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| La Liga’s manager cull continues with Deportivo’s coach the latest to go | La Liga’s manager cull continues with Deportivo’s coach the latest to go |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Víctor Fernández wasn’t leaving, not officially, not yet, but he came to say goodbye anyway. Although the axe that had long hovered over his neck, blade glistening, still hadn’t fallen, he was sure it would be along presently and so he bade farewell to them before they bade farewell to him. The Deportivo de La Coruña manager settled into his seat behind the bottles of beer and water and the board with the insurance company’s name on it, coughed, adjusted the mic and waited, doughy eyes wide. A few minutes before, a late own goal had captured a 1-1 draw with Córdoba and at the final whistle a familiar chant had started up again: “Víctor, go now!” This time, he would. | |
| Fernández was on his fourth ultimatum of the season. They had started all the way back in the autumn; six months later, he was still standing … just. Each time he had emerged battered and bruised, weaker than before, but alive. This time he did not emerge at all, except to leave a few final words. On Monday, president Tino Fernández had called him and told him he had to win, sí o sí: yes or yes. And if ‘yes’ was ‘no’, he’d be sacked. On Tuesday, it was in all the papers, just like the other three ultimatums had been. And on Wednesday, the team whose target was survival got a draw to keep them a point above relegation, but Víctor Fernández knew it wasn’t enough. | Fernández was on his fourth ultimatum of the season. They had started all the way back in the autumn; six months later, he was still standing … just. Each time he had emerged battered and bruised, weaker than before, but alive. This time he did not emerge at all, except to leave a few final words. On Monday, president Tino Fernández had called him and told him he had to win, sí o sí: yes or yes. And if ‘yes’ was ‘no’, he’d be sacked. On Tuesday, it was in all the papers, just like the other three ultimatums had been. And on Wednesday, the team whose target was survival got a draw to keep them a point above relegation, but Víctor Fernández knew it wasn’t enough. |
| A couple of questions went by and then the question. Do you think this was your last game? It seemed to come as a liberation, the charade finally over. “I think so,” he said. “For sure.” There’d been no conversation post-game, no meeting with the president, no deal done, no pay-off agreed, no announcement, no insincere institutional statement saying “thanks for your efforts, good luck in the future and all that, now sling your hook”, nothing. Officially, Víctor Fernández was still the manager of Deportivo. But nor was there a promise to fight on. Just a moment for him to lament a sacking had hadn’t yet been given and say an emotional goodnight and good luck. | A couple of questions went by and then the question. Do you think this was your last game? It seemed to come as a liberation, the charade finally over. “I think so,” he said. “For sure.” There’d been no conversation post-game, no meeting with the president, no deal done, no pay-off agreed, no announcement, no insincere institutional statement saying “thanks for your efforts, good luck in the future and all that, now sling your hook”, nothing. Officially, Víctor Fernández was still the manager of Deportivo. But nor was there a promise to fight on. Just a moment for him to lament a sacking had hadn’t yet been given and say an emotional goodnight and good luck. |
| “If what the president said on the phone on Monday is fulfilled, this is [my last game],” Fernández said. “I tried. I tried with all my might. I would like to say thank you to everyone. What was said on Monday, and was filtered out [to the media], I suppose it’s true. I am convinced that they will survive; I am convinced that they would have survived with me too. I will leave with my head held high. I have a clear conscience. When you have given your all it gives you an inner peace that no one can take away from me … I wish you all a lot of luck, health, and happiness.” | “If what the president said on the phone on Monday is fulfilled, this is [my last game],” Fernández said. “I tried. I tried with all my might. I would like to say thank you to everyone. What was said on Monday, and was filtered out [to the media], I suppose it’s true. I am convinced that they will survive; I am convinced that they would have survived with me too. I will leave with my head held high. I have a clear conscience. When you have given your all it gives you an inner peace that no one can take away from me … I wish you all a lot of luck, health, and happiness.” |
