Key to Champions League-bound leader Marcelino and Roig’s new relationship, historic clean sweep and ‘Black Power’ | Relief

Villarreal are already the temporary leaders of the Primera and it is no coincidence. On November 13, 2023, the day Marcelino García Toral (Carñes, 1965) returned to La Ceramica seven years later – after four memorable seasons and one exit through the cat’s trapdoor – the foundations were laid for what the world will see today: an impressive start to the championship, despite its difficulties (Atlético, Sevilla, Celta and now Valencia) with a great game as the icing on the cake, yesterday’s (4-3), which framed it. In these hands, between Fernando Roig Negueroles, the general director and the coach, there was more than just an agreement for the next two and a half years. This implied an unexpected reconciliation and an agreement to repeat what had worked between them and repair the frayed wires..

As last season was completed as best as possible, with the squad and the inherited vices, the result of this new relationship was another exhibition on the market. Closeness, understanding, trust, debate without ego and consensus prevailed over two very strong and sometimes violent characters. The coach and the CEO have clashed in the past over Cani’s departure, the disagreement over Musacchio, Gerard Moreno’s departure to Espanyol or the signing of N’Diaye, but their relationship It began to be sewn thanks to the figure of José Manuel Llanesa, who was so missed, as a result of a road accident involving a technician on Christmas Day 2017, which made Submarino try its best, and even with winks in the middle of this cold. war with Pamesa Between them is a company owned by Roig. Mark, With the intelligence and humility that also characterise him, he strategically used his ceramics to make the new house being built in Gijón beautiful, overlooking the beaches of San Lorenzo and El Molinón.

So in this new climate that breathes to resume the honeymoon from where they left off, This summer, Villarreal let go of 60% of the players with whom they had lost their luster and earned more than 70 million euros. in a new value-added project that has been dragging on since he emerged from humble beginnings to put Vila-Real on the football map. Selling Ben Brereton for 10 million when he arrived for free and played a handful of times in just 15 games was genius. As was the transfer of a home-trained goalkeeper (Philip Jorgensen) to Chelsea for 25 years. He also shopped like no other, with the clinical eye of sports management under Miguel Angel Tena: nine signatures

– with unbridled talent, offensive youth and a proven category – worth 62 million euros, respecting President Roig Sr.’s old rule of not spending a cent more than he earned.

Marcelino didn’t even bother to erase the last trace left from his first year at the club (he was there from 2012 to 2016), and he was one of the few players he had already coached, along with Bailly, Pedraza and Denis. He was completely honest with his lover Manu Trigueros, letting him know that he was no longer undisputed and that there had already been several trailers before he accepted Granada’s offer. For the Asturian, assertiveness, frankness and firmness must be above all in the elite. Drive straight. Values ​​and tools that have worked very effectively in recent years with a sports psychologist. Jose Carrascosaa prestigious professional with whom he was able to find greater emotional balance, improve his communication skills and somewhat hone his decision-making process.

After years of numerous concessions on the bench in an over-indulged team that eventually fell apart under the unfortunate arrival of Quique Setién and Pacheta, The new boss wanted to clear the dressing room of unpleasant fumes, reset the heads and provide the squad with work and, above all, the speed that it lacked in all lines. The jump against Celta on the best Monday of all time was just a warning of what he wants. Now he just needs to restore solvency and defensive consistency. Six goals conceded in three games is their new headache.

Be careful, roll up your sleeves

And to achieve his goal, he will once again be on top of everything and everyone from the moment he wakes up until he goes to bed. You cannot avoid it, because it was, is and will be the key to your success. Let them tell that to the gardeners of Racing, whose heads he lovingly roasted every day to plant and, in his own way, pamper in La Albericia the seeds that he himself recommended. Or Giovani dos Santos, who ate breakfast and lunch in the sports town of Miralkamp and took his (short) dinner in lunch boxes so as not to pick up a single gram in the face of the continuous torture of the scale. The only time the coach wasn’t him and allowed the voice to not be the singer’s, he got into it. It was at Sevilla in 2011/12, out of fear of the foremen. Marseille (2023-24) was not a club, but a madhouse, which he left as soon as he could.

On other occasions he acted as a standard-bearer for the clubs he worked for, whether they were in the First Division, the Second Division or abroad, whether they were historic or modest. After a period of training at home, at Molinón, where he has a pending account, he moved to Recre and left it at the gates of Europe. He brought Racing into UEFA in one campaign, which he later helped to survive with Ali Saed. He went to a historic team like Zaragoza. He always put Villarreal in European positions and in the preview of the Champions League, allowed them to play in a couple of semi-finals of the Europa League and the Cup. And he raised Valencia and Athletic to the altar: they won the title again many years later.

