by Paul Giblin
MADRID, July 9 (Xinhua) -- When he took over Espanyol in 2016, the club's owner, Chen Yansheng announced a four-year plan to qualify the Barcelona based outfit for the Champions League, but when he woke up on Thursday morning, it was not to see Espanyol flying high in the most important competition in Europe but to see that the club has been relegated to the Spanish second division for the first time since 1993.
That last exile from the top-flight lasted just a season but after a campaign of abject failure such as this, who knows if Espanyol will be able to bounce back this time.
It had all looked so promising for Espanyol just over a year ago when they finished seventh last season under coach Joan Ferrer (Rubi) to qualify for the Europa League and looked to be on track to complete Chen Yansheng's plan.
However, it didn't take long for the wheels to start falling off: Rubi, never a coach to hang around, left to accept an offer at Betis and it wasn't long before Borja Iglesias, the top scorer in the 2018-19 season with 17 goals joined him.
Spain's international central defender Mario Hermoso was sold to Atletico Madrid, leaving a big gap in central defense, while promising left-back Aaron Martin moved to Mainz in Germany.
B-team boss, David Gallego, who had done a good job a couple of years earlier when covering for the sacked Quique Sanchez Flores, was promoted to the first team in what looked like a sensible move, but with the club now facing the prospect of playing in Europe and also in La Liga, he needed new signings to be able to compete.
The summer signings did little to strengthen the squad. Winger Mathias Vargas briefly impressed, while Bernardo looked solid in the closing weeks of the season, but others such as right-back Sebastian Corchia and Ander Iturraspe, who arrived on a free transfer from Athletic Club Bilbao failed to strengthen the squad.
Football kicked off early with three qualifying rounds for the Europe League in July and August, which Espanyol negotiated effectively, but the early start to the season tends to affect teams that finish seventh and Espanyol opened the league campaign in a disastrous manner.
Gallego was sacked after eight league matches which yielded five points from five defeats, two draws and just one win and replaced by former Girona and Sevilla coach Pablo Machin.
Things went a little better for Machin, who followed Gallego to the unemployment line after just 10 games in charge. Those 10 games saw Espanyol win just once (away to Levante) while suffering seven defeats and also saw Machin publically complain about the attitude of some of his players.
The club reached the New Year without a win in their RCDE Stadium and replaced Machin with Abelardo Fernandez, who had done such a good job with Alaves. Abelardo also got financial backing with the big-money signings of Adrian Embarba, Leandro Cabrera and impressive striker Raul de Tomas.
Abelardo's signing and the new players seemed to spark a revival as they drew at home with local rivals FC Barcelona, won away to Villarreal, drew with Athletic Club, and finally claimed a home win against fellow strugglers, Mallorca. Eight points from five games are nothing to get excited about but if carried on until the end of the campaign, that form would have saved them, but it didn't last and Espanyol went into the enforced stoppage because of the coronavirus with just two points from their next four matches.
They returned to action with a win at home to Alaves, whose keeper Fernando Pacheco was sent off in the 18th minute and that was as good as things got, following a draw away to Getafe, Espanyol entered a slump which has seen them lose their last six matches, cost Abelardo his job (rather harshly) and taken the team on a nose-dive to relegation.
A look at the squad explains why they went down, although Raul de Tomas is a quality striker, central defender David Lopez is reliable and midfielders Marc Roca looks bound for greater things, there is a worrying lack of depth.
Wu Lei is capable of good things, but is erratic, while Vargas' impressive start ran out of gas, while the other forwards, Jonathan Calleri and Facundo Ferreyra have scored just two goals between them in a joint total of 42 appearances.
Only second from bottom Leganes have scored fewer than Espanyol's 27 goals and only third-bottom Mallorca have conceded more than Espanyol's 55 goals against. Those numbers and the new year signings point to a lack of planning at both ends of the pitch last summer and when that happens, (especially if a team has to play an extra 12 or 14 matches in Europe), there is only ever going to be one outcome and that is relegation. Enditem
