110 days

“Shall we have a coffee?”

It was Valencia’s sporting director, Miguel Ángel Corona, on the phone. He was asking if we could meet.

Miguel Ángel wanted to know my thoughts on Valencia. He wanted to know what I thought of the team, and how willing I was to take the job. People weren’t exactly queuing up to take it on.

At that time, in early February 2023, Valencia were sliding into the La Liga relegation zone.

I was without a club. That is a time I always use to enjoy being with family and friends. Looking from the outside, I was confident that Valencia would turn things around, but the departure of Gennaro Gattuso at the end of January had been unexpected. Moreover, interim coach Voro – who had been a lifeline for Valencia on six previous occasions – had failed to turn around results.

The club needed to find a new manager, and quickly.

I told Miguel Ángel that I felt ready for the task ahead, and explained to him what I could do with the team. It would also be a positive message to the fans, I argued, to have someone in charge who was returning ‘home’. I had played 10 seasons for Valencia.

"I was aware that it was not the ideal situation in which to beCOME Valencia manager"

But I also knew that I was not the sole candidate. After that conversation, all that remained was to wait. Several nervy days went by waiting for an answer. Then Miguel Ángel finally called to tell me that I was the manager.

It was a dream come true, but a dream with a lot of responsibility. Not only because I had played so many years for the club, but also because I am a Valencia fan and I love the city. I live here and share my life with the people of the city.

“Come on ‘Pipo’, we trust you,” my neighbours and people in the street used to say to me when they saw me walking around. This has always been the case. The affection the people here have shown to me, and the trust they put in me, is incredible.

The presentation was on February 15. From then on, it was time to work on the pitch with the players. I was aware that it was not the ideal situation in which to become Valencia manager.

Probably the most natural thing to have done would have been to turn the opportunity down. In life, though, you have to be brave and dare. That’s what I wanted to point out at the press conference. It was a message, both to the players and to the fans.

I had the feeling that I could turn the situation around and stabilise the club on a sporting level. I also had great help from Carlos Marchena. We had spoken practically every day since having that coffee with Miguel Ángel, with the aim of getting Carlos to accompany me as an assistant. He was very willing to join me, which he did when I was confirmed as manager.

"Valencia had to stay in the Primera División, no matter what"

The first week with the players was difficult, because they were feeling disoriented by the situation they were going through. Gattuso had left without them expecting it, and Voro was only there for three games. Then Carlos and I had arrived.

The players were confused about what was expected of them. That is normal, because three different coaches had passed through the dressing room in just two weeks.

The first week ended with a match against our rivals in the relegation battle, Getafe. Despite the difficulties, the team competed, but we lost to a goal scored from a set-piece in the last few minutes. It was clearly a bad result, but it made us understand the reality of the team. The players needed something they believed in. We had to convince them that they were better than the results at that time, because the dynamic was so negative.

In the first training session after Getafe, we started to work, step by step, to get them believing in the process. “If we work together and do things as a team, the chances of getting better results will increase,” we told them. It was a message coupled with a very clear idea: Valencia had to stay in the Primera División, no matter what.

That could only be done if the team had an identity. But it also needed us, the coaching staff, to manage all the emotions surrounding what was a dramatic situation: a fight to stay up for a club as important as Valencia. We had to identify how individual players, the team and the fans were experiencing it, because every league game was a final for everyone.

Despite the pressing nature of the situation, we tried to work as calmly as we could, on a day-to-day basis. We worked to give the team an identity and to be aggressive in our approach. The players had to play with intensity.

"One week you were on cloud nine, the next week you were on the floor"

I really think we managed to get our message through to them, to convince them that we could do it, with courage. Even if the odds were difficult.

We calculated that we had to take 23 points in the last 16 games. That was more points than the team had accumulated up to that point: 20 in 22 games. It was not straightforward.

The first three points came against Real Sociedad at the Mestalla. Our ground had to be a fortress if we wanted to reach those 23 points. But we had to remain calm in the midst of the storm, such as when we had a run where we took only one point from a possible nine. We drew with Rayo Vallecano, lost away against another relegation rival, Almería, and then at home against Sevilla.

Despite losing to Sevilla, after the Almería game there was a turning point with the mood. That was reinforced with a win against Elche in the 30th fixture. If we hadn’t won that match, we would have been in an even more complicated situation.

But the final part of the season was like that. One positive, then one negative. One week you were on cloud nine, the next week you were on the floor. A rollercoaster of emotions.

Even after beating Celta Vigo and Real Madrid to reach 40 points, we still had the feeling that everything was at stake in the last three league games: Real Mallorca, Espanyol and Real Betis.

"Nobody wants to play the last game away from home needing a win to stay up"

We lost to Mallorca away, in a game in which we were not at a good level. So the match against Espanyol at the Mestalla became decisive. We were playing against a team even more desperate for points than us, because they needed to win to have a chance of staying up.

I swear it was one of the toughest games of my career, as either coach or player.

We played a good first half-hour, but went 2-1 behind on 50 minutes. And that is how it was going into the final stretch of the match. It is difficult to do the tension justice with words. The atmosphere at the Mestalla was scary, because if we lost we would surely have to beat Real Betis at their ground in the last game. Nobody wants to play the last game away from home needing a win to stay up.

Then Samuel Lino’s 93rd-minute goal brought us back to life. It gave us a 2-2 draw against Espanyol, and even the possibility of being mathematically safe.

It didn’t work out that way, though, because of the other scores. But it did allow us to go into the match against Betis with a better chance of securing safety. Depending on the other results, it was even possible for us to lose and stay up.

The game against Betis in Seville was on June 4. It was the 110th day since my arrival at Valencia. That was 110 days you also have to manage with your family. You can’t take home all the tension you experience with the team. At least, I tried not to, and I think I succeeded in that.

"Those 110 days have made me a better coach. I have no doubt about that"

Against Betis, everything we had experienced up to that point was condensed into 90 minutes. First, there was a lot of fear when they took an early lead, 1-0. It’s true that mathematically we were still safe at that point, but we were now depending on other results. We were on the edge.

After that, we went on to feel relief when Diego López's goal made it 1-1 in the 71st minute. Finally, at the end of the game, there was a release for Carlos and myself on the bench. We let out all the tension we had built up. So did the players.

Nobody wants to live through moments like the ones we experienced in the 2022/23 season.

But they were also moments that helped me to manage a great number of things as a coach. I had already experienced it before with other teams. But when you manage a club as important as Valencia, in a situation like that, everything takes on much greater significance.

Those 110 days have made me a better coach. I have no doubt about that. Nor do I doubt that one of the keys to us staying up was the Valencia fans.

Just as they were with us in the good times, they were with us through the bad times, at every away ground and at the Mestalla. That is why the fans are essential. They always will be.

For me, to be the Valencia manager is to live a dream. But much more so is having the enormous luck to represent the club and its fans.

Author: The Coaches' Voice

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