They called it the Miracle of Eibar. The tale of this tiny Basque club that not only defied history, odds and expectations to reach Spain’s top division but stayed there for seven seasons. Now, Fran Garagarza is attempting something just as ambitious.
Garagarza was Eibar's sporting director when their transfer dealings were the envy of Europe, spotting Marc Cucurella's talent before anyone believed. But if Eibar was a nimble sailboat carving its path through the ocean, Espanyol, where he has been for the past two seasons, was a tanker in need of turning around.
"They are very different clubs," he tells Sky Sports. "Neither better nor worse, just different. The magnitude of Espanyol is huge."
A founder member of LaLiga, no team has competed in its top division more times without winning the title. But there have been Copa del Rey triumphs, most recently in 2006, and two European finals. The stadium houses 40,000 fans. This is a big club.
Garagarza arrived in 2023 following a brief period in the Premier League with Wolves. "Learning to live with the brutal demands for improvement in a league that is the best in the world." He recalls the fans at Molineux. "They sang even when we were losing."
If Eibar was a miracle and Wolves was a challenge - the Midlands club were bottom of the table when he went there as part of Julen Lopetegui's rescue mission - the problem at Espanyol was that they were not only outside of the top division but in an utter mess.
While, in theory, the potential was vast compared to what was possible at Eibar, everything that he had sought to implement in his home province was absent here.
Ask Garagarza about Eibar and even now, with the club back in the second tier, there is huge pride. "It is still a brand with value. A club with clear ideas, heritage, and, above all, an identity. That is something that is key to what we built and what we left behind."
Espanyol supporters have craved those qualities in their own team for a long time. Now, there is belief it is coming. Promoted via the playoffs in his first season, they stayed up on the final day of last season despite a lack of investment in the team.
"Last year, we had big problems. It came from a previous debt that is now being cleared. We could not sign players. It had to be on loan. Now, the situation has improved."
Garagarza is speaking to Sky Sports before news of fresh investment. Espanyol are now in a 'strategic alliance' with Burnley following investment from Velocity Sport Limited, in part because of the turnaround in fortunes that he has helped to instigate.
He explains things with a medical analogy. "We were in the hospital when I arrived at Espanyol. We went from being in intensive care to being on the ward. At the moment, I think we are out of the hospital now but still requiring medical check-ups."
The long-term prognosis is good because of the plans Garagarza put in place two years ago. His pitch was a bold one given the demands of competing in LaLiga. He talks of "thinking beyond the day to day" and conceiving the football club in a whole new way.
Player sales have been essential. "Sell, buy, invest." That is already happening. Cesar Montes' move to Almeria helped fund the club's promotion campaign. The departure of goalkeeper Joan Garcia to city rivals Barcelona, after Espanyol held firm in demanding the release clause, has brought in money this summer.
Garagarza thinks that longer contracts can provide better protection. "So that we do not have to sign 10 players every year." But it is his vision for the make-up of the squad that has resonated with Espanyol supporters. "We want to connect with our people."
He explains: "In the academy, we have to have a model, a style of play, which is different to what it was when I arrived. We have to achieve that sense of belonging to the club. We have to be brave and bet on having a high percentage of home-grown players."
Garagarza has put a figure on it. "We have a strategic plan to see 50 per cent of the first team made up of Catalan and academy players. We are already taking steps to make it happen." Only four of Espanyol's B team are not homegrown, the rest are Catalan.
"The creation of the C team will give us a higher base of players who can make the leap. It is about giving opportunities, having a first-team coach who believes in homegrown players and is brave - and he is." Manolo Gonzalez himself stepped up from the B team and recently extended his contract until 2027.
Garagarza is certainly committed. "Playing football is not enough. We have to work on what it means to live it." But will the plan work? "For me, the advantage has always been to have a clear idea of where you want to go and how you want to get there."
Given that he once claimed that Eibar benefited from the big clubs being so badly run, how does he assess the situation now? "The economy is not as buoyant as it was before. They all need to sell. They all have economic limitations to overcome."
Times may have changed but his legacy at Eibar is safe. A new sporting complex is being built there. "It fills me with pride to have something of our own there, built with the gains that we achieved. Those there now are managing it well, continuing with those values."
His legacy at Espanyol is still being written. "The ambition is to not be thinking about relegation but to be a club, with our 125-year history, that has the stability to stay in the first division. To be a club not thinking about today all the time but also tomorrow."