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Feature: Soler’s Exit = Valencia’s Rebirth
The erratic president of Valencia, Juan Bautista Soler Lujan, has left office for good. Goal.com now explores the ruins he has left behind at the club…..
01-Aug-2008 2:44:18 PM
"I don't know about football, so don't ask me.
"Valencia is history for me as president and as shareholder. I am totally unrelated to the club and my people are also leaving. (Vicente) Soriano will have absolute freedom to make decisions……"
…..Juan Soler mouthing a Gospel truth as he mounted into, metaphorically speaking, his yacht and strolled away, deserting Valencia on a lonely island with a ticking time bomb buried underneath.
And the stark, naked truth is that Soler indeed does know nothing about football. He didn’t mean to admit this when he threw his words at AS---he was actually trying to be sarcastic after the barrage of criticisms pissed on him by the media and fans alike--- but he does really know nothing about football management, except of course how to drag a top draw club to the bottom of the abyss.
Spiraling Down
When Juan Soler marched into the presidential office at Valencia in October 2004, the club was going through its best spell in history. Two successive UEFA Champions League appearances in 2000 and 2001 plus two Spanish league titles in 2002 and 2004 and the UEFA Cup in 2004 shaped Valencia as the club in Europe in that period.
But since then Valencia have radically gone off the boil with Soler not so much as killing the golden goose that laid the golden eggs as frying and gobbling it Caveman-style. In 2004-2005 Valencia finished seventh in La Liga; in 2005-2006 they finished third; in 2006-2007 they reached the last eight of Europe’s top tier club competition and came within inches of La Liga triumph and in 2007-2008 they came within inches of Spanish Segunda Division football, thanks to a man the Spaniards call Tintin but might as well rechristen as Scooby Doo and to a dodgy president who wanted to the Controller Supreme at the Mestalla.
Spanish football is forever saddled with Machiavellian politics, where club presidents and sporting directors think they know more than the coaches they employ and consistency engage in power battles. At Valencia this was taken to a Newtonian level under Juan Soler who fired coaches and sporting directors with the frequency of a mistress changing her partners.
The Politics
In just under four years at the helm at the Mestalla Soler appointed seven coaches, countless sporting directors, several director generals and three different medical chiefs, putting Rafael Benitez’s rotation policy at Liverpool to shame. Moreover, Soler wrung his changes at precisely when they were not needed and didn’t alter anything when things really needed a shake-up.
Juan Soler did a good job by appointing Quique Sanchez Flores in 2005, carrying on Valencia’s policy of fostering faith in young and dynamic coaches. But midway through his tenure he lost his grip on the club. As a war broke out between Flores and the then sporting director Amedeo Carboni in the summer of 2006 over summer signings, Soler stayed mum and helpless, not knowing whose side to take. When the players eventually sided with Flores against Carboni, Soler decided to boot the Italian out in the summer of 2007.
The 50-something real estate developer and investor perhaps had then realized that his control of Valencia wouldn’t be absolute with Flores in charge and was seeking a reason to sack the nephew of the legendary flamenco singer Lola. He did sack Flores after the Valencia fans, traditionally (in)famous for moaning all the time even in times of success, turned against Flores, announcing the news on the club’s website at 4:23 am in late late October.
At the time Valencia were just 4 points off the pace in La Liga 2007-2008 and still alive in the UEFA Champions League. Soler appointed Ronald Koeman and the Dutch obligingly dragged the cub to just 2 points above safety and was sacked only when it was too late. And when Soler realized that game of thrusting all blame on the men he employed was now coming onto himself, he cunningly took to the sidelines, complaining that he was sick when he ought to have said that he had made Valencia sick.
Then again it was Juan Soler who let Pablo Aimar go on the cheap in 2006 and didn’t bother to replace Valencia’s best playmaker in years. It was Soler who didn’t inject fresh blood into the side when Los Che needed them. It was Juan Soler again who, in order to sustain his supposed authority of Valencia, unwittingly ‘sacked’ Santiago Canizares, David Albelda and Miguel Angel Angulo in December last year.
Good Riddance
“I was proud to be with Valencia, and everything I did I did with my heart.”
Which further complicated the problem. Had Mr. Soler been more inclined to use his head then he might have rescued Valencia from sinking into one of their worst crisis in history.
Former AS Monaco coach Didier Deschamps once remarked,"If you have to rebuild something, it's because you've destroyed it." How true!
Juan Bautista Soler indeed destroyed the club in his four year reign and now Vicente Soriano and Unai Emery have been entrusted with the task of recreating the old aura and sorcery. Not that it is going to be an easy task for the duo but now that the architect of Valencia’s downfall has packed his bags and disappeared for good, Valencia can indeed look towards a better, brighter and Soler-less future.
