Relegation Eibar goes to Second Division and Huesca, Elche and Valladolid extend the agony
The news, if you think cold, is not that Eibar
has dropped to the Second Division, but has managed to be seven consecutive seasons in the First. The news is not that he is relegated in the absence of a day and after being thrashed by Valencia, but that in the previous five seasons he reached the last season with the permanence more than tied. What corresponds, therefore, is not to mourn the goodbye, but to celebrate life. With critical capacity, both internal and external, and debugging responsibilities, of course, but without losing perspective. They don't do it in Ipurua, it shouldn't be done outside there.
Finally, the descent of Eibar confirms that miracles are not eternal. That the return to Segunda had to come at some point and it has been now, much later than anyone imagined. Except for the season of his debut, 2014-15, in which Elche's administrative relegation granted him an extra life, the gunsmith team always achieved the goal with an amazing slack, finishing ninth in 2016-17. Anomalies that now, after seven seasons in the elite, find painful correction.
Before going into details about the reasons for this descent, it is worth remembering where Eibar comes from. When it was promoted, in the 2013-14 season, it did so with five non-sports employees on the payroll, with a budget of four million euros (the lowest in Second), without a quarry structure of any kind, with a single women's team and with the imperative need to become a SAD on pain of falling directly to Second B if he did not succeed. Many players were paid the minimum wage for the category, and some were even asked to help pay for their pro tab.
Today, the descending Eibar has five employees only in the Communication department (and it is one of the smallest in the First Division, less than many in the Second Division), a budget of 58 million euros, 11 male youth teams, one female team in the Primera Iberdrola with another three in lower categories and an ambitious sports city in the making as a complement to Ipurua, which has gone from 5,000 to 8,000 seats in these seven years.
Huge limitations
The growth has been exponential, but always limited by the size of the city and the stadium and by geographical competition, with four First-class teams with greater structure and tradition within 100 kilometers around. His salary limit, despite the television manna during all these years, was this year the sixth lowest in Primera, below clubs such as Valladolid, Osasuna or Granada, which rose much later, similar to that of a Cádiz who had just arrived in Primera. And, going into detail, it is largely wages that have drowned him this season of forced containment due to the pandemic.
The sports policy headed by
Fran Garagarza
(who will leave the club in a few weeks), brilliant for more than a decade, has collapsed in the last two years. The high numbers of players that are no longer differential (
Inui
,
Enrich
,
Pedro León
...), together with important signings that have contributed very little (
Kadzior
,
Olabe
,
Quique González
,
Sergio Álvarez
...) and important exits at cost zero (Inui himself before returning,
Dani García
,
Escalante
,
Orellana
and, now,
Dmitrovic
) have broken the virtuous circle. The signings this year were very low profile and except for
Bryan Gil,
none have improved what they had.
José Luis Mendilibar
, the 'franchise player' of the gunsmith club, has not managed to build a solid and truly competitive team with those wickers. 16 days without winning between January and May were too great a drag. He continued to trust his method, the board publicly ratified him until the end of the season and ended up getting the team to react three days ago (3-0 at Alavés), but by then it was too late. His defensive fragility and his difficulties for the goal (only
Kike García
, with 12, has exceeded three goals) were his sentences until the final fall this Sunday at Mestalla.
Mendi
has been during the six seasons that he has been on the Ipurua bench the greatest certainty that Eibar has had. In the club there are those who believe that their cycle is exhausted and who, despite everything, would renew them for life. It remains to be seen what he wants, which is giving signals that his time at Eibar has come to an end. The wear and tear this course has been important, both due to the bad dynamics of the team and the conditions forced by the pandemic. The loss of the
txoko
Ipurua as the epicenter of the club's social life has been more important than it may seem in the negative drift of the team, they suggest from within. And Ipurua, without an audience, whether by chance or not, has gone from being a fort to a bargain for visitors. Nobody has scored fewer points at home than Eibar (13, only two wins) this season. The last game against Barcelona will serve as a sad and lonely farewell.
Right now, it seems almost impossible for Mendilibar to continue.
Neither will the sports director, the technical secretary and the vast majority of footballers, perhaps only five or six remain.
Eibar, in short, will restart almost completely this summer to seek an imminent return to First with the tranquility of having the accounts healthy despite the important adjustments to which the pandemic has forced all the clubs.
Because if they leave a legacy all these years, it is the demonstration that success can come from responsibility and exemplarity.
Beyond filias and phobias, the First Division will miss Eibar.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
Know more
SD Eibar
Elche CF
Valencia CF
LaLiga Santander 2020 - 2021As much desire for football as for protest in the return of the public to the stadiums
LaLigaThe keys to avoid relegation and to reach Europe in the penultimate day of the League
FútbolMurthy recognizes that they are "worried" about the situation of Valencia and are looking for a "leading" coach
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