Saturday, May 7th. After two in the afternoon. Cayetano Pérez, president of Spar Girona, uses his personal Twitter profile to post a photo. There are all the players in the squad and also the members of the coaching staff. It is a kind of gratitude, what the president does, towards the season that has starred in the team, without titles but again among the eight best in Europe, finalist in the Cup and semi-finalist in the League. Alfred Julbe is not missing there. By the time the snapshot is taken, everyone already knows that the coach will not continue at the club next season. He himself had been in charge of communicating it from door to door days ago. The players knew it, as did the professionals who have worked side by side with him all this time. The fans smelled it, which would eventually receive confirmation, also on social media. Julbe himself made his decision public. “It simply came to our notice then. I will find the time and the words to explain it “, he wrote, among other things. So, a year and a half after his landing in Fontajau, his stage writes the full stop. Time to take stock and take a look back; but without forgetting the more immediate future. That’s why the club is already looking for a replacement and hopes to have him tied up as soon as possible to finish planning for next season, where Frida Eldebrink will not be there. It was vox populi that the Swede would pack. Yesterday, the official confirmation.
Julbe’s legacy
A certain surprise, at least that’s how the environment that follows the matches of the Uni caught it, generated the dismissal of Eric Surís, in the autumn of 2020. The team had managed to qualify for the Euroleague, but the sensations initials weren’t entirely positive and the tune between the dome and the bench, either. He bet on a relay and here appeared the figure of Alfred Julbe. It was the starting point of a stage that has lasted for 18 months and has left all sorts of brushstrokes, with a balance that can always be improved but at the same time outstanding. Especially in Europe, where the club has cut a little more stone to consolidate. Likewise, with the Badalonian taking the reins of the dressing room, the first – and so far only – Copa de la Reina was held, the one won in 2021 at the Font de Sant Lluís. Precisely the same scenario that has served to end this stage.
In the Euroleague, in both editions, always with Julbe at the helm, Uni has managed to place itself among one of the eight best teams in the competition. The first adventure, marked by the bubbles resulting from the pandemic. Test passed, before falling in the quarterfinals. And this course, already with the usual format, went round again – with victories of merit against rivals such as Schio, Sopron or Fenerbahçe, among others -, although with the help of the forced elimination of the Russian teams , due to the war in Ukraine. Again, at quarters. And once again, the Avenue that avoided a historic jump to the Final Four.
With the Copa de la Reina as the most considerable success, beating the team from Salamanca and also Valencia, the other two powers in national basketball, things have not gone so well for the Women’s League these two years with Julbe in the bench. It was not possible to reach the final in either edition. This season, however, has been marked by the many injuries and damage caused by the virus. This has diminished, and in what way, the numbers for daily training and also the rotations to face much of the official matches.
Another goodbye
Coincidentally or perhaps coincidentally, on the same day that Uni made it official that Alfred Julbe left the team, three quarters of the same happened at Cadí-La Seu. Bernat Canut, five years after taking over the reins of the first team, has decided to change his mind and has not accepted the renewal proposal proposed by the club. A “personal” decision that he has made “with a cold head”. Weeks ago, the Spar Girona and Canut maintained contacts to assess what the possibilities were for landing in Fontajau. Formalisms, simply. In the current context, it is an option and very real. But we need to talk about it. Negotiations are underway.
