The longest-lived success of the Avilés: never before had the squad exceeded an average of 27 years

2023-06-18 04:05:00

The proverb – apparently of military origin – says that “experience is a degree”. This season, Real Avilés had it for arrobas and not because the squad was, precisely, full of recruits. Everyone got rid of the “military”, even the coach, who requested an extension and ended up pardoned from the goo in the Marina de Cádiz. At most, the only one who knew how the cetme was wielding was Joaquín Alonso, the delegate, who, by the way, outside of Asturias did not play only for Granada, but also for Serviam from Bilbilitano, from the Aragonese First Regional, while receiving orders military personnel at the Calatayud Logistics Academy.

The high degree of experience that Real Avilés had in the recently concluded financial year is dictated by the always implacable data. The 29 players used by Emilio Cañedo during the 2022-2023 academic year show the highest average age of the 40 seasons that mark the club’s history. In fact, it is the first time that a blue and white team is over 27 years old on average. Exactly, it is 27 years, 7 months and 6 days.

What is striking is no longer the record itself, but the categoricalness with which the previous one was struck down, in possession of the 2016-2017 squad, whose climax was also paralyzed in the promotional appendix, then in Second B. That cast directed by Pablo Lake and, at the last minute, Paco Parreño charged with one less annuity, specifically 26 years, 7 months and 24 days.

In any case, this type of data requires weighting, especially if compared with past times. Times change, as health care, nutrition, material, prevention, playing fields change… and, if decades ago the age of 28 was considered the footballer’s peak, at least physically, that limit has grown to the point that entering the third decade of sports activity is not an obstacle to continue at the top. To point out an individual case of Real Avilés that has just closed the season, it could be that of Jorge Fernández. Already at the age of Christ, the rapid conductions of the interior of El Moncó did not differ too much from those that, a decade earlier, led him to orbit around the Zaragoza first team.

The seniority that bordered on success in this Real Avilés was also characterized by the distribution of positions. Apart from being the first time that a blue and white squad brings together eleven players aged 30 or over, the curious thing is that they all respond to as many demarcations, so that they could form a full thirty-something lineup, with Davo Armengol in goal; an integrated defense, from right to left, by Nacho López, Pedro Orfila, Jorge Morcillo and Jonxa Vidal; midfielder of four, with Jorge Fernández, Javi Rey, Pablo Espina and Luis Valcarce; and attack for Natalio Lorenzo and Sergio García. A team like that, with almost 35 years on average, would have absolutely nothing residual, since it accumulated a total of 20,230 official minutes (1,839 per head)… and 29 goals, practically half of the 60 that the team celebrated in all the competitions.

The trend towards longevity is manifested in that the six oldest squads have entered in the last ten years. Until number 7 in the ranking, one from the last century does not appear, specifically the one that Raúl González managed in the 1988-1989 season, that of the downpour during the visit of Bilbao Athletic that twisted the label of promotion to the Second Division.

At the opposite pole, two of the most inexperienced squads are also in the last five years, but made not out of conviction, but out of the urgent need to support the dying club from the last throes of knitting. Thus, in the 2017-2018 campaign, with an average of 21 years and 9 months, those led by Xiel Díaz and the dismissed Iván Palacios avoided rebounding from relegation to Preferred, thanks to Langreo’s jump to Second B. Two years later, In the penultimate season of the previous property, Juanma Castañón, with the most inexperienced squad in history (21 and a half years old) achieved another miraculous salvation.

It is time to recruit the new troops, which, as everything indicates, will follow the orders of Emilio Cañedo. To whom he freed from the Navy, more than “admiral”, the name “anti-hero” fits. After all, experience is also the mother of science.