Oriol Ribas was the toast of every Catalan native as he led his beloved Unió Esportiva Sant Andreu to playoff glory and back into the Spanish third-tier Primera Federación. However, he quickly encountered a few challenges ahead of his second season in football management.
Sant Andreu ended Ribas’ first season over £800k in the red, having lost around £1m over the previous 12 months. Much like their arch nemesis FC Barcelona, the club was massively overspending on wages and bonuses, the only difference was, they weren’t willing to cheat with disgusting sponsorships and dodgy dealings. Many of the existing players were demanding ludicrous money – up to three times their current wage – to renew their deals, with all but three of the first team out of contract in June 2026.
So Ribas turned to the fans and informed them of the issues he was facing. And they voted in their droves to refuse to give in to these players’ demands and let them depart the club. Ribas triggered a handful of one-year extensions on key players, but on 30 June 2026, he released 25 players to slash £24k off the wage bill.
The finances weren’t helped by the board announcing plans to install a grass pitch at Narcís Sala, replacing the previous synthetic pitch to comply with the new league rules at a cost of £200k. The club then began monthly repayments of £2k to pay off a £200k bank loan. “Quan plou, plou a bots i barrals,” Ribas thought. That said, the board did hand Ribas a transfer budget of £26k and boosted his wage budget by £21k to £53k per week. That was boosted by Ribas’ first-ever sale with midfielder Sergi Serrano joining Huelva for a club record £28k, which was bested by Ceuta paying £35k to nick their physio.
The only first-teamers who did earn new deals were midfielder Sergi García, full backs Emilio Lucas Viña and Pablo Santiago and centre back Carlos Blanco. That left Ribas with just eight first-team players, so he promoted a mass of youngsters, including 16-year-old winger Raul Oaie (who obviously becomes Raúl), midfielders Razvan Gogu and Narcis Constantin, striker Silvi Gual and goalkeeper Feliu Manzanu.
Ribas bolstered the squad with ten free transfers, including his first Barcelona castoffs, midfielder Dani Ávila and centre back Leo Saca, Catalan striker Héctor Tejada, 18-year-old centre back Galde, midfielder Jesús and goalkeeper Oleksandr Kravets. And even with those players in, the club was still only spending £16k a week on wages. Furthermore, the first team had been transformed from having four players under 22 to having just three players over 21 within 12 months!
Ribas stuck with his 4-2-3-1 approach with Sergi still the lynchpin playing in the number 10 role. Academy stars Aureli and Raúl start out wide with Ávila coming in as the prime creative force in midfield and Saca slotting in at the back alongside new captain Blanco. But Ribas was pretty concerned about the inexperienced Kravets being his starting goalkeeper.
Stepping up to Primera Federación
The bookies believed Ribas had a tough test on his hands, predicting Sant Andreu to finish 18th in Primera Federación Grupo II, from which five teams get relegated, with title odds of 200/1. The continuing foe of Barcelona Atlétic – FC Barcelona’s B team – are again the favourites at 8/13, along with relegated Huesca (13/8), Villarreal B (13/5), Cultural Leonesa (6/1), Cartagena (13/2) and Ibiza (9/1). However, the Sant Andreu board had fairly lofty ambitions of finishing in mid-table.
Sant Andreu’s return to Primera Federación saw them play well but lose 1-0 to a penalty at Real Murcia, in which Constantin usurped Aureli as the club’s youngest player, aged just 16 years 63 days. A week later, Tejada’s first goal nicked a 2-1 win at home to Hércules, before another tight 1-0 loss at Cartagena. Raúl laid on both goals for Tejada in a 2-2 at home to Ibiza, and attacker Antonio Vazquez’s first senior goal nicked another 2-2 at home to Sevilla Atlético.
