Marcelino, bread and wine

Marcelino, Marcelio Garcia Toral to be exact, is the manager at second division side Real Zaragoza. A year ago he was one of the hottest managers in Spain, the next Rafa Benitez who was drawing interest from big clubs like Newcastle United abroad and Sevilla FC at home. He had brought Recreativo Huelva up from the Segunda in 2005 and had the oldest club in Spain playing an aggressive and forward thinking brand of football rarely seen in small, recently promoted sides. He left for Racing Santander and brought them a sixth place finish, but instead of continuing with the cash-strapped Racing, he sent in his resignation stating, "Two months ago I met with the president and I told him, with plenty of notice, that I wouldn't be continuing with the team. I wanted to seek the chance to coach a bigger side with a greater chance of winning trophies - one of the so-called big clubs. That was the idea and I'll go through with it."

He had signed a letter of intent to manage Valencia, had offered his master list of transfers in and out of the Mestalla, and club agreed with his asessment, but within the week he had broken his word-of-mouth agreement, the job ultimately going to fellow young buck Unai Emery. What had gone wrong? The club had buyers remorse, they already had a huge squad with massive depths, and wasn't willing to fund Marcceino's rebuilding plan. On principle, he took himself out of the deal. Instead he contemplated a year long sabbatical rather than returning with Racing but instead he jumped head-first into the wilderness of second division football with Real Zaragoza. Was it worth it?

He arrived at Zara with all of the right public declarations: 'It would be a disaster not to come right back up to the Primera. No, it isn't a slight at my fellow managers in the Segunda. Yes, I believe we can succeed in the second division.' It sounded right. He soon realized that the lure of bringing a slumbering gant in Zaragoza back to their deserved place in the top flight was going to be difficult. "You need to defend to the death!", he screamed at his side during a training match in September. They had lost to Levante and drawn with both Las Palmas and La Real, letting in 6 goals in three early games. He saw it as a lack of committment in general rather than something lacking in any one particular defender. They have since improved drastically. They have given up only six goals at home since the beginning of January and are one of the least scored upon teams in the Spanish second division.

They stand in fifth place, 5 points behind leaders Xerez but only 1 point behind both Hercules and Rayo Vallecano who are tied at 39 points, but are on form both physically and mentally, and look likely to challenge for one of those final slots to ascend back to La Liga mas bella del mundo, the most beautiful league in the World. If they do it will be deserved, for a club and a supporters' base that have suffered greatly in their relegation, and for a manager that stuck to his principles it might just be a return to the top of the class in the Spanish League.