Did you miss the introduction to our new Revolució Quadribarrats series and our latest protagonist Oriol Ribas? Check out this morning’s Part 1 here.
Revolution was afoot in Cataluña as Ultras leader Oriol Ribas was elected as manager of fourth-tier club Unió Esportiva Sant Andreu. The rookie manager was entrusted with the mammoth task of restoring Catalan glory by leading the charge to usurp the mighty FC Barcelona.
Fresh from being unveiled as the new, completely untested UE Sant Andreu manager, Ribas sat down with his new board to discuss his plans. Japanese owner Taito Suzuki, who purchased the club in September 2024, and chairperson Manuel Camino expect him to reach the Segunda Federación Group III playoffs, which means a top-five finish, in his first season. To achieve that, he has £214k in the bank, no transfer budget and an overspend of £1k on the £34k weekly budget.
Ribas met the players and ran his first training session to assess the task awaiting him. Sant Andreu’s best player is FC Barcelona graduate centre back Carlos Blanco, along with attacking midfielders Alexis and 6ft 5in Sergi García, Max Marcet (Maxí) and Sergi Serrano, goalkeeper Iñaki, Guinean striker Marcos Mendes, midfielders Pau Darbra and Daniel Torices and centre back Javi Gómez. Ribas also had a few youngsters to work with, led by 16-year-old winger Aureli, 6ft 5in American centre back Hudson Davis, and striker Silvi Gual, winger Estanis Tura and goalkeeper Feliu Manzano. The squad was a little old for Ribas’ liking, with only four first-teamers aged under 22, but he couldn’t do anything about that yet. But, pleasingly, only seven weren’t born in Cataluña.
Ribas’ first mission was to hire an entire backroom staff, then move out a few players on loan to try and address the wage overspend. With that done, he went with a fairly standard 4-2-3-1 that drops into a 4-4-1-1 out of possession. Team instructions are fairly minimal, but the two wide players are encouraged to dribble and cross from the byline, while Alexis is given freedom to roam. He also created a second version in which the two widemen stayed higher up the pitch out of possession, with the view of alternating for home/away and more difficult games.
Ribas Takes Control of Sant Andreu
The Spanish bookies fancied Sant Andreu’s chances, predicting them to finish 4th in Segunda Federación Grupo III with title odds of 9/1. Barcelona Atlétic, FC Barcelona’s B team, who have 7 of the media dream 11, are 1/91 favourites along with promoted Girona B (6/1), Atlético Baleares (8/1), Ibiza (14/1), Terrassa (15/1) and Valencia Mestalla (18/1).
Ribas began his managerial career well, as Mendes and Sergi goals earned a 2-0 win at Porreres, in which Aureli came off the bench to become the club’s youngest ever player, aged 16 years 223 days. Ribas was given a veciferous welcome ahead of his first game in the dugout at Narcís Sala against Castellón B. That enthusiasm didn’t carry over to the players early on, but Mendes saw a shot crash off the bar and, after a stern teamtalk, they eventually hit the front as Maxí’s cross was powered in by Alexis. Maxi was at it again, laying on the second for Sergi before tapping in a third to ease to a 3-1 win.
The positive start continued as Alexis and Mendes downed Espanyol B 2-1 and braces by the two Garcías inspired a 4-2 victory at Reus. A big early test was the visit of FC Barcelona’s B Team, Barcelona Atlético, which is packed with young stars who scored in the first and last minute to nick a deserved 2-1.
They got back on track in style next time out as Aureli scored his first senior goal after 16 seconds at Girona B, making him the club’s youngest goalscorer at 16 years 257 days, before a Mendes hat trick wrapped up a 5-2 win. The strong form continued, including Sergi inspiring a 4-1 thrashing of Valencia Mestalla, and Sant Andreu headed into a month-long winter break with a 2-point lead over Barcelona Atlético in what looked like being a two-way title race.
The superb Maxí scored twice in a 4-1 thumping of Baleares in the first game of 2026, then created both goals for Mendes in a 3-0 win at Castellón B. However, the season was hit with disastrous news as Maxí suffered a fractured leg in training in late January. On the back of that, Sant Andreu dropped points at home to Porreres and at Valencia Mestalla, which took the relentless Barcelona Atlétic 2 points clear. A month later, a huge trip across the city to Estadi Johan Cruyff, the B team took full control of the title race with a 2-1 win that sent them 7 points clear.
The wheels began to fall off as Sant Andreu lost 2-1 at home to Girona B, which made it five without a win since Maxí’s injury while Barcelona Atlético racked up a 16th straight victory. They got back on track as Sergi and Mendes braces downed Ibiza 4-0, but the title was long gone. That said, Ribas did achieve the board objective of reaching the playoffs with 5 games remaining, which delighted both the board and his fellow supporters.
Sant Andreu went on to finish comfortably in 2nd place with 77 points, after 23 wins, 8 draws and 3 defeats, scoring a league-high 80 goals and conceding 32. Maxí was the best player in the league with a 7.57 rating and his loss had been a massive blow. Sergi and Mendes were the 3rd and 4th top scorers with 22 and 21 goals, while Sergi topped the assists chart (15), followed by Maxí and Alexis in joint 2nd (12), and had the most shots (117) and highest xG overperformance (9.78).
That took Sant Andreu into the two-legged playoffs, where they faced Alavés B, who finished 5th in Grupo II, in the semis. Maxí wasn’t quite fit for the first leg, but they more than had enough as early Mendes and Aureli strikes led a comfortable 4-1 win. Maxí did return for the away leg, and an entertaining 2-2 sent them into the final against Conquense, who finished 2nd in Grupo V. Sergi stepped up in the away leg with a goal either side of halftime to earn a dominant 3-1 victory. And, despite a wasteful 1-0 defeat at home, that was enough for an aggregate win.
UE Sant Andreu were promoted to Primera Federación!
Promotion Secured But Tricky Times Ahead
The UE Sant Andreu faithful were delighted with the rapid progress under Ribas, who led the club back to the third tier of Spanish football. Sergi led the way with an impressive 25 goals and 17 assists, followed by Mendes (23 goals and 6 assists), Alexis (13 goals and assists), Maxí (8 goals and 12 assists) and Torices (5 goals and 5 assists).
However, the financial situation at Sant Andreu was looking increasingly challenging. The club had dropped to £800k in the red, regularly losing over £150k per month. That was largely due to paying fairly high wages, but their top earners were demanding up to three times their current salaries to stay. Ribas managed to trigger a few contract extensions, but they were likely to lose a huge number of players in the summer.
On the positive front, Sant Andreu had a promising first youth intake with at least five “elite” potential players in wingers Raul Oaie, Narcis Constantin and Óscar Fosch and strikers Antonio Vazquez and Óscar Reyes. But why they were all attackers was anybody’s guess!
We’ll be finishing each of these season posts with a comparison between UE Sant Andreu and the team Ribas is aiming to take down, to show the size of the mission and the difference between the two sides. And, as you can see, FC Barcelona achieved just as much, if not less, than Sant Andreu despite spending 9,000 times more on wages!
Ribas likely had a tough task on his hands, especially as the board wanted him to finish in mid-table in tier three next season! But could he lead Sant Andreu to survival? Join us next Monday to find out!
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