Ex-Villarreal coach Garrido: a potential Castellón hire?

We don’t pay too much attention to our near-neighbors to the north, especially after they won promotion to the Segunda (and only made the promotion playoffs rather than our B team because of an “illegal formation” that lasted about 20 seconds and was unavoidable. Such a stupid rule).

But, I DIGRESS. Castellón are struggling in the Segunda, and have followed the time-honored tradition of firing the coach that got them promoted when the going gets tough. Among the names mentioned to replace Óscar Cano is Juan Carlos Garrido.

If you’ve only been a Villarreal fan for the last few years, a quick recap. Garrido is a native of Valencia who managed—very successfully— in our cantera from 2002-2010; he got the B team promoted to the Segunda in 2009, and the B team, led by Marco Rubén’s 18 goals, was within a sniff of the playoff spots (not that it mattered) when Garrido took over the first-team reins after Ernesto Valverde was fired.

Garrido did well, we finished seventh and made it into the Europa League thanks to Mallorca’s bankruptcy, and the 2010-11 season was one of our best....fourth in the league, semis of Europa League, even a come-from-behind 4-2 win over Valencia in the Copa.

The next year was horrible, of course, Garrido was fired in December. Apart from a very brief, unsuccessful spell at Betis, he’s been out of Spain since then, coaching in North Africa and the Middle East, most recently at Wydad Casablanca.

Would he come back ‘home’ to the Valencian Community? Hard to say. He’s a good coach but a very difficult person to deal with, by his own admission. And there just isn’t a lot of talent to work with on their roster. But, watch this space.

And, speaking of firing coaches who led you to promotion, Huesca fired Michel after their loss today to Betis, which leaves the Aragonese side firmly at the bottom of the table. I haven’t seen any rumors of who might replace him, but I wonder if anyone will contact Javi Calleja?

Calleja knows the Primera, of course, he’s coached regular keeper Andrés Fernandez and on-loan winger Javi Ontiveros. I don’t know how badly he would want to take over a side that’s dead last, and I had heard he was taking English lessons in hopes of expanding his opportunities, but it would not be a terrible fit.