“Magnificent” year, sportingly and socially.
“Being here talking about this now was unthinkable a year ago, when we saw the conditions in which it was going to develop. Not even the most deluded of fans would have thought it. It is true that the team was giving more and more, and there came a time when it seemed that they had no one to beat them. Then reality prevails over the illusion and the team shows symptoms of exhaustion, and even so they played games like Alicante, like yesterday, like Coruña … ”, points out the president of the OCB, who thinks that so important or more is the social impact of the team: “I have the feeling that we have grown a lot, that we have had a great impact on the sporting and institutional side and that the matter has transcended the sporting level. The OCB is on the street, or at least that is what I perceive ”.
FEB moratorium with the flag.
“Before, many people told us that they lacked involvement, presence in the city, and I agree. We often joked in the club that we had to pull a float in the America Day parade. Now we have transcended that and the growth in the economic part I only see possible linked to a pavilion with more capacity ”, explains Villabella. In this sense, the Spanish Federation has postponed for one year the requirement to have a stage with a minimum capacity of 2,500 spectators, which will now be mandatory in the 22-23 season. The Ocebeísta leader explains that “the assembly on Saturday approved the competition rules for the next season, which say the same as those of the present, but where it said 21-22 it now says 22-23. In theory, the Palace would be available from December 2023, so we return to the moratorium song if you have something built. We have won a year, but in 16 months we will have to be in another ward or request an extension, as in the military ”.
Keep the block, mission impossible.
After a season as brilliant as this one, logic invites us to try to renew as many players as possible. A theory that collides with the economic weakness of the club, which will make it almost impossible to retain the most outstanding players, such as Speight, Brown and Norelia. “It’s the same as always, the seasonal cycle of the OCB … you will go to renew one and they will tell you that they have an offer of two thousand euros more per month better than yours from a team in your League,” says Villabella. At some point he thought that the pandemic was going to lower salaries, but it has not been the case. At least the project has good foundations with the continuity of Natxo Lezkano on the bench. “He has a contract and we are very happy with him, we believe that it was one of the factors of success due to his leadership with the team and his knowledge of the League. He is probably the best coach in the competition ”, asserts the president.
Again two groups and four descents.
The club is preparing for a season similar to the current one. “The only thing we can think of is that it is going to get a little more public and I trust that it will, but it will be one thing for the other, because while waiting to close the accounts it is likely that we will have to cover a hole this season ”, Says the president, who knows that next year there will also be a fine spin, since four declines are again expected, this year with the fall of classics in the category such as Ourense and Lleida. Yesterday it was known that both clubs are going to face common to stay in the LEB Oro, with two groups of twelve teams. An initiative that does not know what route it may take.
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