Racing Santander sacked coach Miguel Angel Portugal late on Monday evening, despite a far-from-horrendous run of results, including three ties -- one against Valencia -- in its past five outings and losses to Barcelona and in-form Athletic. Portugal stated, "With the change in the business setup, something like this was inevitable," as he gracefully bowed out at a press conference alongside Racing president Francisco Pernia.
With Portugal gone, who is to lead Racing to safety in what remains of the season? After owner Ahsan Ali Syed apparently mooted the idea of tempting Rafa Benitez to bring his cheery demeanor to the Cantabrian coast, the club opted for a former coach in the shape of Marcelino Garcia Toral. Will it work out? It's anyone's call, but in the meantime let's take a look back at a few happy -- and not so happy -- sporting reunions.
Marcelino, Racing Santander: The man of the moment for Racing, the dapper coach who requires just a single name, Marcelino has turned down a few offers to return to coaching. But he could not resist the call from the club that he enjoyed his greatest success.
In the 2007-2008 season, Marcelino led Racing to sixth in La Primera and a UEFA Cup berth. Previously, he has had a happy knack of bringing Segunda teams up to the top flight. He did so with Recreativo in 2005, leaving the club to return to the second tier and repeat the trick with Zaragoza. Marcelino was sacked by the Aragonese club in December 2009 and replaced by Jose Aurelio Gay, who kept Zaragoza up -- but just. It remains to be seen whether the machinations of Mexican veteran Javier Aguirre can do so this season, and whether Marcelino can work his magic anew at Racing. If not, at least he is the coach likeliest to navigate the club up through the stormy seas of Segunda next year.
Fabio Capello, Real Madrid: The Italian coach is noted for his steely glare and iron will, but even Capello was bewildered by the boardroom-based lunacy at the Bernabeu. Capello won the league at his first attempt in the 1996-1997 season, beating Barcelona to the title despite Ronaldo's 34 goals for the Catalan club. His reward? A plane ticket back to Milan. "I don't understand why [then-president Lorenzo] Sanz stopped talking to me when the team was winning," growled Capello. "It was a lack of respect."
Nonetheless, the Italian returned to the Spanish capital at the behest of Ramon Calderon for the 2006-2007 season and did what he had done before, returned the Liga title to the Bernabeu after a four-year trophy hiatus. His reward? The sack, naturally, in spite of overturning Barca's six-point advantage by molding an aging Galactico project into a winning team.
Incidentally, the last coach to win the league before Capello was Vicente del Bosque, who was sacked the following day in 2003. Now a World Cup-winning coach, del Bosque returned to the Bernabeu on Wednesday with Spain for the first time since its South Africa triumph. Real Madrid planned no homage, however, to the victorious national side or its most successful coach of the modern era.
Jose Antonio Camacho, Real Madrid: This one didn't work out quite so well for either party. Camacho, who made over 400 appearances for Real as a player, took over the reins from Jupp Heynckes (sacked after winning the club's seventh European Cup after a 32-year wait) in 1998 and lasted just 22 days. Camacho left the Bernabeu citing differences of opinion with the board to take charge of Spain, where he remained for four years.
Returning to Real to replace the hapless Carlos Queiroz in 2004, Camacho lasted four matches before turning on his heel and leaving, again citing an impossible relationship with Florentino Perez and Jorge Valdano. Coach of Osasuna since 2008, Camacho probably immensely enjoyed dropping a fly in his previous employers' soup when his side all but assured Barcelona of the 2010-2011 Liga title by beating Real 1-0 two weeks ago.
Gregorio Manzano, Mallorca: The wise old man of Spanish soccer, Manzano took over at Mallorca in the 2002-2003 season and won the King's Cup in his first stint at the club. He signed for Atletico Madrid the following season -- another of the Liga chalices best left alone -- and then headed to Malago before returning to Mallorca in 2006. Manzano led the side to 12th, seventh, ninth and fifth, respectively, over the next four seasons, leaving this past summer only because the cash-strapped club -- stripped by UEFA of its Europa League place because of its debts -- could not afford to keep him. Manzano is currently making a decent fist of undoing the shambles left by Antonio Alvarez at Sevilla.
Juan Ramon Lopez Muniz, Malaga: Muniz learned his craft as assistant to Juande Ramos before taking over first team duties at Malaga in 2006. After a testing first season in Segunda in which Malaga finished 15th, he took the Andalusian side to Primera in 2008 and promptly jumped ship to Racing for the 2008-2009 season. After guiding Racing to safety, he returned to Malaga and kept the club in the top flight by the seat of his pants -- a 17th-place finish and safety by a single point. He was sacked anyway.
Malaga, newly rich and with the seasoned Manuel Pellegrini in charge, would settle for the same this year. The team is rock-bottom of Primera. It will be quite an achievement if Pellegrini can emulate the under-rated Muniz.