Founded in 1909, inherited from the Scottish colony of the Fabra and Coats spinning mills, Sant Andreu is a historic club in Catalan football. After a first stage of three seasons in the Second Division (from 1950 to 1953), Sant Andreu had its great era of glory between 1969 and 1977, when it competed eight years in a row in the Second Division.
It was a league of a very high level and demand, the Primera went from 16 to 18 teams and the Second had just been reduced from 32 (in two groups) to only 20. Sant Andreu (San Andrés by legal imperative) was the protagonist of an era of glory of the so-called silver division.
There were clubs with wounded history wandering around that were fighting to the death to return to the elite. Through the new Narcís Sala, inaugurated in March 1970, teams with frustrated traditions passed by, with seasoned figures who needed promotion as oxygen for survival. Because of that forced exile, which for Sant Andreu was glory, Betis and Sevilla, Sporting and Oviedo, Celta and Deportivo, Rayo and Valladolid came and went... also Zaragoza, which longed for its magnificent five (Canario, Santos, Marcelino, Villa and Lapetra), or Elche, which had transferred its future players (Marcial, Lico, Asensi...). Sant Andreu even coincided one year with Espanyol, another desperate to return to the jet set.
It was a cruel category: only the three best reached promotion, and instead the last four were directly relegated and another four were promoted. The distance between fighting for glory or being swallowed up in the quicksand of the danger zone was traveled with a couple of bad results.
The promotion to Second was completed in July 1969, after a high-tension promotion phase. As champion of their Third Group, Sant Andreu crossed paths with another champion, Osasuna. The Navarrese were promoted in a third playoff match in La Romareda. There was still another match-ball: eliminate Alcoyano, which was the best classified of those who came from Second. After 2-2 in the first leg, the victory in El Collao (1-2) unleashed euphoria. Upon their return, the players were welcomed like stars, they visited Montserrat and were received by Mayor Porcioles at the Saló de Cent. Antoni Giralt, on loan from Espanyol and scorer of the two promotion goals, was the great hero.
In his eight years in the Second Division, Sant Andreu consolidated a long list of charismatic footballers who inflamed Narcís Sala. Antoni Moya and Guillem Tovar were there, each with more than 330 games played, irreplaceable. And another regular, Antonio Martín, son of the legendary Mariano Martín, who was also andreuenc in his day. A long list of players at one time or another passed through Espanyol, the mother club, such as the aforementioned Giralt and also the Carbonell, Sabaté, Parés, Pepín, Romero, Bergara, Yanko Daucik, Riera, Rodilla, Flores, José Manuel, Longhi , Echevarría, Bertomeu...
Sant Andreu consolidated (eighth, seventh, tenth, sixth...) and had the wisdom to take advantage of young people with a future and squeeze out the last breaths of football from good-looking veterans. Some spent their best time under the protection of Narcís Sala, such as Manuel Doménech, trained in the blue and white youth team, or Carles Feliu, this one with a Blaugrana past and brother of the popular Núria Feliu, who sadly died at only 34 years old. Sant Andreu fished in all the fishing grounds: in Athletic (Lavín), Real Sociedad (Silvestre), Madrid (Serena and Vidal II) and, of course, also in the Blaugrana factory: Celdrán, Laredo, Borràs, Comas, Vidal I, Botella, Pujol, Martí Filosia... and Àngel Mur, years later legendary masseuse of FC Barcelona following in his father's wake. They were all four-barred. During these eight dream seasons, Sant Andreu also enjoyed renowned coaches such as Daucik, Aloy, Biosca, Balmanya and César. After saving a relegation promotion in 1976, against Huesca, the club returned to the bottom of Tercera the following year. The glorious era had ended.
