The History of Sporting: 1998-2006, "The Dark Years"

It was a dull afternoon in September 1998 when Sporting played against Toledo in the first match of the season. It was not a typical Sunday football afternoon. Sporting were playing their first match in the Second Division after more than 20 years in the top flight of Spanish football. At the end of the match, the goaless draw seemed to predict what was going to happen over the following ten years.
These were tough times for Sporting supporters (Sportinguistas). Managers and directors spent money without any control and Sporting was near to folding several times.
The situation became critical during the summer of 2001. The local council had to buy the Mareo training grounds and the official trade-marks in order to provide to the club the necessary money to pay players and staff.

During the following years, the situation did not improve at all. David Villa (above), the new young promise had to be sold to Zaragoza for only €3 million in another desperate bid to raise cash. In the summer of 2005, the administrators took control of the club's finances in order to assure payments to staff and creditors.

Without a stadium, training grounds and trade-marks, a club in administration celebrated a hundred years of history. It was one of the most poor and depressing celebrations. The thoughts of the fans were centred around the potential disappearance rather than commemorating this historic birthday.

The external control of finances saved the club. This process stopped the club spending money and an austerity policy was imposed at El Molinón. It remained important to gain promotion to the first division and this was achieved in 2008, as I outlined in earlier posts, during "The Preciado's Era"

A Little Bit of Everything

Unlike rich teams such as Real or Barcelona, we do not have lucrative pre-seasons. The lads work mainly on Mareo training grounds, and only leave Asturias to play some summer friendlies. Last week we played four matches against Valladolid, Salamanca, Paços (Portugal) and Celta of Vigo in which the results and the impressions were very different.

The results were as follows:
Sporting 3 Valladolid 2 (Carmelo, Mendy and Sangoy)
Cuéllar; Lora (Pedro Orfila), Botía (Gregory), Iván Hernández (Jorge), Canella (Damián); Rivera (Álex Barrera), Eguren (Sergio Alvarez); Carmelo (Nacho Novo), Trejo (Sangoy), Ayoze (Mendy); Bilic (Barral).
Salamanca 0 Sporting 4 (Barral, Ayoze, Luis Morán, Sangoy)
Raúl (Juan Pablo); Pedro Orfila (Lora), Gregory (Iván Hernández), Jorge (Botía), Damián (Canella); Juan Muñiz (Rivera), Álex Barrera (Sergio Alvarez); Luis Morán (Trejo), Nacho Novo (Carmelo), Mendy (Ayoze); Barral (Sangoy).

Paços 3 Sporting 0
Cuéllar (Raúl); Lora (Pedro Orfila), Botía (Gregory), Iván Hernández (Jorge), Canella (Damián); Rivera (Juan Muñiz), Sergio Alvarez (Alex Menéndez); Carmelo (Ayoze), De las Cuevas (Nacho Novo), Trejo (Luis Morán); Bilic (Barral).
Celta Vigo 0 Sporting 1 (De las Cuevas)
Juan Pablo; Pedro Orfila (Canella), Gregory (Botía), Jorge, Damián Suárez; Álex Barrera (Juan Muñiz), Sergio Alvarez (Rivera); Luis Morán (Trejo), Nacho Novo (De las Cuevas), Carmelo (Barral); Sangoy (Bilic).

There were weak defensive matches against Valladolid and against Paços, but there were also clean sheets against Salamanca and Celta. Sporting were able to turn the game around twice against Valladolid with 3 goals from Carmelo, Mendy and Sangoy, all of them in the second half. A terrific performance at Salamanca was quickly followed by a disastrous one in Portugal and a victory by 0-1 at Vigo in a evently matched game closed the four-day tour.

It is not easy to form a judgment of this week's performances. The line-ups, rivals and conditions were different for each match. Nevertheless, as recent seasons, Sporting played great and poor matches within a short period of time.

The start of the new season is nearly upon us. Tests must finish and only the players who deserve play should be allowed to step onto the grass at Villarreal.

Sporting Draw Twice

The pre-season advances towards 21st August, when Sporting will travel to Villarreal to play the first match of La Liga. This week, the lads have paid a visit to Ponferradina on Wednesday and another to Marino on Saturday. Both teams compete in semi-professional leagues in the third and fourth tier of Spanish football, but Sporting only could save two draws to 1-1.
The games were quite similar to each other. Preciado fielded two different line-ups for each half but players could not perform as desired because of fatigue. Sporting faced these two matches having trained hard on the morning of the matches so the result cannot be consider as relevant.

At Ponferrada (against Ponferradina) the two line-ups were:
First half: Cuéllar, Botía, Jorge, Lora; Rivera, Ayoze, Luis Morán, Sangoy, De las Cuevas, Alex Menéndez, Alex Barrera.
Second half: Juan Pablo, Damián, Gregory, Iván Hernández, Canella, Sergio, Carmelo, Nacho Cases, Bilic, Barral, Trejo.

Whilst at Luanco (against Marino of Luanco) the line-ups were:
First half: Raúl; Pedro Orfila, Alain, Jorge, Alex Menéndez; Nacho Cases, Álex Barrera; Ayoze, Carmelo, Mendy; Sangoy.
Second half: Juan Pablo; Damián, Gregory, Iván Hernández, Canella; Sergio Alvarez, Eguren; Nacho Novo, De las Cuevas, Trejo; Barral.

De las Cuevas scored in the first match and Nacho Novo in the second. This week Sporting will play four matches, so it is predictable that the coach will change the system of two different line-ups per game. With only three weeks left to the start of the season, pre-season matches will start to show the (real) squad's strength.
News has come from the transfer market. Former Sporting coach Marcelino, now Sevilla's manager, has closed the door to Armenteros and the Argentinian will not be able to play at Gijón this season. Sporting had a verbal agreement with the player, but the Andalusian team have decided to include him in the squad for this season. In addition, André Castro has been discarded by Porto coach Vítor Pereira and Sporting have intensified negotiations to sign the player either on loan or as a transfer. The club expects to complete the return of the Portuguese next week.