Escribá’s appointment was a shock on the eve of the season but Villarreal have moved serenely into fourth place with a more relaxed approach
Fran Escribá was wearing swimming trunks and was on his way down to get an ice cream when the phone rang. It was 10 August, half past 11 at night, by the beach in Puig and he had missed a couple of calls already. He was on holiday after all, a football manager out of a job and pretty sure he wasn’t going to be in one any moment now: it was too late to start a season and too soon to save one. This time he recognised the number and picked up. “Hey,” he was told, “Fernando Roig is trying to get hold of you.” Fernando Roig is the president of Villarreal and he’d just done something unexpected, eight days before it all began. Unexpected to everyone on the outside, at least.
“They’ve sacked Marcelino.”
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