Almost a year ago, just one day after relegation to Second, President Chen Yansheng recorded a video with a clear message in which he took responsibility for the fall of the team and promised to return to First as soon as possible. Eleven months later, the owner of Rastar Group appeared again at the Extraordinary Shareholders' Meeting with the duty fulfilled and with a message of “prudence” for the return to First Division still marked by the financial situation derived from COVID-19.
Espanyol approved a capital increase of 37,846,788 euros that will help the club not end the exercise with a “significant deficit” and all that this entails when establishing the salary limit of the workforce for the 2021-21 academic year. “I am confident in the viability of the club and in the potential we have. We have capitalized the loans made to provide greater stability and compensate for part of the sports deviations. With this decision, we will take an important step in financial competitiveness. If we return to financial equilibrium, the medium-term scenario will be very exciting, “said Yansheng, who entered by videoconference from his offices in China.
For Chen, Espanyol's season has been an example of the strength that the club has when “It is attached” and that these values that have been demonstrated in LaLiga SmartBank they will help “achieve what we set out to do.” Some objectives that in the medium term cannot be ambitious. The president himself now opted for “prudence”, a term that he repeated twice in the same speech. “Past experiences determine that we have to act with prudence and humility. The next season we must consolidate the changes we have made and the progress of the team. We must be prudent and accept the context of difficulty, but with ambition”he commented.
As is customary in his lectures, Chen pulled the manual of Chinese proverbs to give images to these reflections: “The process of sharpening the force of a sword and the cold winter scents the plum blossom. “ In that winter Espanyol has survived in the Second Division, and glimpsing spring should be the club's goal. To do this, Chen recalled that “there is commitment at the economic level.” Rastar's owner showed himself “proud“from the players and the coaching staff, but he had words of praise for the fans.
“The process of sharpening the strength of a sword and the cold winter scents the plum blossom.”
“The fans gave us a lesson in support with their social or accompanying actions. I am proud to be president. Your energy is a treasure, and it must be a stone to build the future. We have internalized a lesson that we must take away. Humility must always be present, “said Chen Yansheng, who urged that they renew their membership card after the campaign that the entity recently started.
With this expansion, the third one carried out by Chen in his five years as president, Espanyol increases its share capital to the 165,739,218 euros. A part of 190,716 euros for the rest of the minority shareholders, provided they do not lose a shareholding percentage. At the Extraordinary Meeting, with which the 2020-21 season officially closes, 99.538% of the club's shareholding mass participated.