A thirty-year-old who showered millions on a dying man

April 19, 2008, Celtic announces the arrival Anthony Chavez like new general director entity after the victory over Hercules (1-0). Days later, a thirty-year-old man in a tie, a lawyer by profession in Garrigues, crosses the threshold of the headquarters, and then in Plaza of Spain. When he landed, Celta was preparing to enter bankruptcy as the last hope to return to the “rotten apple”, as Mouriño himself said.

During these fifteen years, no one has devoted so many hours to the club as Meco. First, he led difficult negotiations with Caixanova (Abanca) and other creditors to save the process. He did the same with the Tax Administration, with whom the club contracted a large part of the debt. Chaves was the last to get a haircut of 85%, an astronomical amount that only progressed in competition with the lowly and non-existent CD Ourense, but he successfully extrapolated it to a giant with a staggering debt.

Although the word architect became fashionable at Celta last summer with the arrival of Luís Campos, the club’s first designer was Chaves. Economic and sports. From the beginning, he adopted Mourinho’s premise: to spend one euro less than collected, and in all the economic balance sheets of the club, the reality was always far beyond the predictions.

In terms of sports, he was always at the foot of the canyon, in constant contact with the team, especially with the heavyweights, but also attentive to all movements. He was the interlocutor of every coach who passed through Vigo in the last 15 years. In addition, he actively participated in almost all sales transactions that were carried out during that time. Chaves caught Celta with 70 million in the minus and leaves them with accumulated benefits of over a hundred million.

His departure, two days after the season ended, could be the beginning of the end of a cycle in the Sky Dome, though that movement remains to be seen.