Rufete, in the pillory two years after his arrival at Espanyol

“I am part of the previous and next project. I am past, I am in the future and in the present. I'm sure I've done things wrong, but maybe also some good. “This haunting description of Francisco Joaquín Pérez Rufete about his tasks, which he gave after this Sunday after signing his fifth loss (in five games) as coach of Espanyol, coincided with his second anniversary at the club. And the situation, both that of the entity and its own, cannot have given a I roll over.

That July 12, 2018, he approached Rufete at RCDE Stadium first thing in the morning to sign your contract how professional football director, nine years after leaving the entity as a player. And he was driving along with Óscar Perarnau, the sports general manager, to the Vall d'en Bas, where the first team made the preseason and where it would be presented. “We want a strong national and international project,” he said. “There can be no half measures here, players must feel the shield and the club“he said, in a speech that already sounds familiar. And also proclaimed:” One of the objectives most important is recover people's illusion, which is the soul of everything. “

Two years later, those people is the one that has put mostly in the pillory as co-responsible of the worst season in the history of Espanyol to which already he is not only a professional football director but a sports director and coach. “People judge me, but the reality is that I stand up and dedicate the maximum time and with the best intention”, Rufete solves the criticisms, which reach even a petition on the Change.org site to ask for your club departure, which this Monday in the late afternoon was around 500 signatures.

From that presentation in July 2018 already almost no one remains high-flying in the club. Neither Perarnau nor Joan Francesc Ferrer 'Rubi'Nor does the corporate CEO Roger Guasch. Nor Fran Navarro, coordinator of the quarry, replaced by an old acquaintance from Alicante, Luis Vicente Mateo, Benferri. Yes the president continues, Chen Yansheng. “We agree to work day by day. Soccer is neither talking nor planning, it is all you have to do until you get there“Rufete said about the owner. And, at the moment, the road could not be more winding. To be exact, the worst of all time.