He reviewed the last notes in his notebook. He adjusted his jacket. She pressed the tie against her neck. She cracked her fingers. She carefully placed the cell phone. She looked at the venue, a Juan Segura Palomares Auditorium fuller than usual. And he smiled a slight, stiff smile before starting the act. The tension experienced against Levante, with the stands asking for the resignation of the board and booing the players and the coach despite the victory, had affected Fran Garagarza. On paper, the presence of the Espanyol sports director was going to serve to analyze the austere perico winter market, but no one was unaware that his appearance, together with Mao Ye, undaunted as always the CEO, had much more transcendence.
"I have a lot of responsibility. I had a bad time yesterday with the chants. It makes me very sad. We have to manage to reverse this. This belongs to everyone and we have to get it out together. We have to give much more. (...) I haven't thought to throw in the towel. It's not an easy club. It's a big club. Every day I wake up with great enthusiasm and with the clear objective of promotion," said the blue and white sports manager, who was relieved by the three points against the Valencians, achieved in penalty extremis, increased confidence in his great bet for the bench. "We were clear after the defeat against Eldense that we had to have Ramis as coach. We continue to trust him. He would continue even if we had lost against Levante," he said of the Tarragona player, who has a record of five wins, five draws and three losses. .
Espanyol, despite being one point away from the direct zone for promotion to First Division, has shown a poor image of play, always on the brink of defeat. The Basque's speech constantly moved between hope and criticism. As soon as we give more to people, people will give to us. People move, cry, wait for us. People invest in travel, it is priceless. It demands of us and we must understand it. We are professionals. Based on results and above all, heart and soul, we are going to achieve synergy with our people. The fans excite me. "You see pride and feeling," he analyzed.
Garagarza assured that he is not "disappointed" with the movements in January, only the departure of Ramon Ramos and the return of Rubén Sánchez, also presented this Monday. Perhaps the word frustration better fits his assessment of the market: "There were financial limitations and a minimum margin. It's very complicated. We didn't want to put more clothes in the closet just to put them in. It's not a question of doing things for the sake of doing them. You have to do something that fits you with the cost."
Without new faces for the second part of the season, Garagarza reflected his discontent with those who arrived in the summer. "I'm not satisfied with the signings, obviously," he said, although emphasizing that he has "maximum confidence" in a squad in which he sees "room for improvement" and in which he asks to "take another step."
"I have seen tension, seriousness, doubts, anxiety, anger and tears also in the locker room. When we are ahead on the scoreboard, the game is fluid and the team is doing well. When the rival takes the lead, we are touched. That's when where we have to work. Sometimes there is a mental block. The team is very eager, has soul and enthusiasm. We are in a must," he said.
The focus only moved away from Garagarza when Mao Ye had to defend against Chen Yansheng, also signaled by the fans' chants. "The president is fully informed. To sell or not is the ownership's decision. I am an executive, I am an employee who tries to achieve the objective. We constantly criticize ourselves. Not only sports, but on a global level. The president is aware of the emotional pain of the fans. We continue to learn from our past mistakes," concluded the CEO.
