A new manager (23rd February, 2017)

Miguel Ángel Sánchez Muñoz, aka Míchel, is the new manager of Rayo. The fact that he started training the squad on Tuesday, the day he was appointed, is kind of amazing.

It's do or die.

Here's the thing - when Míchel retired in 2012, he was tasked with bringing an attacking identity to the youth ranks and making it consistent with the first team - and he's done that really well. He was the Juvenil A manager before this and his latest result (last weekend that is) was a 1-1 draw with Real Madrid.

He's definitely a good manager - but the times are too desperate and there is more than just the one precedent of 2003-04. In March 1997 Rayo were in La Liga and desperately needed a manager to save them, and appointed a former Rayo youth graduate, player, and manager Máximo Hernández. His second stint ended with relegation.

Fun fact: Máximo Hernández's first stint as manager was in 1983, when he led Rayo to one of their worst starts ever in the Segunda, and he was replaced in November by Antonio Ruiz, who couldn't save Rayo from relegation to Segunda B. He even had a third stint: from March 1998 to the end of the season.

I obviously don't want to use precedent as an indicator, and I hope that Míchel will be the saving grace we've always hoped for. And even if he is "unproven" he personifies Rayo and deserves time. Unfortunately, time may be the last thing available this season, and being a Rayo fan one always prepares for the worst.

I literally looked at the clock and saw it was 9:45 am, and wrote this whole thing by 9:58 am, just in time to 'schedule' the post for 10:00 am. If a week of daily blogging can make me write this fast...

Comments

Non-league Incider: St Helens Town 3-0 Atherton Laburnum Rovers

Last game: 8th August: Dulwich Hamlet 2-1 East Thurrock United The previous day, I was blown away by my first ever football match experience. Dulwich Hamlet impressed me, but what impressed me more was the journey. The travel to the stadium was just as enjoyable as the football itself. I had caught the groundhopping bug. There were no games scheduled for the 9th of August. There was one, near Wigan, and all I had booked earlier was a refundable bus ticket from Manchester Airport leaving at quarter past midnight. I should have refunded it. This was a mistake. This whole day was a mistake. I was only slightly hungover from the previous night, but that was nothing compared to this feeling of loss - I couldn't handle the fact that there was a game happening. And I wasn't too far away. Just three hours and a bit. They'll fly by , I thought. I was in autopilot. Something within me made me get up, grab a bag, and get out the door. This wasn't me. I wasn't trave

Non-league Incider: Cray Valley Paper Mills 4-4 Punjab United Gravesend

Last game: 9th August: St Helens Town 3-0 Atherton Laburnum Rovers After ripping up my groundhopping calendar, mostly because I was determined to avoid overnight travel, and partly due to other commitments, there was a period of time where non-league football took a backseat. But that period did not last long. Because of course it didn't. Secretly, I'd loved travelling over ten hours back-and-forth to watch some 10th division football. And this was 9th division football in London. When I had gone to East Dulwich exactly a week back , I had commented on how the amount of graffiti struck me as I watched from on board a southeastern train. I was going the exact same way, but much further this time - then I had stopped at Denmark Hill, now I would have to go six stations further. The graffiti I had thought was so emblematic of south London quickly disappeared, as did the tall buildings desperately cluttered together. We, and by we I mean me, were going to the suburb

Who is Raúl Martín Presa, the Mickey Mouse? Part 1. (20th August, 2017)

José María Ruiz-Mateos was the head and main shareholder of Nueva Rumasa - the company that owned Rayo and other companies - mainly specializing in dairy products. (He wasn't the president of Rayo though - his wife, Teresa Rivero, was Rayo's president). In early 2011, the directors announced a debt of over 700 million euros, that it was on the verge of bankruptcy and that staff wouldn't be paid. And the players were visibly angry about it - captain Míchel assured the press that the club would continue fighting on the pitch, but the day after the announcement was made, six key players didn’t attend training. Veteran midfielder José María Movilla spoke on radio station SER about the situation, about the fact that he had only received seven of the last eighteen months of pay, about the fact that there were a few players who couldn't even afford car repairs. When Rayo Vallecano were about to earn promotion to La Liga despite all the odds - the players not being paid,

The Pride of Vallekas

Search This Blog