The History of Sporting: 2006-Present, "The Preciado's Era"

In this post, I intend to start a set of short articles on the history of Sporting for the fans. Besides, these compositions will be written backwards, starting in the present time and advancing through more than a hundred years of red-and-white history until 1905.

Thus, this first chapter summarizes the history between the years 2006 and 2011, or as I have called it: “The Preciado’s Era”.

In the summer of 2006, Sporting started their ninth season in a row in the Second Division. They were times of a huge economic crisis for the club, and an average attendance of 12000 long suffering fans was common in El Molinón. Signing players was an impossible mission and a few managers had declined coaching Sporting citing the lack of opportunities to create a strong squad. Although Manolo Preciado was not the first choice for the club’s board of directors, he was the only one who accepted the challenge.

With a squad full of young players, the goal was to avoid relegation to the third tier of Spanish football. Some players arrived that summer such as Barral or Diego Castro, at that time unknown by most of Spanish football fans. That season, Sporting avoided relegation with only two matches to spare, but this marked the first step towards change.

The following year, with a group of young players with experience of the Second Division, the dream of promotion was realised. That was the year of the heroes Kike Mateo, Bilic, Matabuena and Roberto among others. Sporting fans lived the dream in the evening of the 15^th June 2008 in an agonic last match against Eibar at home. The club returned to the place that it deserves the top flight of Spanish football.

The first season in La Liga could not have started worst, five defeats in a row conceding seven goals against Barcelona and six against Real Madrid. Nevertheless, a team without experience and a serious lack of skills overcame theses disadvantages. The last match of the season against Recreativo was frenetic. Sporting conceded the first goal, but turned the game around, thus achieving their objective of remaining in the top division.

Having being a year in the First Division, Sporting incomes increased considerably. Mareo training grounds were upgraded, some quality players such as de las Cuevas and Rivera became affordable and a solid squad was built for that year. Although we were not safe until two matches before the end of the season, the impression was different to the previous year. Sporting had changed.

And finally, Sporting’s progression continued during the third season in Primera. Although the best signings of this year did not play satisfactorily, there was a solid base that achieved a degree of success that season.

Nowadays, the club is consolidated in Primera. Mareo and El Molinón have been upgraded; we have international players, several official stores all around Asturias and more than 26000 season ticket holders. The club and the fans need to acknowledge the debt that they owe to the coach and to the players of the early years of “The Preciado’s Era”.

Hard work and not much news

Sporting's pre-season is usually synonymous with no news, specially if Manolo Preciado is in charge of the team.
In the transfer market, the club keeps waiting for another player to complete the squad. There are some rumours in the media, but the time when the fans would read endless reports of future signings, many of which were without foundation, are a thing of the past. The manager and his team are very careful not to talk with the media, and some of the most representative transfers in the recent years have been completed without the knowledge of the press.
Regarding the pre-season, Preciado's guideline is always the same. Playing at Sporting means running and battling in every match and in every training session. This Wednesday we played our first pre-season match drawing 1-1 against Langreo, an amateur team of the Spanish third division.
The game was not a proper match. There were two different line-ups for each half and players only played for 45 minutes.

First half: Juan Pablo; Pedro Orfila, Gregory, Jorge, Canella; Luis Morán, Rivera, Sergio Álvarez, Ayoze; Barral, Bilic.
Second half: Raúl Domínguez; Lora, Alain, Botía, Alex Menéndez, Nacho Cases, Alex Barrera; Ayoze, Trejo, Nacho Novo; Sangoy.

The goals were scored towards  end of the match. Langreo took the lead in the 78th minute and Sangoy salvaged the draw two minutes from time with a shoot from 45 yards.
And finally, the most controversial topic has been the new home shirt. The club has been oblied to rectify it in order to stop a public demonstration on Saturday against the strip described by the fans as "The Pijama". Personally, I think the shirt is rubbish and disrespectful to Sporting's history. Kappa has announced that they are developing a replacement shirt for this season, but it is difficult the shirt will be ready for the first match against Villarreal. Meanwhile, Sporting will play all pre-season matches in the away shirt.