| On he went. Alongside him, the press officer squirmed, wanting to wrap it up, but the questions kept coming and Fernández noted with a wry smile: “I’ve got all night.” There would be no training in the morning and there was nowhere else to go, after all. And so he continued, trying to contain his hurt, rambling, not sure where he was heading except out of there. “I was trying to hold it together but I almost cracked, [because] three or four of the players were crying,” he said. “It’s been a long time since I had a relationship like this with a dressing room,” he went on. “Our objective is survival and we’re not in the relegation zone; we only have been three times,” he said. “I’ve not been well treated at times,” he said. | On he went. Alongside him, the press officer squirmed, wanting to wrap it up, but the questions kept coming and Fernández noted with a wry smile: “I’ve got all night.” There would be no training in the morning and there was nowhere else to go, after all. And so he continued, trying to contain his hurt, rambling, not sure where he was heading except out of there. “I was trying to hold it together but I almost cracked, [because] three or four of the players were crying,” he said. “It’s been a long time since I had a relationship like this with a dressing room,” he went on. “Our objective is survival and we’re not in the relegation zone; we only have been three times,” he said. “I’ve not been well treated at times,” he said. |
| “Very few people know how I really feel today,” he continued. The questions continued too, what ifs? “You’re talking about hypotheses,” he said finally, as the whole surreal spectacle closed at last. “Life is reality. The reality is that I am the Deportivo coach.” A pause. “[But] I was told that I had to win sí o sí and [now] I’m exposed to whatever might happen …” Another pause. “I’m answering badly … I don’t know what I’m saying now.” Fernández leaned into the mic, said “bye”, got up suddenly and walked out. The End. | |
| Any chance of him staying, any chance of the president backtracking, had gone with him. Not long after, it was official: Víctor Fernández had been sacked as manager of Deportivo. His replacement will be Víctor Sánchez de Amo, Míchel’s former assistant at Getafe and Olympiakos. | Any chance of him staying, any chance of the president backtracking, had gone with him. Not long after, it was official: Víctor Fernández had been sacked as manager of Deportivo. His replacement will be Víctor Sánchez de Amo, Míchel’s former assistant at Getafe and Olympiakos. |
| “It has been hard from the start,” Fernández had said and quite rightly. Deportivo had got rid of Fernando Vázquez, the coach who given them hope but proven unable to save them two years ago, but had then brought them back up to the first division. They had done so on the eve of pre-season training and for no apparent reason. By the time the season proper began, they still hadn’t completed their squad, the budget was the fourth smallest in the division, and the last two seasons they spent in the first division, in 2010-11 and 2012-13, ended in relegation. | “It has been hard from the start,” Fernández had said and quite rightly. Deportivo had got rid of Fernando Vázquez, the coach who given them hope but proven unable to save them two years ago, but had then brought them back up to the first division. They had done so on the eve of pre-season training and for no apparent reason. By the time the season proper began, they still hadn’t completed their squad, the budget was the fourth smallest in the division, and the last two seasons they spent in the first division, in 2010-11 and 2012-13, ended in relegation. |
| Being a former Celta manager didn’t help Fernández (although so too was Vázquez and indeed Jabo Irureta, who won the league for Depor), the fans did not warm to him and the performances didn’t exactly help him. He had talked about an attacking style that never appeared. Mostly, it was dire. If he knew that survival was all they could realistically aspire to, and it probably was, he only said that towards the end, even though the lack of trust from the board was quickly apparent. On Wednesday night he described the environment as “not healthy, not edifying, from the start”. At one point he noted that if there is one person who needs support and affection it is the president, pausing to add, tellingly: “Well, I needed it too …” | Being a former Celta manager didn’t help Fernández (although so too was Vázquez and indeed Jabo Irureta, who won the league for Depor), the fans did not warm to him and the performances didn’t exactly help him. He had talked about an attacking style that never appeared. Mostly, it was dire. If he knew that survival was all they could realistically aspire to, and it probably was, he only said that towards the end, even though the lack of trust from the board was quickly apparent. On Wednesday night he described the environment as “not healthy, not edifying, from the start”. At one point he noted that if there is one person who needs support and affection it is the president, pausing to add, tellingly: “Well, I needed it too …” |
| The first ultimatum came in October and an ultimatum is always a bad sign. An absurd one too: a manager who was not good enough one minute is good enough 90 minutes later? Two more ultimatums came and each time Fernández got through, getting the results that he needed to carry on, but damage was done and lots of it. He described the sapping of energy brought about by so many last chances as “brutal”. | The first ultimatum came in October and an ultimatum is always a bad sign. An absurd one too: a manager who was not good enough one minute is good enough 90 minutes later? Two more ultimatums came and each time Fernández got through, getting the results that he needed to carry on, but damage was done and lots of it. He described the sapping of energy brought about by so many last chances as “brutal”. |
