Will Munoz and Michel relegate Getafe?
Tuesday 28 April 2009 13:00
La Liga Loca doesn’t really get on with its neighbours. Or rather, its neighbours don’t really get on with La Liga Loca.
And that’s fair enough considering the blog’s slight sociopathic tendencies and unmistakable musk of mothballs.
But the one happy-shopper who always responded to the blog’s cheerful ‘Cooee!’ of a Madrid morning with a cheery wave was Getafe boss Victor Muñoz, who was resident in a hotel just around the corner from La Liga Loca’s humble abode.
Except the big-chinned chief of the Coliseum won’t be all with the Alan Partridge for much longer. That’s because he has been sacked. And it’s a good thing too, considering La Liga Loca’s warm hand on Muñoz’ entrance had turned into daily shouts of abuse.
Munoz packs his bags
When not reassembling his trouser press or wondering whether to rent that Vin Diesel DVD, Muñoz has spent the last 10 months or so ruining Getafe and turning them from UEFA Cup Goliaths into a relegation-fighting rabble.
If fact, it’s no surprise that Victor did not choose to live someone more permanent, considering it’s the catastrophic coach’s fourth firing in three years having previously been strapped to the ejector seats of Zaragoza, Panathinaikos and Recreativo.
Muñoz now has the dubious honour of being the first manager to be fired by Angel Torres since the club’s angelic ascent into the top flight in 2004 - the others, Quique Sánchez Flores, Bernd Schuster and Michael Laudrup all walked out on the club.
But they were all sacked from their next positions. Which serves them right, quite frankly.
The former Barcelona player was booted out by the Getafe president after the club’s disastrous home defeat to Villarreal on Sunday afternoon.
“I had to make changes to save the team,” explained Torres. “Victor had asked me to give him until the Mallorca game but I noticed that the dressing room was very despondent.”
And this is where La Liga Loca must agree with the Getafe big shot.
Torres has stood by Muñoz throughout the campaign and in the face of poor results, fan protests and complaints from senior players who neither liked nor understood their manager’s tactics.
“The majority had a professional attitude,” noted Muñoz on Monday, revealing that there had been some rumblings in his Coliseum camp.
There are still five games to go and - to borrow a tired old cliché - the club’s destiny is in its own hands.
A new manager has been appointed to lead Getafe to safety through until the end of the season, but this is where the side may be jumping out of the frying pan and into a volcano.
When the name of the caretaker at the Coliseum was announced, a Spanish journalist acquaintance of La Liga Loca immediately started singing “A Segunda!”
That’s because the new man at the helm is Michel. And Michel, for those who don’t know, is rubbish.
Michel during his Madridista days
Michel is the former Real Madrid player who failed to take Rayo Vallecano up from the Segunda B division but became more well known for his natty pink sweaters that he used to sport on the touchline.
Michel is the coach who then took over Madrid’s second team and promptly got them relegated, before eventually moving upstairs where he could cause less damage.
Soon after, he left that position and has been happily insulting his former club from a distance, ever since.
Leading a team with the likes of Gavilán, Polanski, Uche, Soldado and Granero to relegation takes some skill. But the blog fears that’s exactly what Muñoz - and Michel - are about to achieve.
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About Tim Stannard and Simon Talbot
When he isn't fighting the evil forces of flamenco or attracting libel actions for La Liga Loca,
Tim Stannard is building his media empire in Madrid. As well as contributing to Football365 and doing odd jobs elsewhere, Tim also works in the glamorous world of television as a producer, script writer, news editor, coffee boy and stand-in fluffer.
Simon Talbot? Well, he's a man of mystery.