Subhankar Mondal
"Valencia is history for me as president and as shareholder. I am totally unrelated to the club and my people are also leaving. (Vicente) Soriano will have absolute freedom to make decisions……"
…..Juan Soler mouthing a Gospel truth as he mounted into, metaphorically speaking, his yacht and strolled away, deserting Valencia on a lonely island with a ticking time bomb buried underneath.
And the stark, naked truth is that Soler indeed does know nothing about football. He didn’t mean to admit this when he threw his words at AS---he was actually trying to be sarcastic after the barrage of criticisms pissed on him by the media and fans alike--- but he does really know nothing about football management, except of course how to drag a top draw club to the bottom of the abyss.
Spiraling Down
When Juan Soler marched into the presidential office at Valencia in October 2004, the club was going through its best spell in history. Two successive UEFA Champions League appearances in 2000 and 2001 plus two Spanish league titles in 2002 and 2004 and the UEFA Cup in 2004 shaped Valencia as the club in Europe in that period.
But since then Valencia have radically gone off the boil with Soler not so much as killing the golden goose that laid the golden eggs as frying and gobbling it Caveman-style. In 2004-2005 Valencia finished seventh in La Liga; in 2005-2006 they finished third; in 2006-2007 they reached the last eight of Europe’s top tier club competition and came within inches of La Liga triumph and in 2007-2008 they came within inches of Spanish Segunda Division football, thanks to a man the Spaniards call Tintin but might as well rechristen as Scooby Doo and to a dodgy president who wanted to the Controller Supreme at the Mestalla.
Spanish football is forever saddled with Machiavellian politics, where club presidents and sporting directors think they know more than the coaches they employ and consistency engage in power battles. At Valencia this was taken to a Newtonian level under Juan Soler who fired coaches and sporting directors with the frequency of a mistress changing her partners.
The Politics
In just under four years at the helm at the Mestalla Soler appointed seven coaches, countless sporting directors, several director generals and three different medical chiefs, putting Rafael Benitez’s rotation policy at Liverpool to shame. Moreover, Soler wrung his changes at precisely when they were not needed and didn’t alter anything when things really needed a shake-up.
Juan Soler did a good job by appointing Quique Sanchez Flores in 2005, carrying on Valencia’s policy of fostering faith in young and dynamic coaches. But midway through his tenure he lost his grip on the club. As a war broke out between Flores and the then sporting director Amedeo Carboni in the summer of 2006 over summer signings, Soler stayed mum and helpless, not knowing whose side to take. When the players eventually sided with Flores against Carboni, Soler decided to boot the Italian out in the summer of 2007.
The 50-something real estate developer and investor perhaps had then realized that his control of Valencia wouldn’t be absolute with Flores in charge and was seeking a reason to sack the nephew of the legendary flamenco singer Lola. He did sack Flores after the Valencia fans, traditionally (in)famous for moaning all the time even in times of success, turned against Flores, announcing the news on the club’s website at 4:23 am in late late October.
At the time Valencia were just 4 points off the pace in La Liga 2007-2008 and still alive in the UEFA Champions League. Soler appointed Ronald Koeman and the Dutch obligingly dragged the cub to just 2 points above safety and was sacked only when it was too late. And when Soler realized that game of thrusting all blame on the men he employed was now coming onto himself, he cunningly took to the sidelines, complaining that he was sick when he ought to have said that he had made Valencia sick.
Then again it was Juan Soler who let Pablo Aimar go on the cheap in 2006 and didn’t bother to replace Valencia’s best playmaker in years. It was Soler who didn’t inject fresh blood into the side when Los Che needed them. It was Juan Soler again who, in order to sustain his supposed authority of Valencia, unwittingly ‘sacked’ Santiago Canizares, David Albelda and Miguel Angel Angulo in December last year.
Good Riddance
“I was proud to be with Valencia, and everything I did I did with my heart.”
Which further complicated the problem. Had Mr. Soler been more inclined to use his head then he might have rescued Valencia from sinking into one of their worst crisis in history.
Former AS Monaco coach Didier Deschamps once remarked,"If you have to rebuild something, it's because you've destroyed it." How true!
Juan Bautista Soler indeed destroyed the club in his four year reign and now Vicente Soriano and Unai Emery have been entrusted with the task of recreating the old aura and sorcery. Not that it is going to be an easy task for the duo but now that the architect of Valencia’s downfall has packed his bags and disappeared for good, Valencia can indeed look towards a better, brighter and Soler-less future.
Subhankar Mondal
Inside Goal.Com
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