Go back to June 26th, 1999.
Valencia had just won the Copa del Rey in commanding fashion against an Atlético de Madrid that was desperate to save a disastrous season. Valencia, led by their lightning quick striker Claudio “El Piojo” Lopez and inspirational midfielder Gaizka Mendieta had also previously qualified for their first Champions League in almost thirty years. That day, El Piojo scored 2 goals and Mendieta added the other – in spectacular fashion – to complete a 3-0 hammering of the Colchoneros. The game would mark the beginning of a golden era for the club which included 2 league titles, 1 UEFA cup title, 1 European Supercup, and 2 Champions League final appearances.
Watch highlights from the run up to that victory here:
Ten years later the club has once again been crowned champions of the Copa del Rey, but despite such unprecedented success in the previous decade, the atmosphere between the management and fans has been one of constant in-fighting, perpetual protests, and a general auto-destruct dynamic.
The past decade has been marred by an intense power struggle for the presidency of the club. Valencia has had five presidents in little more than a decade (Francisco Roig, Pedro Cortés, Jaime Ortí, Juan Soler, and current president Agustín Morera). This has created a tension at the club that has made life very difficult for any manager, as evidenced by the high turnover (Claudio Ranieri, Hector Cúper, Rafa Benitez, Ranieri again, Quique Sanchez Flores, Ronald Koeman, and now interim-manager Salvador Gonzalez Marco ¨Voro¨).
After several successful seasons under the presidencies of Cortés and Ortí, Soler has brought the club to the brink of the abyss. In March he resigned from his post, leaving the club on the cusp of relegation.
The beginning of the end began when Soler hired Amedeo Carboni in May of 2006. Carboni had just retired as a player, and his last season at the club was marked by tiffs between him and manager Quique Sanchez Flores. Soler committed the cardinal sin of placing a subordinate above his superior, with the added bonus that the two men didn’t get along. Carboni and Quique never saw eye to eye, and that season saw several public squabbles between the two men. Their relationship deteriorated when Quique refused to play Italian striker Francesco Tavano, Valencia’s biggest signing that summer. By the next summer, it was obvious that the two men simply could not co-exist, and one of them had to go. After a lengthy debate in the board, Soler decided to fire Carboni and stick with Quique, although even the manager’s position was by no means a secure one.
After a 0-3 loss to local rivals Villarreal in the first match of the season, Quique was immediately thrust on the hot seat. He managed to recover from that initial debacle, and the team went on a six game winning streak, including a win at Schalke 04 in their first Champions League match. As the results kept coming, the fans still weren’t thrilled. Frustrated after a difficult summer, they never hesitated to lambaste Quique whenever the play wasn’t attacking enough. “Quique vete ya!” (“Quique, leave already!”) was a common chant throughout the early part of the season. After a tough loss to Chelsea in Stamford Bridge, the team went on a run of negative results. A 3-0 loss to Sevilla sealed the deal, and Soler succumbed to fan pressure and fired Quique.
Behavior like this from Valencia fans is nothing new. Even during the golden era of years past this self-flagellating dynamic existed; it was only a matter of time before it cost them. At Real Madrid and Barcelona, where fans are also hyper-demanding, the enormous resources at their disposal allow them to maintain a perennially shortsighted outlook. This is a luxury that a club like Valencia simply cannot afford.
While Valencia fans let out a collective sigh of relief, the majority of Spanish football fans were puzzled by the decision. At the time, Valencia were still very much alive in the Champions League, and only four points behind league leaders Real Madrid, who traveled to Mestalla that weekend. The situation was far from critical, and with no clear-cut replacement lined up heading into the big match against Real Madrid, the timing seemed odd. Worst of all was the sensation that Quique wasn’t even wanted in the summer, and that the club reluctantly kept him and was just waiting for an excuse to pull the trigger.
Ronald Koeman was hired to replace Quique, essentially because of his immense reputation stemming from his playing days on Barcelona’s famed Dream Team. His record as a manager, however, did not invite tremendous optimism. There was a sense that Soler was hiring a name rather than a manager.
The result has been absolutely disastrous. The team never recaptured their early season form, and in a desperate move, Koeman decided to separate Santi Cañizares, Miguel Angel Angulo, and captain David Albelda from the squad. The controversy surrounding this move has been extremely harmful for the club, and it even included legal action when the club refused to let the players rescind their contracts. With the defenestration of three of the squad’s most charismatic leaders, Valencia’s league position dropped quickly.
Nevertheless, almost a decade after that magical night in Seville, Valencia returned to the Copa del Rey final. The Copa del Rey provided a haven from the team’s disastrous form in the league campaign and in Europe. In the semi-finals, Valencia managed to oust the heavily favored Barcelona in impressive fashion. They faced a team in Getafe that, coming off the heels of a heartbreaking elimination at the hands of Bayern Munich in the quarterfinals of the UEFA, had the backing of nearly every neutral supporter in Spain. Not many people gave Valencia a chance.
Valencia started the match impressively, and by the 11th minute were up 2-0, courtesy of goals from Juan Mata and former Getafe defender Alexis. At the end of the half Getafe were given a penalty, converted by the sensational Esteban Granero, which gave them a bit of life, but Valencia accepted Getafe’s gambit and looked to hurt them on the counter. With six minutes left, Valencia’s Rubén Baraja took a free kick from what seemed like a mile away. The violent potency of the shot was too much for Getafe’s young Argentine keeper Oscar Ustari, who only managed to slap the ball onto the path of the eternal Fernando Morientes, a true predator who will not miss if given a chance. 3-1 and Valencia’s seventh Copa del Rey trophy was in the books.
The trophy was a bright spot in a tragic season, and despite Koeman’s best efforts it was not enough to save his job. The management rightly understood that the success in the Copa del Rey could not mask the disaster in the league. After a 5-1 thrashing at the hands of a resurgent Athletic Club de Bilbao, the board decided to fire the Dutchman after a mere six miserable months.
The club is reportedly looking at Racing de Santander’s manager, the excellent Marcelino, as its long-term replacement. That would be a step in the right direction as the Spaniard has proven at Recreativo de Huelva and now Racing that he can be a successful manager in La Liga. His tough, deliberate style would suit Valencia, a club that is in utter disarray. Whether Marcelino will accept an offer is a different story, because just a quick glance at the club’s recent history will reveal that Valencia is not a pleasant place to manage a football team. With many of its biggest stars looking for a way out, the job will only be that much more difficult.
By Fernando Rodriguez-Vila
April 28, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Something must have been happening in Valencia even in the good days. When Hector Cuper left the first time, his job was offered to 4 or 5 managers who refused it, even though Valencia was clearly one of the top three teams in Spain. Nobody understood why it was so difficult to find a manager for such a winning team.
Finally it was accepted by Rafa Benitez, not very famous in those days. There he began his rocketing career that has taken him to ¿how many Champions League semifinals in the last 5 years? with Liverpool.