Big Names Crawling All Over the Valencia Job

By: Martha | October 30th, 2007

That’s right, bitches. As Bob reported yesterday, the sacking of Valencia boss Quique Sanchez Flores has led to an explosion of tabloid reports in Europe in which all sorts of big cheeses are associated with the job. Sharp readers will realize that Valencia is, in fact, not an Italian club, but since two of the names (allegedly) in line for the gig are Italian, and another is a certain Portuguese that I everyone wants to come to any Milan club (and who Chris, who seemingly has resisted the Portuguese’s charms, thinks will go to Palermo), I figured it fits in here. Sort of.

The Italians who may or may not be in the running are Fabio Capello and super-pimp Marcello Lippi, who happens to have just done an interview with La Gazzetta in which he announced his readiness to return to coaching. (Who knew there was such a thing as too much time on your yacht smoking good cigars?) In the interview, Lippi said he was particularly interested in coaching in England, but acknowledged that the fact that he doesn’t actually speak English might make it hard to get a gig. Muddling through the Google translation of the interview, though, it seems as if he does speak Spanish well enough to communicate and mentioned an interest in La Liga, albeit without naming a specific club. He’s classy like that, you know. Capello, meanwhile, obviously speaks Spanish and has La Liga experience, but I gotta say he’s looking awfully comfy as an announcer and pundit — I’ve never seen anyone look more pleased with himself than that man does in his appearances on La Domenica Sportiva.

Oh, and then there’s the Portuguese. The English press are quite convinced that Jose Mourinho could soon take his special self to the Valencia bench and, as PortugalGreg has pointed out, there’s a lot about the job that fits into Mourinho’s pattern of gigs: They’re an ambitious club on the verge, and he’s shown he can come in and take teams like that to the proverbial next level. Oh, and then there’s the matter of that December 11 Champions League match at Stamford Bridge — sweet, sweet revenge. (God, how great would that be? I say at least three Chelsea players will cry at the mere sight of The Special One.)

It sounds as if Mourinho has actually been approached by the Valencia brass, but how he responded is anyone’s guess — some sources are reporting he said no, but others think he could well be on his way to Spain. (Interestingly, back in May he was full of praise for the club and their collective mentality.) The Italian press, for their part, are saying Mourinho rejected Valencia’s offer, and that Lippi is next on the list. Oddly, no one but the British bookies seems to be saying much about Capello, so he may not have to get up off the couch for a while yet. Which is too bad, since he’s the one it’s easiest to take managing anywhere other than Italy.