Friday 16 February 2018 23:58, UK
Their ties to Manchester City have attracted attention but what is the real story behind the rise of Girona? With the help of Girona-based journalist Marc Brugues, Adam Bate explores the reasons for the club’s success in La Liga and the questions that it could raise…
It was at the Soccerex convention in Manchester in September that La Liga chief Javier Tebas addressed a small group of journalists regarding Girona's arrival in Spain's top tier. He had already made headlines earlier in the day for a speech accusing Manchester City of "financial doping" but it was in the adjoining press room that he really went into detail.
City Football Group, the owners of Manchester City, hold 44.3 per cent of the shares in Girona. Another 44.3 per cent is in the hands of another group led by Pere Guardiola - Pep's brother. Tebas stopped short of saying that he wanted to block this move but he did highlight the amendments required after City loaned five players to Girona in the summer.
"We have had to correct certain market values for players loaned to Girona," he explained through an interpreter. "For our own reporting purposes, and for financial fair play purposes, we have had to increase the value of players loaned from Manchester City so that this loaning of players did not represent an unfair competition within our league.
"We say what teams can spend. It has to do with everything, wages, the price of the transfer and amortisation. That's how we calculate things ourselves. Let's say that Manchester City loan 11 players to Girona at one euro each. That would obviously be outside market values. So we have corrected some of those reported values and Girona have accepted it."
At the time, Girona's emergence had made little news outside of the small Catalonian city just up the coast from Barcelona. But that changed quickly in October when they shocked reigning European champions Real Madrid at the Estadi Montilivi as Cristiano Ronaldo and the rest were beaten 2-1 by Pablo Machin's team. It was no one-off either.
Girona have beaten former Spanish champions Athletic Bilbao and Deportivo La Coruna too. They made the short trip to Espanyol and won 1-0. They held Atletico Madrid to a 1-1 draw in the Wanda Metropolitano and were only denied a dramatic victory at Real Betis by a goal in the fifth minute of stoppage time. This is a team now on track for a top-half finish.
"Of course they have exceeded expectations," explains Marc Brugues, Girona correspondent for local newspaper Diario di Girona. "Nobody expected them to do this well. They have been the revelation of La Liga and it has been a great surprise for the Spanish public because this was a completely unknown team despite them doing well in the second division."
The sceptics might point to those Manchester City loan deals but they have only been a minor factor in Girona's success. In fact, most have failed to make any impact whatsoever. "Apart from Pablo Maffeo, who is now in his third season on loan with the club, the others have had a hard time getting into the team," points out Brugues.
"Marlos Moreno has already moved on to Flamengo because he did not fit into the Machin system. Olarenwaju Kayode arrived as the top scorer in Austria but has not shown that at Girona and has had few chances due to the form of Cristhian Stuani. He was going to leave for Amiens in January but the papers did not go through and the matter is now with FIFA.
"Douglas Luiz is also just a very young boy who is experiencing life outside of Brazil for the first time. Both he and Aleix Garcia are having difficulties getting into the team because the midfield of Pere Pons, Alex Granell, Borja Garcia and Cristian Portu have been playing together for a long time." Ironically, it is Girona's continuity that has been their greatest asset.
"The quality is there, of course," says Brugues. "But mainly it is down to the hunger of a group of players who have come up from the second division with little experience of La Liga. They are playing with a real spirit and desire." Pons is a product of Girona's academy. Granell, now 29, had never played in La Liga before in his entire career.
Portu, an integral part of the team's promotion-winning campaign has already contributed eight goals, including the winners against Deportivo and Madrid as well as the late equaliser at Atletico. The new signing who has made the biggest impact is the aforementioned Stuani, the team's top scorer with 12 goals since arriving from Middlesbrough in the summer.
At the heart of the team's success has been Machin, the coach appointed back in March 2014. When they finally won promotion, they were organised and ready. "Girona have played either 5-3-2 or 5-4-1 ever since Machin came to the club," says Brugues. "They have been perfecting that system ever since and their opponents are struggling to cope with it."
Leganes are the visitors to the Montilivi on Friday. They will be attempting to do what the last three teams to travel there have failed to do and avoid defeat. The three points would lift Girona to eighth and within a win of Villarreal in fifth. Incredibly, with 15 games to go, this team, in their first ever season in the top flight, have a chance of qualifying for Europe.
"It is a possibility," says Brugues. "But it will be difficult because there are superior teams with much bigger budgets who Girona would have to finish above if they are to do it. Even so, if the good performances continue, nothing can be ruled out." It is a tantalising prospect but one that would surely put Girona's ownership back into the spotlight once again.
UEFA Article 5 concerns the integrity of the competition and states that no individual or legal entity may have control or influence over more than one club participating in a UEFA club competition. Control in this instance is defined as being able to exercise by any means a decisive influence in the decision-making of the club.
Asked for their view on this, UEFA informed Sky Sports that they do not comment on hypothetical situations. But the hope for Girona will come from the fact that European football's governing body saw no problem with allowing Red Bull Salzburg and RB Leipzig both to compete in their competitions this season.
That really would be something for this little club with big plans. "People are feeling very positive right now," adds Brugues. "You have to remember that before all of this the club was bankrupt with many debts and an owner in Josep Delgado who had fled and was wanted for alleged crimes in Poland. It was not a very encouraging future.
"City Football Group came in, put the club on the right course and helped them get to La Liga. This is historic and unimaginable for the fans. They could not be happier." Girona's supporters are enjoying their wild ride and the best is still to come. The next away game pits them against Barcelona in the Nou Camp. What next for Catalonia's new noisy neighbours?
