The Pride of Vallekas

The ruthless marker, they called him. He was a central defender not of size but of stature. He was a central defender who never stood tall but always stood out. And it started at the age of 16, when Hernández began to stand out in football in the youth teams of Real Madrid. His time there coincided with Real Madrid legends such as Ramón Grosso and Manuel Velázquez, the latter of whom spent a year on loan at Rayo. Máximo Hernández would leave Real Madrid's youth team for Rayo Vallecano in 1995, making his senior debut at the newly promoted Segunda side. He would play there for three seasons, and formed a solid partnership with Gregorio Benito in the last two - who was, coincidentally, on loan from (you guessed right) Real Madrid. For the 1968-69 campaign, Celta Vigo were looking to strengthen their side, and wanted to achieve promotion to La Liga after 10 long years in the Segunda. Their first signing of the season was that of Máximo Hernández, from Rayo Vallecano....

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 ...