And in all the places where he signed a contract, he always had the same way of working, which he had already formalized with Ruben Uría, his inseparable assistant, and the physical trainer Ismael Fernández by his side. A trustworthy team to which he added professionals (until he had 28 people working with the players), among whom there are two special students: Bruno Uría, the son of his assistant and one of the most famous analysts in Spain, and Sergio, the son of Mark,

who, having hung up his boots at a very young age (he played for Rayo’s youth team alongside Leo Baptistan and Lass Bangura), is already an asset in this position. This season’s nine players – Logan Costa, Thierno Barry, Luis Junior, Nicolas Pepe, Pape Gueye, Sergi Cardona, Diego Conde, Ayoze Perez and Kambwala – will soon begin to understand how their boss spends his money to get the most out of their game. Danjuma, who had one foot in eleven and one in the airport a few days before August 30, has already learned this. He doesn’t run, he flies.

This strict lifestyle in the profession is not a legend. It is a reality. And for this reason, many presidents, preparing to sign a new tenant to their benches, repeat the phrase: “We need Marcelino.” Even Cerezo gives up on it when Simeone gets tired and leaves Atletico. Aldo Duscher, whom he made lose nine kilos at Santander but resumed his career after being the soul of Depor until he was signed by Sevilla in his second youth, confirms this greatness whenever he can: “He is the best coach I have ever seen. “I had,” he said at the end of the 2008-2009 season in which they met and made history, at El Sardinero. And he added with sarcasm mixed with tenderness: “Of course, I never want to see this son of a bitch again in my life.” You can win or lose, succeed or fail, but what the current leader of Villarreal does not forgive is work and intensity. He is obsessed with rhythm and maximum intensity efforts. For this reason, he has fallen in love with the new technologies that progress brings and, with the help of his squires, he measures everything. And that’s why he’s also very clear about his preferences when it comes to signing a contract.

Very clear taste

He has always claimed to be an expert when it comes to cataloging national products, a market in which he is a true expert, since he consumes footballs. In fact, it is said of him that he already knows at a glance whether a player will suit him or not. But the external market has recognized over the years that he is better. A sense of smell that has improved since he went to work outside the walls or since he had girlfriends who seduced him, especially from Italy (Milan, Inter…), and it was desirable to prepare for the race, as someone who faces Selectivity. Therefore, since he was not a guru, he always delegated these tasks, although the final actual word was his. And this time he did it again. He relies heavily on his trusted intermediaries and the taste of other coaches. His role in these signings was limited to watching a few videos and talking directly to the lucky ones. He even held a video conference with Kambwala to finally convince him.

This mentality of adapting the team to its book, rather than the other way around, as it had to do last year because it arrived mid-season, has many clear ideas. And some non-negotiable. There is no one to move the 4-4-2. There will be no one coughing on Albiola or Parejo.. Because if they are lovers of speed and they lack it, it is they who think best and first. And from there the sides are like arrows and brave in defense; extra midfielders who win duels and break lines; extremes that collide and overflow; and forwards who either come to look for it and hold it for unloading, or rush into space like gazelles. Jesús Merino, Racing technical secretary until the current Submarino coach arrived in Cantabria, gave the key. Before president Francisco Pernía refused his services, relying on his sense of smell to sign agent Eugenio Botas and parabolic Pablo Longoria (currently president of Marseille

but first international tracker Marcelino) once said in an interview – with the utmost sincerity and politeness – that Marcelino had a plan that no one disputed and a desire to bet on very fast, strong and athletic strikers. “If only we could be black.” The curiousity of the phrase, which aroused admiration, arose when the following day the journalist was called out of the club to make him understand that it was still not nice to say it outright and that it would be better to replace the adjective and put “negrito”. …

Be that as it may, and regardless of skin color, which is always expressed with love, although probably incorrectly, the data shows that Marcelino’s reliance on lightning-fast counter-attacks when the economy allows has been a constant throughout his career. In Uche he trusted Recre so much that he later took him to Zaragoza in the Second Division, despite being offered Falcao, and he saved him again in La Ceramica. At Racing he made Chita an interesting striker. At Sevilla I had Kanoute. At Villarreal he resurrected Jo dos Santos, Campbell and Bakamba. In Valencia to Rodrigo, Guedes’s civil partner. And at Athletic, Iñaki Williams and his brother Nico, with whom he debuted. Now it’s the turn of new faces like Barry and Pepe to let their 20,000 subscribers know that they’ve renewed their license again. that, since this is the ninth year out of 25 in the elite that they won’t be competing in Europe, it will be the last time that happens. And there are times when it’s convenient to take a step back and lay the foundations again, to load the catapult like before.