there has not been that stability that we needed to achieve important objectives. Now the club is in a moment of change, trying to lay very solid foundations for the future. I am optimistic & rdquor ;, says Sánchez.
There have been many changes of players and in the end there has not been that stability that we needed
“This is all a matter of time. Gavà has had a bad time and now we are working on it, reviving it. The club trusts us”, affirms the coach of Barakaldo, who a priori will lead the project next season from the bench.
Iván Carrillo, ambitious in the long term
A little further up, in the box of La Bòbila is Ivan Carrillo. The president, who arrived in 2018, is also hopeful and shares the idea that “the team is currently in a process of consolidation. The objective is to move up a category and if it can be in three or four years to be in the Third Federation & rdquor;. With the creation from the next course of the Catalan Super League, his goal will be a little further.
The drop in category, together with the aforementioned departure of ‘Chiri’ left the squad in the picture, which has been reinforced with “very young & rdquor; and from the house. “More than 80% of the squad comes from the Gavà Soccer School”presumes Carrillo. Precisely, recovering their own ‘quarry’ is one of the objectives set and that little by little is becoming a reality: “When we took over the management there was no grassroots football. Ten years ago he transferred to the Gavà Soccer School. Today we already have four teams and next year we will double teams.”
When I arrived there was a debt of 1.2 million euros. In one year we managed to lower it to 300,000
The foundations, at least, are being laid. Also economically. “When I arrived there was a debt of 1.2 million euros. In one year we managed to lower it to approximately 300,000, which is what it currently has with Social Security and the Tax Agency. The future of the club is guaranteed, although we are planting the seed so that it germinates and we are watering it. There are new projects for the club to recover the excellence it has always had”, says the president.
Carrillo assures that he feels Gavà “like a son”, although he knows that this ‘paternity’ does not belong to him. “I am clear that this son is not mine, he belongs to the partners and always will be. I now have their trust and everything I do is for the entity & rdquor ;, indicates the manager, raised in the Barcelona neighborhood of Poble-sec but registered in Baix Llobregat since he came of age.
The fans see the glass half full
Who is from Gavà is Fran. This 40-year-old subscriber is a regular among the 300 to 400 spectators who usually gather at La Bòbila. It is a notorious social mass being in Segunda Catalana, where the entity still has more than 200 members. Among them this fan, who recalls the golden age of the club: “I have seen him be a soldier in almost all categories and even touch the play-off for promotion to Second Division A”. However, now the harsh reality is different. “I particularly think that Gavà deserves more, and the work of the current board of directors is to be appreciated. Since they arrived, no scandal has been heard of again… And the truth is, without them, I think Gavà would have disappeared & rdquor ;, he assures.
It would be a disappointment if the end of the season had been reached with the same players that began
He does have some reproach for the City Council, which he accuses of providing “little help, support and empathy”, since “it has not even deigned to pay tribute to the club for its 100-year history”. As for sports, Fran does not want to mark the course as disappointing, since “it would have been if the end of the season had been reached with the same players that started. Bearing in mind that the vast majority have left and that new players have been added almost every week, The truth is, you can’t ask for more than to save the season as much as possible and think about having a great season the following season& rdquor;.
Thus, the vision is already set on the future: “I think that, although there is still a long way to go, things are being done well, or at least trying to, again forming a base that will help us recover the lost categories & rdquor ;. The ‘via crucis’ will continue for one more campaign. The entire Barça parish expects it to be the last.