There is a very clear reason why Celta Vigo finished the second half of the season as leaders of LaLiga, playing beautiful and exciting football in front of a full, loud and proud Balaídos stadium.
One reason, too, why Monday's thrilling 4-3 defeat at Villarreal – in which Dani Parejo's winner in the 10th minute of stoppage time put the home side top of the table above the visitors after three games – will change absolutely nothing. Not the ambition, not the bravery, not the three-man defence. Not the idea that this small coastal club from Spain's north-west fishing territory can actually challenge for a trophy and, in the process, provide us all with glorious, exhilarating entertainment.
That reason is Marian Mouriño, a Spaniard educated in Orlando and Miami, a veteran of the business world in Mexico, one of only two female club presidents in LaLiga and something of an eight-month whirlwind at the club she adores and is turning into a source of inspiration.
When he took over from his 80-year-old father just before the end of the year, he wasted no time in taking Celta by the scruff of the neck, shaking off the cobwebs and ruthlessly scrapping the last two major projects his idiosyncratic and outdated father had instituted in the final months of his 17-year presidency. Sentimentality is, evidently, a dirty word in that family.
Specifically, he sacked Rafa Benítez, historically the club's highest-paid and highest-profile manager, and ruled out the idea that Celta's entire footballing philosophy should be guided part-time and from a distance (950 miles) by Paris Saint-Germain sporting director Luís Campos, in what seemed like some sort of decision on his part to dedicate his free time to Celta Vigo.
“No way!” said the 49-year-old who was born in Madrid, grew up in North and Central America but is dedicated to making Celta the most exciting club in Spain outside the Big Three.
Benitez left with the club two points off the drop: bang, bang, punch! Youth coach Claudio Giráldez came in and the Sky Blues won or drew seven of their last ten games last season and started the first two of this season with all the points and some glorious, champagne-fuelled football.
Out went Campos and in came former LAFC director of football Marco Antonio Garcés, a personal gamble by Mouriño that stemmed from a visit to Los Angeles to study his work at California State University's LAFC Performance Center to ensure he was about to hire someone fearless and ruthlessly ambitious.
How is it going? Well, there has been no better play in the 20 LaLiga games so far this season than when Williot Swedberg, Celta's slender Swedish creative wizard, provided a no-look assist for Iago Aspas to secure victory against Alavés on Matchday 1.
A moment of genius with the same vibrant imagination and skill that Ronaldinho, Zinedine Zidane, Lionel Messi and Francesco Totti possessed. That good.
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Celta Vigo vs. Alaves – Match summary
Watch the summary of the Celta de Vigo vs. Alavés match, 08/16/2024
And that's part of how President Mourinho wants his boys in blue to play: the other part is music to his ears and those of the fans.
Their mantra is: “We are committed to being braver, we want to win every game. We go out to win every time. That is our unwavering mentality. We are all very clear about that: the coach, the director of football and the board.”
“It's no longer enough to win one game and then when it comes to the next one the attitude is 'well… let's see what we can do…' No! When I took over we held a lot of focus groups and all the feedback was that Celta had become something that neither the fans nor we recognised – a bit sad! Somehow the self-image had become that of a team that would suffer, that was resilient, that was fighting to survive.
“Instead, since I took over in December, we wanted to be brave, we wanted our stadium to be a place where teams would be afraid to come, where every opponent knew that they would not be easily deducted points.”
Obviously, I don't know which club each of you reading this supports, but not all of us follow the big clubs, the ones that win trophies regularly. So, when you read those words, doesn't your blood run faster? Isn't that the message you'd like to receive from the people who run your club, who impose the culture on the training ground and in the dressing room?
Play well, play to win, have faith in the academy, make the stadium a tough test for every visiting opponent, talk to the fans, listen to their opinions, be brave, be ambitious and settle for nothing less than a fierce, winning attitude to every challenge?
My own view is that anyone, any owner, director, player, manager, coach or fan who does not inherently think like this should suffer an immediate and irrevocable lifelong ban from our sport, and that is why, even when they inevitably face tough times this season, I am drawn to what Mouriño, Garcés and coach Giráldez are trying to achieve.
There are too many in football who think, train and play with percentages in their heads: “don't get out of your zone”, “don't overdo it”, “keep defeat within reasonable proportions when you visit the Bernabéu, the Metropolitano or the Camp Nou”, “we play in another mini-league, we don't need to compete with the big teams” and, worst of all, “defend, defend, defend, and then blame the referee”.
After Celta's convincing thrashing of Valencia on Friday night, in a truly exhilarating, skilful and powerful performance, club all-time legend Aspas commented on his goalscoring and assisting performance: “Basically since Claudio Giráldez took over, I've been enjoying myself!”
It shows. While Benitez was immersed in an ego struggle and trying to impose himself on Aspas (along the lines of “this is my “I'm at the club now and I'm going to bench you or isolate you as much as I want to win this battle of wills”) Giráldez has rebuilt the style of play to ensure his 37-year-old genius thrives. It's been wonderful to watch.
Aspas has scored twelve goals or provided assists in the twelve games played since Giráldez, a year and a half younger than the team's best player, took charge in March. The coach has been a special project for the woman who is revitalising Celta at hurricane speed.
“Immediately after taking over I started talking to him and asked him for a lot of information: how he saw the first team under Benitez, how he would manage it if one day he was in charge,” said Mourinho.
“It was clear that Claudio was someone Celta could not afford to lose. I worked to make him know that we valued him. That he felt involved in the project. When the change was necessary because Rafa [Benítez] Because I wasn't getting three points often enough, I looked at the history of clubs that had signed a player from their academy and picked a young player who perhaps didn't have as much experience and what the conclusions were from other clubs that had done that.
“What was clear was that Claudio ticked many boxes. The fans loved him, his football in the youth team was brave and fun, he was hard-working, lucid, he knew what he wanted, he was demanding of his players and his coaching staff, he loved Celta and he is ambitious.”
These are the perfect components for a club now led by a dynamic, ambitious and totally focused leader who wants glory for Celta de Vigo and who, in the long term, will provide many joys to those who follow LaLiga. Join now, friends!