The new strip presented at El Molinón

Sporting presented their new strip made by Kappa. The Italian multinational will provide sporting equipment for the following three years. The new sporting equipment has generated much expectation among fans and about a thousand people went to El Molinón to be the first to see the shirts. The players wore the different shirts as well as the oficial tracksuits and casual clothes that the Italian brand has designed for this season.

However, deception has been the feeling of a large number of fans after seeing with their own eyes the red-and-white jersey (Robert Canella - centre). Sporting will wear a very innovative home strip absolutely different to the last years' design. The away jersey will be red (David Barral - left),  the same as last years, but Kappa has added a new golden stripe absolutely new in the club's history. There is a third white jersey (Nacho Cases - right) similar to the jerseys worn some years ago. The new strip has been on sale since last Friday in all official stores and online.

Jose Ángel completes Roma move

Roma have broken the Sporting Gijón transfer record by paying €4.5 million (£4m) to seal the capture of Under-21 international Jose Ángel. The Italian squad have sped up the transfer after Fulham have brought the former Liverpool defender Riise back to the Premier League. The 21-year-old flew to Italy this week to undergo a medical at the Calcio club before putting pen to paper on a contract. Jose Ángel attracted the attention of European champions Barcelona, Málaga, and the Italian squad of Fiorentina before Roma took the initiative making the best offer for the player.

The replacement for Jose Ángel is Damián Suárez from Defensor, who was presented on Thursday and will join the team immediately. In addition to Damian, Canella and Lora have suficient experience and skill to keep the defense safe.

The club is still waiting to complete the squad, and the two preferred options by the manager are Armenteros from Seville and André Castro from Porto. Preciado told on Monday's press conference “Someone can leave and someone can come, but we are 90% there”, so we should not expect much more news during the transfer window.

Sporting go back to work

After achieving the best result since we came back to the Primera División finishing 10th, Sporting go back to work to prepare for the fourth season in a row in La Liga and the fortieth in the history of the most successful team in Asturias.

Manolo Preciado (above), the manager, the leader of the team, and a hero for the fans, starts his sixth season on the bench of El Molinon. With him at Gijón most of last season's squad remain for a new challenge. Only two players have left the team: Rafa Sastre is playing in the second division whilst Diego Castro has joined Getafe after being the top scorer and the most important player in recent seasons. In addition, in a few days, left wing-back Jose Ángel will join Roma where he will play the next four seasons alongside former Barcelona striker Bojan.

In compensation, three new players have joined Sporting. The Argentinian striker Oscar Trejo (right) from Mallorca, the midfielder Ricardo from Tenerife and the back winger Damián Suárez from Defensor (Uruguay). The team is still waiting to reach an agreement with Porto for Andre Castro. The young midfielder played for five incredible months in Gijón and the coach wants him back again. Apart from these players, the club is looking for another striker to complete the squad.

At the back, the team remains strong with former Barcelona centre-back Botía as commandant in the centre of the defence. Both Botía and Jose Ángel (left) were in the Spanish Under-21 team that recently won the European Championship in Denmark. The middle of the pitch looks strong with former Real Madrid player Rivera and the Uruguayan international Eguren currently playing in the Copa Americas Cup in Argentina. With De Las Cuevas as the new leader of the Sporting attack, players such as Nacho Novo, Ayoze and Carmelo must show they are worthy of the supporters respect after a poor campaign last season. Barral as the new captain and Sangoy have a great chance to remain at Gijón. However, if another striker arrives at Asturias, it is likely that the Croatian International Bilic will leave.

Preseason starts on Monday with a well known squad. Sporting will play again against the best Spanish teams of the moment, and again the goal is the same, to avoid being relegated and keep developing after many years of huge economic, social and sporting problems.