Quimet Cañellas, the partner of Espanyol who popularized the “good afternoon, my friends all” dies

BarcelonaEspanyol is mourning the death, at the age of 68, of Joaquim Cañellas Gall, better known as Quimet Cañellas, a white-and-blue partner who popularized “Good evenings, friends of mine all” at numerous club shareholders’ meetings. This illustrious Spanish partner was recognized and quite loved by the white-and-blue fans for his speeches in the question-and-answer session before the shareholders and the board of Espanyol. His appearances enlivened institutional meetings, as did, in a quite different style, Dámaso Ruiz, the parakeet priest who tried to bring peace between the shareholders and who died in 2018. The Cañellas family has reported that the farewell ceremony will be this Sunday 25 at the Tanatori de les Corts, at 10.30 am.

“You must make a team with tempera, like mine. Because with what we have now, it is a total suspense. Starting with that man with the thick white beard, the other one who touched the noses, Carmen de Mairena herself , it looked like the cabin of the Marx brothers”, recommended the then president of the entity, Dani Sánchez Llibre. “We have to put a little sauce, erotic and comic, because this looks like a vigil, today”, he explained in the middle of the shareholders’ meeting, before starting with an anecdote that went viral through programs such asAPM.

“It was a cold night in January, during a rainy stay in Pamplona to see Osasuna-Espanyol. I was walking down the street and I came across a name: “Pension”. It was already something. Because you see what I’ve come to do. I’m not there I’ve been there like you, in five-star hotels, supersonic planes and VIP meals. I’ve been there like Paco Martínez Soria, just missing the two chickens in my hand. When I got to that boarding house, I saw that long corridor with the green lights and red and I thought: «Tate, there will be cod here». And yes, I went up the stairs, I reach the bottom and see the big one madame sitting next to the desk, with a perm that looked like it belonged to Marie Antoinette’s court, and I said: “At least there will be cava here.” Look if I had a good time, Mr. President, Mr. Councillors, I had more fun that night than watching Osasuna-Espanyol the following night. I had a good time, because you can see that Espanyol’s partner has them in good shape.”

At that same shareholder meeting, Cañellas described, with his particular tone and style, what the Espanyol partner was like: “He’s brave like me, he’s male like me.” His speeches were filled with a very characteristic tone: “This team we have now, gentlemen, does not even score a goal in the rainbow.” He was also critical of the board and the relations – not hostile enough, in his opinion – of some managers and the then president, Dani Sánchez Llibre, with members of the Barça board at that time: “To his colleague from the sidewalk in front, you know who I mean, banned him from his stadium. Last year they didn’t look each other in the face. This year, half a hug. Next year, a full hug. And from here in two years some cockles will be split. The day I’m president, there won’t be as many canapés, but there will be more butts […] Thank you very much and long live Espanyol.”

Cañellas, always endearingly sour, also valued the change of home club parakeet: “I will always be grateful to Dani Sánchez Llibre for getting us out of this cemetery that is Montjuïc”, he said in 2003, at a meeting of the Penya Blanc -i-blava from Vilafranca. He made these statements about the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium – where Espanyol played between 1997 and 2009 – after the organization closed the purchase of the Cornellà-El Prat land in 2003. The new RCDE Stadium, however, would not open until 2009.