• Second The calendar of the next season

This Tuesday morning, one of the historic Spanish clubs,

Sporting de Gijón

, became the property of a Mexican business group, named

Orlegi

.

He replaces the Fernández family, responsible for a black stage, very black, which had already lasted 28 years.

After spending most of these almost three decades in the Second Division, the management hit rock bottom this season, when the team was close to going down to 1st RFEF (which was 2nd B).

And it is there, and in the death of his father in February, when it is necessary to place the beginning of a sale by

Javier Fernández

that has surprised, and not a little, in some football environments.

For two reasons: first, because of Orlegi's failure to establish himself in Spain (although he was already involved in the Zaragoza sale process) and, second, because, according to several sources, there were other offers on the table.

On February 27,

José Fernández died.

, father of the current president, Javier, who at that time already sees the drift, extremely dangerous, of the team in the Second Division.

With health problems and far, far away, from his best emotional moment, the idea of ​​selling the club takes shape.

Always with a premise never expressed in public, but yes, many times, in his most intimate circle: «I have to get a performance from Sporting according to the suffering it has caused me».

Aware that what the buyer pays, he has to share 33% with his two sisters, the movements begin.

Two prestigious Madrid firms finalize two offers during the spring, one with Spanish capital and the other with North American capital.

In the halls of football, the value of Sporting stands at a figure that is around 40 million,

Javier Fernández does not even sit down with any of those offices and, nevertheless, he accepts to receive the Orlegi group, which comes to him through a relative who lives in the US.

The Mexican conglomerate,

owner of two clubs in that country (Atlas and Santos), obtains one month of exclusivity to carry out the mandatory Due Diligence and the sale is finally closed, in a notary's office on Calle Goya in Madrid, in just over 42 million euros

, causing surprise, even stupor, in some of the usual protagonists of Spanish football.

"The goal is promotion"

In Gijón what there are now are many doubts.

To begin with those of the club's employees, who do not know if they will keep their jobs, and to continue those of the fans, waiting to know if Orlegi has come with sufficient economic strength to revitalize a squad that has been about to go down.

Abelardo

, the coach, who is concerned about the paralysis that these last few weeks have caused,

also has his own , and who will be one of the first to meet with the new president,

Alejandro Irarragorri

, who is in turn president of the Orlegi Group.

Irarragorri will be accompanied on the new Board of Directors by

Alfonso Villalva

, CEO of the conglomerate, and

Martín Hollaender

, Director of Administration and Finance of the Mexican group.

They will be the Council, but the one who will run the club's day-to-day will be

David Guerra

.

The new executive director is a 39-year-old journalist (he previously worked for Punto Radio, Cope or Radio Marca) who was already working for Orlegi.

In terms of sports, the visible head will be

Gerardo García

, a well-known representative of Asturian soccer players.

All unknowns, greater if possible because there are not a few who had always heard another of Javier Fernández's private litanies.

"If I sell the club to someone, it will be someone Spanish with guarantees of an economic and sports project at the height of this institution."

At the moment the Mexican group, in the press conference that it offered this Tuesday in El Molinón (almost at 10:00 p.m.), named the word that at many times has been a taboo.

"The objective is promotion, although we cannot promise that it will be today or tomorrow," said David Guerra, although the president, Irarragorri, wanted to emphasize the expression "generate value," which he repeated a dozen times.

According to the experts, Sporting is one of the clubs with the greatest potential in the Second Division for several reasons: because it has never dropped out of the professional categories, because it has the option of recovering facilities (El Molinón and Mareo) with great potential for development and, especially, for its social mass, a source of online (and traditional) income that many entities do not have.

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