| The players could not be immune from it all, especially because each time it was public, the coach’s authority constantly undermined. Leaks are damaging and so often come from the very top, something that supporters often seem strangely reluctant to see. As the board’s relationship with fans grew more strained, particularly after the murder of Jimmy Romero, so the atmosphere became more tense and cracks widened. Pressure built, played out publicly, information filtered externally but not shared internally. | The players could not be immune from it all, especially because each time it was public, the coach’s authority constantly undermined. Leaks are damaging and so often come from the very top, something that supporters often seem strangely reluctant to see. As the board’s relationship with fans grew more strained, particularly after the murder of Jimmy Romero, so the atmosphere became more tense and cracks widened. Pressure built, played out publicly, information filtered externally but not shared internally. |
| “I don’t know. You probably know: you’ve written it all …” Fernández said on Wednesday night. He also noted that he had not told anyone about a “private conversation” with the president on Monday that was in every paper on the Tuesday. | “I don’t know. You probably know: you’ve written it all …” Fernández said on Wednesday night. He also noted that he had not told anyone about a “private conversation” with the president on Monday that was in every paper on the Tuesday. |
| “Have I spoken to you about it?” he asked. | “Have I spoken to you about it?” he asked. |
| A “no” from the back of the room. | A “no” from the back of the room. |
| “So …” | “So …” |
| So? So it ends. The question now is how it will end. There are eight games left and Deportivo are one point above the relegation zone. If they were going to sack the manager, perhaps they should have done it sooner: it would have been more honest, more coherent. It might also have given a new manager time to make an impact. What it would not have been is a guarantee, just as it is no guarantee now. | So? So it ends. The question now is how it will end. There are eight games left and Deportivo are one point above the relegation zone. If they were going to sack the manager, perhaps they should have done it sooner: it would have been more honest, more coherent. It might also have given a new manager time to make an impact. What it would not have been is a guarantee, just as it is no guarantee now. |
| Fernández is the ninth manager to be sacked this season, while 11 have gone in total. From 13th-placed Getafe, who saw Cosmin Contra and Quique Sánchez Flores walk, pushed towards the door by an institutional crisis and a president’s broken promise and need for money, almost every club below them has had more than one manager: Getafe have had three; Levante have had two; Deportivo are now on their second; on Wednesday night Sergi Barjuán took charge of his first game for Almería, becoming their third coach of the season after Juan Ignacio Martínez was sacked at the weekend; Granada have had two, the second of whom has just conceded nine at the Bernabéu; Córdoba, down at the bottom, are on their third. | Fernández is the ninth manager to be sacked this season, while 11 have gone in total. From 13th-placed Getafe, who saw Cosmin Contra and Quique Sánchez Flores walk, pushed towards the door by an institutional crisis and a president’s broken promise and need for money, almost every club below them has had more than one manager: Getafe have had three; Levante have had two; Deportivo are now on their second; on Wednesday night Sergi Barjuán took charge of his first game for Almería, becoming their third coach of the season after Juan Ignacio Martínez was sacked at the weekend; Granada have had two, the second of whom has just conceded nine at the Bernabéu; Córdoba, down at the bottom, are on their third. |
| Mostly, it hasn’t helped. Perhaps only Levante have significantly improved. The most marked change has probably been at Real Sociedad, for whom David Moyes completed an entire vuelta on Tuesday night: he’s now played every team once, having started at Deportivo, and has pulled them away from the risk of relegation to 10th place and safety, 12 points off the drop zone. | Mostly, it hasn’t helped. Perhaps only Levante have significantly improved. The most marked change has probably been at Real Sociedad, for whom David Moyes completed an entire vuelta on Tuesday night: he’s now played every team once, having started at Deportivo, and has pulled them away from the risk of relegation to 10th place and safety, 12 points off the drop zone. |
