Juan Carlos Garrido fired by Castellón

It’s not been all great news for ex-Villarreal managers this month. Javi Calleja has done very well (and I think all Villarreal fans are pleased for him), taking over an Alaves squad that looked doomed and leading them to safety. In fact, if they defeat Sevilla on Sunday, they’ll end up tied on points with Paco Lopez’s Levante.

But while Calleja has prospered, Juan Carlos Garrido, who took over Segunda club Castellón, has not. He took over for Oscar Cano in mid-January and, while after winning his first match the team dropped four in a row, the club went 5-2-2 in the mid-February to mid-April period, and it seemed they would be able to survive for another year.

But since then, they have lost their last three matches, haven’t won in five, and have scored only one goal in 450 minutes of football. So, Castellon now find themselves three points away from safety with two matches left in the regular season, and the board has fired Garrido.

This is clearly a desperation move, with Castellon’s next match against a Rayo Vallecano side that is trying to make it into the promotion playoffs. The fundamental problem is that Castellon’s squad is, even by Segunda standards, just not very good, especially when it comes to putting the ball in the net. The only thing that might save them is their last match is against Malaga, a team that won two matches in early April to get to 48 points and then said “You know what? I’m done here.”

As for Garrido, he’s bounced around from place to place after Villarreal fired him in December 2011; he’s spent more than a season with only one club, Raja Casablanca, and even that was only 18 months. This was his first venture into Spanish coaching since his ill-fated 10-game stint with Real Betis in the 2013-14 season. He finishes with 6 wins, 4 draws, and 9 defeats.