With the season officially over for the first team - apart from one or two low-key friendlies around Andalucía - the new technical secretary Alexis Trujillo is getting on with the business of stripping away the dead wood. (Let's hope he's got an axe - he's going to need it.)
First to be officially on their way are rather disappointing four-month coach Gaby Calderón (apparently returning to the United Arab Emirates), very disappointing goalkeeper Guille Sara (probably heading back to Argentina) and don't-even-get-me-started-on-how-disappointing midfielder Joan Verdú (to do you think I care where?).
Of the three, it was definitely Calderón who had the most difficult job, arriving at the end of January and handed the impossible task of righting a very definitely sinking ship. And although his departure won't be very much mourned after Betis's very meek end to the season, we should probably remember that he twice came close to something like success. We were 2-1 up with 15 minutes to play in the second leg of the EuroDerbi (against the eventual Europa League winners, no less) and 1-0 up with even less to go against Málaga in a game that really could have brought the back of the pack within sight. But both times Betis took fright and were swallowed up, and I think we have to hold the coach at least partially responsible. However, he was still, by all accounts, a great player.
Sara, meanwhile, simply lost his confidence behind a super-porous defence and never got it back, while Verdú never looked even remotely like the player he was supposed to be, a midfielder said to rank just a smidgen behind the likes of Santi Cazorla and Juan Mata, and on a par with the Atleti non-stars who won the Liga title. We've debated here whether he might even have caught the footballing equivalent of the yips somewhere along the line, but, whatever the reason, Béticos ended up thankful that he missed most of the season's second half through injury. The suggestion is that he might go somewhere like Saudi Arabia.
First to be officially on their way are rather disappointing four-month coach Gaby Calderón (apparently returning to the United Arab Emirates), very disappointing goalkeeper Guille Sara (probably heading back to Argentina) and don't-even-get-me-started-on-how-disappointing midfielder Joan Verdú (to do you think I care where?).
Of the three, it was definitely Calderón who had the most difficult job, arriving at the end of January and handed the impossible task of righting a very definitely sinking ship. And although his departure won't be very much mourned after Betis's very meek end to the season, we should probably remember that he twice came close to something like success. We were 2-1 up with 15 minutes to play in the second leg of the EuroDerbi (against the eventual Europa League winners, no less) and 1-0 up with even less to go against Málaga in a game that really could have brought the back of the pack within sight. But both times Betis took fright and were swallowed up, and I think we have to hold the coach at least partially responsible. However, he was still, by all accounts, a great player.
Sara, meanwhile, simply lost his confidence behind a super-porous defence and never got it back, while Verdú never looked even remotely like the player he was supposed to be, a midfielder said to rank just a smidgen behind the likes of Santi Cazorla and Juan Mata, and on a par with the Atleti non-stars who won the Liga title. We've debated here whether he might even have caught the footballing equivalent of the yips somewhere along the line, but, whatever the reason, Béticos ended up thankful that he missed most of the season's second half through injury. The suggestion is that he might go somewhere like Saudi Arabia.