Season Preview: Granada CF

One of the surprise packages of the 2011/2012 season may well be newly promoted Granada CF. Álvaro López from Granadacfweb.com gives us the background to one of Spain’s most interesting clubs.

The Return of the Giantkillers

By Álvaro López

Translated by Jamie McGregor, original Spanish text is available here

On 14 April, 1931 one of the most loved and well-remembered teams in Spain was born in Granada. It did so in an atmosphere of uncertainty, football had just started to be fully practised in Spain although matches had been played since the start of the 20^th Century. Before the foundation of the club there were several teams in Granada all of whom were very modest with facilities which weren’t even close to basic and so were never important enough to become the city’s main team. It was then, when Recreativo Granada was created with the merger of all the smaller clubs that football took on a new dimension in the city of Alhambra.

Recreativo Granada was the first name that Granada C.F had. Its blue strip was substituted by mere accident, according to the records of the time, because one of the directors of the club found a red and white strip but wasn’t able to find a blue one. For that reason, since then Granada has played in those colours. The Spanish Civil War, which took place between 1936 and 1939, put the brakes on the sporting development of Granada which had started very strongly. After just two seasons the club had already achieved two consecutive promotions. Their debut in Primera was in the 1941-1942 season. From that moment on, the rojiblanco club became one of the historic Spanish clubs who constantly alternated between promotions and relegations for more than 30 years.

Among its achievements, the team coached by Kalmar got to the final of the Copa del Generalísimo (now known as the Copa del Rey) knocking out teams such as Valencia on the way. In the final against the all-conquering FC Barcelona the team couldn’t go the final step and lost 4-1. However, that milestone has not been equaled by any other Granada team. Furthermore, under the presidency of Cándido Gómez, Granada CF gained the status of a historic club of Primera División due to long periods in the top league and regular victories over Real Madrid, Barcelona and company. Great footballers such as Ñito, Fernández and Porta who was pichichi while wearing the colours of Granada would pass through that Granada during that period. Those years ended too soon, the highlights were finishing sixth twice but the club went down in 1975-1976 and didn’t return. A five time European champion with Real Madrid, the manager was none other than Miguel Muñoz. He was a man of Madridista glory but also the coach who led the rojiblancos of Granada to Segunda División. This is how the blackest period in the club’s history began.

For 30 years, Granada would jump between the lower leagues of Spanish football although it should be pointed out they were in Segunda for much of this time. However, after falling into Segunda B, except for 1986/87 when the team was again in Segunda, Granada entered into a situation that almost cost the club its existence. Bad luck in penalty shoot-outs, corrupt presidents, players who didn’t get paid but an unswerving support that, despite the club almost disappearing, never abandoned Granada. Some of those heroes are known as the “The last of Filipinas”*. Furthermore, the team changed stadium and moved into Nuevo Los Cármenes (the club’s current ground) after many years in their much missed stadium of the same name and was witnessed so many great evenings.

Except for a few runs in the Copa del Rey which brought back some excitement to a discontent but loyal support, the team never managed to have a good enough season to get back to Segunda. The high point came in 1999-2000 when in the last match for promotion, Granada only needed to draw to go up. The city was full of colour on 25 June to celebrate the likely promotion but Real Murcia ended the hopes of the granadinistas with a single goal by an ex-rojiblanco, Aguilar. After that, the team began to hit rock bottom. They would even be relegated to Tercera for not paying their players in the summer of 2002, coming closer than ever to disappearing. But then hope arrived under the presidency of Paco Sanz (son of Lorenzo Sanz, the ex-President of Real Madrid who had won two European cups). Granada returned to Segunda B in 2006, their first promotion in almost 2 decades.

Once back in Segunda B the problems didn’t disappear and a series of irregularities and some misunderstandings with Paco Sanz meant the club was close to bankruptcy with a precarious economic policy that meant they owed money to almost everyone. Once again the prospect of disappearing was close although this time in Segunda B. It was then that a granadino businessman, Cuerva, decided to take the reins at the club to at least stop the club dyeing and in the hope that some miracle or good management would help the team fight to return to the top levels of the Spanish football. And the miracle occurred. It arrived just before the end of the 2008/2009 season when Enrique Pina, a man from a hated period in Granada, who had sold his Ciudad de Murcia to a granadino businessman who refounded it as Granada 74 and whose backing in Granada was null despite having a place in Segunda, took the reins of the club. That’s when the resurrection started.

In 2009-2010, the squad that was formed was one of the strongest in Segunda B and despite a faltering start the team finished as champion of group IV and faced Alcorcón, who had knocked Real Madrid out of the Copa del Rey, in the promotion play-off final. The heroes of the promotion were Odion Jude Ighalo and the central defender Iván Amaya whose goals in the final gave the rojiblancos promotion. Granada returned to Segunda, 22 years later.

The year in Segunda, was treated like a gift, the doubts of the past and the urgency for promotion were left behind. Granada was beginning to stabilise its financial situation and the support, who never left the club, was more committed than ever with their graná. Although the objective from the beginning of the season was survival, many people knew that the squad had the potential to have a very strong season. And that’s what happened, they finished the season in fifth place and played in the play-offs for the promotion to the Primera Division. With nothing to lose and everything to gain, Granada CF went into the final game with the chance of a historic promotion intact. Against Elche, Odion Jude Ighalo was once again the hero as he scored the goal that made so many granadinos cry and returned the glory that no-one had expected in the city. 35 years on, Granada CF was once again in the Liga BBVA.

Now in the top league, Granada doesn’t have the obligation to have a strong season and perhaps because the small expectations and the hard work shown by the president, the board, the coaching staff and the players, they can at least allow the city of Alhambra to enjoy a season alongside Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. A well deserved prize after so many hard years endured by the club. The squad has conformed, despite a lack of signings, and seems strong enough not to go down but a question arises. Has the giant killing Granada of the 70´s returned? In the heart, spirit and dedication of Granada and its fans the answer is clear “they wil fight to be legends”.

*The last of Filipinas (Los últimos de Filipinas) was a Spanish film about the a group of 500 Spaniard colonists who stayed to defend Cuba for 337 days as it fell from Spanish control. The images of the film are associated with loyalty to the cause despite almost no chance of victory.

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