Girona FC will never forget the year 2023. Not only because of the results achieved in the League – with 45 points they are co-leaders along with Real Madrid – but because of the way in which they have climbed to the top. With an excellent game developed by young players from whom their coach, Míchel Sánchez, knows how to get the most out of them. With a staff that has been formed by its shadow architect, sports director Quique Cárcel. With 13,000 members (9,700 subscribers) that fill Montilivi. And with a budget of 59 million that is not among the top ten in the League. “What we have achieved this year is outrageous. We are very proud,” says Cárcel, who speaks to La Vanguardia to explain the formula for collective success: “I would say that the secret of this Girona is our identity, which is based on our ability to sign talented young players, but also in the evolution that has occurred on the bench.”
That evolution was started by Pablo Machín. He was followed by Eusebio, Unzué, Francisco and now Míchel, a technician who had been unemployed for seven months when he received the call from Cárcel in 2021. “I always had it in mind. I already tried to sign him in 2019, the year we went down. But he went to Huesca. I really liked how his teams played. He overcame a difficult start and achieved promotion in Tenerife,” Cárcel recalls.
Patience paid off. The Míchel method has turned out to be infallible. Known in La Vinya, the team's training center, as a very natural person who transmits joy and enjoyment in the engine room, he has made the players feel comfortable with him. “He is also someone very demanding. "He gets angry at any individual technical error. He is very perfectionist and has them plugged in," adds Cárcel. There are hardly any days of rest in Míchel's agenda. After beating Barcelona in Montjuïc he did give his players 48 hours so they could rest. It rarely happens. “That match was without a doubt the best moment of 2023. I think we played great football against one of the best teams in Europe,” recalls Cárcel, who, ten years after taking over as Girona's sports director, still never tires of stepping on the Montilivi offices.
He reveals his reasons: “It was not a professional club despite being in the Second Division. I had dreams and little by little I have been fulfilling them. And now it's like having a child that you want to see grow up close and enjoy. As long as I believe there are steps to be taken, I will continue here,” says the Girona architect, who smells football talent like few others. “I always try to look for quality players for the team who may be going through delicate moments and who need a close ecosystem to evolve. And it has worked for me,” he specifies.
You are not alone. Iván Hammouch, Juan Carlos Moreno and Santi Pou work alongside him, although the latter is closer to the coaching staff. “We also work a lot on grassroots football. I watch a lot of subsidiary games. They are important clubs to follow because they all have talent and not all of them fit into the elite of their clubs, like Madrid or Barcelona. That has happened, for example, with Miguel Gutiérrez, a Castilla winger,” he specifies. But they also go the other way: “We have our subsidiary in the Third Division and sometimes there are players who need more. This is the case of Pau Víctor, who is having a great season on loan at Barça Atlètic,” he points out.
And then there is the entry of the City Football Group and Pere Guardiola, brother of the former Barça coach and Cárcel's right-hand man, who acquired the club in equal shares in 2017. 44.3% each. “We have grown with them. If there is a player in Ukraine that we like, we talk to City people who are in that area and they can tell you who has him and how they see him. With this method, you have the feeling that you can make fewer mistakes,” Cárcel acknowledges.
With this trajectory, Girona will look for more in 2024. Cárcel already has a list of pending tasks so that Girona's more than possible landing in the Champions League is as pleasant as possible. “We will have to make a longer staff and change the methodology. This Girona is not used to playing more than one game a week,” he specifies. And the League? Cárcel is clear about it: “Today, Real Madrid is closer to it. But why not? The team has shown that it can beat anyone,” he says with a smile.
