Nothing to lose
24 hours before Castellón’s promotion decider, and I find myself extremely calm. In fact, I would say I’m more relaxed than I have been before any big game of any club I care about. Why? A feeling of inevitability. Whatever happens on Saturday, the direction the club is heading in can only mean one thing – promotion. Of course, everyone would love it to happen on Saturday, and it will be disappointing if it doesn’t. It’s impossible to fail one game away and not feel some pain.
But regardless of what happens, this is the first time in a long time that Castellón can actually celebrate at the end of the season and look forward extremely confidently to the next one. In stark contrast to last year, when fans weren’t even sure the club would continue to exist through the summer.
A promotion now, whether it comes on Saturday or a bit later on, will be very different to the one in 2020. Fans going into that promotion decider didn’t know if they would ever get the chance again - after all, it was a huge stroke of luck. There was everything to lose. Leading the league by only one point when it was stopped due to corona, the Albinegres took advantage of some hasty decision making by the RFEF to take advantage and get promoted. Despite losing to UD Logroñés, the Albinegres obtained promotion by beating the two fourth placed teams of the other group in the knockout competition. The result was a team that wasn’t ready for the higher division going straight back down, conceding the most goals of any team in the league in the process.
This time will be different – whether on Saturday or not, Castellón will have deserved it with an ambitious project in place, financial backing and a totally different approach. This time, the promotion, whenever it happens, will last.
Castellón travel to Madrid knowing they need a win against Alcorcón, due to the rules which favour the higher placed team in the league. The same rules that helped them beat Deportivo hinder them here, but it doesn’t matter. The team has absolutely nothing to lose. Fans have absolutely no reason to be nervous. This isn’t once-in-a-lifetime, this is just the beginning. Pam Pam Orellut!
