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A new manager (23rd February, 2017)

Miguel Ángel Sánchez Muñoz, aka Míchel, is the new manager of Rayo. The fact that he started training the squad on Tuesday, the day he was appointed, is kind of amazing.

It's do or die.

Here's the thing - when Míchel retired in 2012, he was tasked with bringing an attacking identity to the youth ranks and making it consistent with the first team - and he's done that really well. He was the Juvenil A manager before this and his latest result (last weekend that is) was a 1-1 draw with Real Madrid.

He's definitely a good manager - but the times are too desperate and there is more than just the one precedent of 2003-04. In March 1997 Rayo were in La Liga and desperately needed a manager to save them, and appointed a former Rayo youth graduate, player, and manager Máximo Hernández. His second stint ended with relegation.

Fun fact: Máximo Hernández's first stint as manager was in 1983, when he led Rayo to one of their worst starts ever in the Segunda, and he was replaced in November by Antonio Ruiz, who couldn't save Rayo from relegation to Segunda B. He even had a third stint: from March 1998 to the end of the season.

I obviously don't want to use precedent as an indicator, and I hope that Míchel will be the saving grace we've always hoped for. And even if he is "unproven" he personifies Rayo and deserves time. Unfortunately, time may be the last thing available this season, and being a Rayo fan one always prepares for the worst.

I literally looked at the clock and saw it was 9:45 am, and wrote this whole thing by 9:58 am, just in time to 'schedule' the post for 10:00 am. If a week of daily blogging can make me write this fast...

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