As little as 18 months ago, Villareal were still a Champions League club. Sharing a group with Manchester City, Napoli and last year and this year’s finalists Bayern Munich, the 2011/12 group-stages did not go well.
But for a team that had established itself in the top half of La Liga, finishing runner up in 2008 (ten points clear of Barcelona) and were a Juan Roman Riquelme penalty away from getting to the 2006 Champions League final, the Yellow Submarine would have expected a lot more than to sink into the Segunda Division.
Villareal had always seemed to be an anomaly in the Spanish top flight. From the small town of Vila-real with a population of 50,000 people, its home ground El Madrigal is only capable of holding 20,000 people.
Of course it helped that the club’s owner Fernando Roig was a construction magnate who bankrolled the club’s success - nowhere near the same degree as a Roman Abramovich or Sheikh Mansour - but enough to keep the team punching well above their weight consistently, while also pumping money into the club’s infrastructure. However, as well run as Villareal were, there was always a risk.
Like Ireland and its developers, the Spanish property bubble also burst, putting Roig under pressure which then affected Villareal directly.
By the start of the 2011-12 season, the vastly underated head coach Manule Pellegrini had been hired and sacked by Real Madrid, while key players had been sold including Santi Cazorla, World Cup-winning left back Joan Capdevila, although the squad was still fairly strong.
Former Manchester United striker Giuseppi Rossi’s consecutive cruciate ligament injuries did not help, but on paper they should not have been relegated by any stretch of the imagination.
But they never recovered from a very poor start which saw the Valencian club win just once in their first 10 league games. Just nine league victories all season, coupled with 14 draws was enough to send the Yellow Submarine down by one point, sparking an exodus.
Those who clocked out include Rossi, ex-Spain defender Carlos Marchena, former Brazil international Nilmar, playmaker Borja Valero and current Real Madrid goalkeeper Diego Lopez, while Cristian Zapata and Jonathan De Guzman were loaned out.
Manager's fatal heart attack
Fortunately club legend, captain and Euro 2008 hero Marcos Senna remains at El Madrigal while long-time right-back Javi Venta has returned on a free transfer as Villareal seek a return to La Liga at the first attempt and prevent stagnation in the second tier.
That experience has been especially vital after new manager Manuel Preciado passed away after suffering a heart attack last June, days after being given the task of masterminding promotion. Villareal B team manager Julio Velazquez was appointed in his stead but it seemed that the job had come too quickly for him and he was relieved of his duties in January, with incumbent Marcelino replacing him.
After 36 games of the season, Villareal are in a fourth place playoff spot, three points behind second placed Alcorcon who occupy the final automatic promotion place.
With six games to go, the Yellow Submarine have their periscope in the Playoff places and it is vital they use that opportunity to propel themselves into the top tier at the first attempt.
For a club that is cash-strapped, the importance of avoiding stagnation cannot be understated, especially when you consider that this season’s average attendance at El Madrigal has only been 8,000 which is only the fifth best in the Segunda Division and about 6,000 down on last season.
At the moment with nearly all of Spain’s top flight clubs in severe financial straits – except Barcelona, Real Madrid and one or two others – the financial and footballing gap between Villareal and the likes of neighbours Levante, Real Betis, Osasuna and Getafe is not insurmountable.
But the more time Villareal spend in the second tier, the harder it will be for such a small club to return and re-establish itself in La Liga and the less likely that they can dream about battling for European places again.
