Simon Talbot in Madrid
Thursday May 27, 2004
The Guardian
Only 25% of Valencia supporters believe that their coach Rafael Benítez should have a street named in his honour, according to an opinion poll on a website devoted to the club, which hardly sounds like a ringing endorsement. Until you see the other answers.
The biggest sector, 44%, said that Benítez should, in fact, have two named after him.
When Benítez arrived at Mestalla, however, he was hardly welcomed with open arms. A virtual unknown who had never played professional football, few considered him talented or experienced enough for the job. His promotions with Extremadura and Tenerife counted for little.
Yet Javier Subirats, then Valencia's technical director, had seen a quality in Benítez and battled with the board to bring the Madrileño to the club. A PE teacher who had studied coaching techniques, Benítez is methodical and after coaching Real Madrid B with Vicente del Bosque he had spells at Valladolid and Osasuna before Extremadura.
He then took a sabbatical in 1999-2000 to study training methods at Manchester United and in Italy. A keen advocate of English football - not least the control granted by clubs to their coaches - and a firm admirer of the former Italy manager Arrigo Sacchi, he proved these lessons extremely valuable.
Benítez returned to Spain and led Tenerife to the top flight but Valencia was an altogether different challenge, a club at war with itself, financially crippled and emotionally shattered after successive European Cup final defeats. Their standard-bearing midfielder Gaizka Mendieta had just left for Lazio, moreover.
And yet Benítez's appointment vindicated Subirats. Valencia won an utterly unexpected league title in his first season after a 31-year wait - only the fifth in the club's history. They were superbly organised, mentally tough and physically immense.
It was no fluke either. This season, Benítez's third, has seen them win the Uefa Cup and regain the title from Real Madrid with three weeks to spare. Aggressive, fast, synchronised and defensively solid, the team have been peerless. Benítez has become Valencia's most successful manager. Ever.
That he has achieved what he has at a club where the board has not backed him as it should is all the more amazing. His position is forever undermined as the shareholders snipe at one another - hidden agendas are rarely hidden for long.
Benítez has achieved all this despite the fact that he does not get on with the sporting director Jesús García Pitarch either, the man who signs players. It is that urge to control his own destiny, to sign men he needs rather than those others want, which has apparently pushed the coach into the arms of England.
And his judgment is sound: only two players came to Valencia on his say-so - Curro Torres and this season's top scorer Mista, both from his old club Tenerife - and their value has been indisputable.
Benítez's role can hardly be overstated. An obsessive student of the game, dedicated and meticulous, he is a such a perfectionist that it drives his backroom staff mad. Eight cameras linked to a specially created computer programme provide data on his players' every move on the pitch.
And Benítez has managed his squad superbly, rotating cleverly. The day Valencia won the title at Sevilla they had Rubén Baraja and Pablo Aimar on the bench yet they were hardly missed. There may not be any galacticos there but Benítez has them playing like stars.
"We are a TEAM, with capital letters," he says. What his modesty prevents him from adding is that he is the man responsible. The feeling remains that some of the Valencia side would look rather ordinary under a different coach, and the talented players look even better with him.
Benítez CV
April 16, 1960 Born Madrid
1986 Becomes coach of Castilla B Juvenil
1989-95 Holds various coaching roles at Real Madrid
1998 Takes Extremadura into the Primera División
2001 Leads Tenerife into the Primera División.
2002 Guides Valencia to first league title since 1971
2004 Wins league and Uefa Cup double
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Sounds like the man for the job, eh?
Oh, sorry if this has been printed before. Looked around but didn't see it.