| By contrast, of the bottom nine only Elche and Eibar have stuck with their managers all season. Neither are safe yet, but both have improved. Patience has paid. Elche, bottom between weeks 14 and 17, have a three-point cushion and play Getafe on Thursday night. Eibar meanwhile had not won a single game in the second half of the season until Tuesday night. Eleven matches, two draws, nine defeats. Safe at Christmas, the league’s smallest club, daily defying the odds, suddenly found themselves under pressure. Suddenly, they were where they should be but didn’t want to be: losing and dangerously close to the relegation zone. | By contrast, of the bottom nine only Elche and Eibar have stuck with their managers all season. Neither are safe yet, but both have improved. Patience has paid. Elche, bottom between weeks 14 and 17, have a three-point cushion and play Getafe on Thursday night. Eibar meanwhile had not won a single game in the second half of the season until Tuesday night. Eleven matches, two draws, nine defeats. Safe at Christmas, the league’s smallest club, daily defying the odds, suddenly found themselves under pressure. Suddenly, they were where they should be but didn’t want to be: losing and dangerously close to the relegation zone. |
| Yet there was never any doubt; no axes, no ultimatums, no calls for a new man in charge. On Monday, the coach, Gaizka Garitano, insisted: “We feel like the win is very close.” And on Tuesday night they got it, beating Málaga 1-0. At the final whistle, the captain José María Añibarro dropped to the ground and beat the turf with his fists, then embraced the goalkeeper Xabi Irureta, relieved. With 31 points, they’re 14th, six points clear of the relegation zone. “There’s no tranquillity: there will still be anguish and anxiety,” said Garitano, “but we will keep going, as we always do. I would like to thank everyone. We deserved this and we have been united, together. It is not easy to withstand 11 games without a win, but in all this time there has not been one whistle.” | Yet there was never any doubt; no axes, no ultimatums, no calls for a new man in charge. On Monday, the coach, Gaizka Garitano, insisted: “We feel like the win is very close.” And on Tuesday night they got it, beating Málaga 1-0. At the final whistle, the captain José María Añibarro dropped to the ground and beat the turf with his fists, then embraced the goalkeeper Xabi Irureta, relieved. With 31 points, they’re 14th, six points clear of the relegation zone. “There’s no tranquillity: there will still be anguish and anxiety,” said Garitano, “but we will keep going, as we always do. I would like to thank everyone. We deserved this and we have been united, together. It is not easy to withstand 11 games without a win, but in all this time there has not been one whistle.” |
| Talking points | Talking points |
| • “Real Sociedad arrive late to the game,” ran the headline in El Diario Vasco. They weren’t the only ones. So, ahem, erm, not much to report, alas. Unless you want to know all about what Antoine Griezmann’s goal for Atlético sounded like from just outside, or what the “Tebas, go now!” chant was like in the 12th minute. Down 2-0 after 11 minutes, la Real could never find a way back into the game. “There have been two goals and nothing else,” said one commentator, really rubbing it in. | |
| • “This is the kind of game that it is worth saving on video and showing the players one day when the doubts come,” Paco Jémez said after his Rayo Vallecano side had faced Real Madrid. They didn’t win, in fact they lost 2-0, but he was happy: “Happier,” he admitted, “than if we had played badly and won. For 45 minutes, his side were superb – “[Iker] Casillas shut a lot of people up tonight and I’m pleased for him,” Jémez said – but they could not keep it up. “If we could do that for 90 minutes, we’d be Bayern Munich or Barcelona,” he said. After a dreadful first half where the only plan seemed to be to boot it behind the full-back for Gareth Bale to run on to, Madrid were far, far better in the second. Goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and James Rodríguez won it. “I’m very pleased with the way we played,” Carlo Ancelotti said. | |
| • Barcelona were boring but won 4-0. Leo Messi and Luis Suárez both scored beauties before Marc Bartra and Suárez added two more. | • Barcelona were boring but won 4-0. Leo Messi and Luis Suárez both scored beauties before Marc Bartra and Suárez added two more. |
| • Abel Resino’s idea of resting his Granada players against Real Madrid because the home game against Celta three days later was more important didn’t pay off … quite. A 9-1 defeat at the Bernabéu was followed by a draw at home. One-nil up and one man down for 50 minutes, they eventually dropped two points thanks to a 93rd-minute goal from Theo Bongonda. | • Abel Resino’s idea of resting his Granada players against Real Madrid because the home game against Celta three days later was more important didn’t pay off … quite. A 9-1 defeat at the Bernabéu was followed by a draw at home. One-nil up and one man down for 50 minutes, they eventually dropped two points thanks to a 93rd-minute goal from Theo Bongonda. |
| Results Atlético 2-0 Real Sociedad, Levante 1-2 Sevilla, Eibar 1-0 Málaga, Deportivo 1-1 Córdoba, Barcelona 4-0 Almería, Granada 1-1 Celta. Thursday Athletic v Valencia, Elche v Getafe, Villarreal v Espanyol. |
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