It was minute 93, RC Deportivo de la Coruña lost 3-2 against Castellón in the second leg of the promotion phase. Then, the goalkeeper from A Coruña hit an opponent who had tried to prevent him from taking a quick kick. Red and penalty. If Castellón scored, Depor would lose their option to return to professional football for the third consecutive year.

Curiously, he missed and also other clear chances in extra time against 10 men. Depor even got ahead in extra time, but this is Depor. So, as if a witch had cast an evil eye, 12 minutes from the end, Castellón scored the goal that condemned the blue and white team. Although that goal was nothing more than an anecdote from another difficult year.

Next year Depor will begin its fourth season in the First RFEF. We are talking about the twelfth club in the historical ranking of national football, one of the 9 that has managed to win a League, which has two Copas del Rey, three Super Cups and, recently, they were awarded a Spanish Cup played in 1912. In total, 7 titles, more than most First Division teams.

For 2022/2023, the club had an 8 million budget approved by 99.9% of the Board of Directors. The social mass of the club and television, although the first with much more weight, were the pillars on which to support income. However, losses of 4.75 million euros were expected. President Antonio Courceiro was confident in the promotion this 2022/23 and stressed that it was an essential objective for Depor to be viable.

It has not been achieved. However, sources from the Board of Directors admit to EL MUNDO that “the board has various strategies for various scenarios” and that the club has “a very firm structure and clear and very professional governance.”

The financial institution Abanca has 76.7% of Depor’s shares. President Couceiro wanted, after the heavy defeat in Castellón, “to transfer the solidity of the project and the support of the main shareholder to continue working intensively.” It seems that economic viability, then, is not a problem and it will be possible, according to the impression that former president Augusto César Lendoiro has, to “maintain a high investment.”

However, the former sports leader is confident that this Board of Directors “has already realized after four years that football is not like another company” and that “they assume the errors that may have been made and correct them.” “Every year is a leap into the void,” also expressed Germán Dobarro, a journalist who covers Depor at Cope.

The errors have been seen, mainly, in the sports field. The team has had three coach changes in a season in which it was only in positions close to direct promotion at the end of February, shortly after the arrival of Lucas Pérez after giving up his contract in the First Division “to help Depor to rise ».

The current coach, Rubén de la Barrera, whose future is unknown although it seems to continue, barely had time to straighten out the team. De la Barrera was also the coach who frustrated Depor’s rise in 2021/22 at the head of Albacete.

Next year it may be time to fight with Málaga, among others, the long-awaited promotion. “It will be wild,” predicts Lendoiro. It seems that Lucas Pérez will continue, but Alberto Quiles, the other great star of the team, could change for a LaLiga SmartBank club. “Depor has to put together a serious project. It cannot continue to stumble, “says Dobarro

The configuration of the template will be key for a fourth attempt. Last year, 12 players were signed in the summer and five in the winter, many changes in which players from the academy with great projection such as Yeremay or Trilli had little prominence until the return of De la Barrera. What will the scriptwriters have prepared for Depor next year? “In bad weather, a good face and for the rain, umbrellas”, Lendorio recipe.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project