There was a day not too distant, at Espanyol, where everything was ‘A happy world’, although it would end up being in the style of Aldous Huxley's dystopian novel. In what a crowd was gathering, without capacity or satisfaction limits, and a coach appeared in public to be applauded without ever having debuted in office. A day when the team was walking towards Europe and Chen Yansheng, towards a capital increase that would reduce the debt practically to ashes. In which there were no fears, neither to hug, nor to celebrate, much less the descent. Of that exactly two years have passed.
To the June 9, 2019 corresponds to him the honor of having been the date of last Aplec de Penyes until today. The unmissable appointment of the perica social mass, an unmissable annual meeting, which the pandemic has brought to a halt. The venue of that occasion that would involuntarily become historic was Sant Sadurní d’Anoia. The Aplec del Cava, for obvious reasons. And that of David gallego. He had just been introduced as a technician, after the departure of Joan Francesc Ferrer ‘Rubi’, and uploaded on a platform, before part of the 900 Espanyol fans who attended Aplec, promised strong emotions: “I am a parakeet, I am one of yours, and I will not fail you”. Four months later, he was fired.
Just a few minutes later, and already in ‘petit committee’, it was the vice president, Carlos García Pont, who was in charge of putting the icing on the good news. “About 50 million of the debt that the club has with the Rastar group are consolidated and become part of the capital of the company”, He announced, giving the starting gun to a capital increase that would be formalized half a year later and that left the debt at about 40 million. And most importantly: “EThe club will not be forced to sell players For economical reasons. Clause or nothing ”.
Today García Pont is not, same as Gallego, although yes Chen, which completed that expansion and is about to materialize one more, now worth about 38 million euros. And the Aplec? Well, you must wait. In 2020 it should have been held in Avià, in Berguedà, but COVID-19 prevented it, and now it points to 2022. Only the scriptwriter of this dystopia knows if Espanyol will celebrate it in ‘A happy world’.