A challenging start continued with another 1-0 away defeat at Barcelona Atlétic, leaving Sant Andreu in the bottom three after 7 games. Viña’s penalty and Kravets’ 7 saves ended a five-game winless streak at home to Espanyol B. Shockingly, after 25 goals last season, it took Sergi nine this season as he nicked a point at Intercity, but he quickly added his second with the opener at home to Marbella before Raúl’s first senior goal, which made him the club’s youngest scorer at just 16 years 139 days, secured a 2-0 victory.
Sant Andreu’s struggles continued, leaving them 15th and level on points with the dropzone after 16 games. So Ribas ripped up his approach and went with a more cautious 3-4-3. That had an immediate effect as they won their first away game in nine attempts, with Tejada and Blanco’s first-half headers earning a 2-1 success at Ceuta to take them 3 points clear of relegation going into the winter break.
Targeting Survival
Sant Andreu began 2027 with a lucky draw at Hércules before Sergi, playing from the left, bagged a brace to inspire a 3-2 win at home to Murcia. And he scored the only goal as Sant Andreu picked up only their second away win of the season at Ibiza. Regular football was helping the club’s youngsters make massive improvements. That included Raúl’s goal edging a 2-1 win at home to Sabadell and lifting Sant Andreu into the top half of the table for the first time. A solid run ended with a 4-2 defeat at Sevilla Atlético before seeing off a storm to earn the club’s first point against Barcelona Atlétic, who were running away with the league again.
Another major injury hit the squad hard as Saca ruptured his patellar tendon, sidelining him for up to 15 months. That left Ribas with two fit centre backs, forcing back into the 4-2-3-1. That went well as Tejada’s first-half brace led a 4-2 win over Intercity to move 10 points clear of relegation with 10 games remaining. However, their form dropped off a cliff through March and April, which left Ribas feeling a little nervy as the gap was cut to just 5 points. But Vazquez stepped up with a superb hat trick to defeat struggling Cultural Leonesa 4-0 and a 0-0 at Antequera secured survival with a game remaining.
Sant Andreu came home in 12th place, finishing on 49 points after 12 wins, 13 draws and 13 defeats, scoring 52 and conceding 54, to avoid relegation by 7 points. Tejada was the league’s 4th-top scorer with 19 in 38 and also had the 4th-most shots (101) and 3rd-most shots on target (51). While Sergi’s 11 assists was only bettered by Ceuta’s Manu Vallejo, and Raúl was 22nd with 7 but had the 5th-best assists per 90 minutes (0.35). FC Barcelona’s B team dominated the league again, losing just twice to move into the second tier, just one league below the main club.
Avoiding a Predicted Relegation
Ribas avoided the bookies’ expected relegation and just about achieved the board’s objective of finishing in mid-table. The impressive Tejada led the way with 20 goals in 40 games, followed by Sergi’s 11 goals and 12 assists – but only nine players scored a goal, and only 11 got an assist. However, Ribas’ main focus was on developing young stars, with Vazquez scoring 8 goals with 4 assists, Aurelí scoring 4 goals with 4 assists and Raúl scoring 2 goals with 7 assists. So he would need more from them next season, when Sergi wouldn’t be at the club, but there was no denying these players had masses of potential.
Speaking of potential, Sant Andreu got another solid youth intake led by six elite talents in wingers Zakaria Ouazni, Franco Garcés, Delfí and Pablo Crusells, Catalan midfielder David and Bulgarian centre back Daniel Tsankov. Other players to look out for included Gambian left back Muhammed Nyassi and midfielder Ot.
Sant Andreu’s mission to stay in the third tier was complete, leaving them two leagues below their big-name city rivals. But how have FC Barcelona fared this season? Here’s our annual comparison of the two clubs, as FC Barcelona won Copa del Rey but only finished 3rd behind the two Madrid sides.
Ribas was likely to face more challenges in the third season in charge of his beloved Sant Andreu. More players were set to depart, forcing the manager to put further trust in youth. But could they survive again? Join us next Monday to find out!
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