Travelling has never been a problem for current Racing Santander coach, Héctor Cuper. Since starting his managerial career in his native Argentina, with Club Atlético Huracán, the 53 year old has clocked up plenty of air miles moving from one bench to the next: Lanús, Mallorca, Valencia, Inter Milan, Real Betis, Parma, the Georgia national team and Greek outfit Aris FC are all crammed into his CV (probably with the help of a small font).
This upcoming Monday he is set to embark on yet another journey. This time making his way down to Madrid, where the challenge facing him is not a football matter but rather a judicial one. There he is set to play the role of defendant as Italian anticorruption prosecutors question him about his alleged involvement with the match fixing capers of certain Napolese mafioso types from the Camorra family. The allegations being mounted against him are in connection to his time in charge of Mallorca in 2006, when he is thought to have provided information to the infamous D’Alessandro clan relating to four league games: two Spanish and two Argentine. Of course he and his lawyer, Vicente Montes, irrefutably deny any wrongdoing or knowledge of such activities.
However tough going his sticky legal situation may be, it’s not the only thing affecting his blood pressure. Performances on the field have left a lot to be desired so far this season, and the club sits perilously close to rock bottom with a meagre tally of just nine points.
It’s sure to be a very long day, as he not only appears before the law, but also in front of the Racinguista faithful straight afterwards (if he’s permitted to leave Madrid of course), when his team hosts “money bags” Malaga in the first league game back after the two week international break.
These are dismal times for anyone associated with the Cantabrian club, not just the manager. And as is usually the case in Spain when problems begin to arise on the pitch, the cause for los Verdiblancos current difficulties can be found off it.
Club owner and majority shareholder (98.89%), Ahsan Ali Syed can probably sympathise with Cuper more than most people. His dubious financial dealings, via his company Deccan Chronicle, have caught up with him to such an extent that a disappearing act was the only way out, seeing as jail time is not a viable option for a “respectable” Indian mogul.
After being turned down by Blackburn Rovers, the tycoon set his sights on Spain and bought Racing instead. Club president, Francisco Pernía, welcomed Syed with open arms, feeling no need to question who this (up until now) mystery man was. And why would he? After all, as he said himself, “I’ve looked into his eyes, and I can see that Ali is a trustworthy man”.
Presumably Rovers were, unlike their Iberian counterparts, too meek to lock eyes with this strange man and opted to do their looking through Google instead, where a quick search would have dug up enough dirt on Syed for the Lancashire outfit decline his offer. Pernía soon found out that foregoing this most rudimentary method of investigation into a potential suitor was a poor move, as Syed went AWOL when Interpol came knocking.
Last month, with the rot well and truly sunk in, the club’s board (including Pernía) unanimously decided to resign. However, they are legally obliged to see out their duties until a new director is found, which will probably be in December when a shareholders’ meeting is scheduled. Until then Pernía is taking a leaf out of Syed’s book and keeping well clear of El Sardinero for fear of any retribution from any disgruntled fans.
By no means are the supporters wet behind the ears in terms of their club’s monetary constraints. However, where previously they could rely on a local government bailout to keep creditors at bay, now the current economic climate in Spain won’t allow for such assistance.
Should things go wrong for Cuper’s team on Monday, he is sure to feel like the captain of a sinking ship as he peers up to the director’s box and sees that the rats have already scarpered off.
Throughout his journeyman career as a coach he has famously lost every cup final his teams have partaken in, he faces his own ultimatum on Monday and must be praying that his luck finally changes. Unfortunately for him though, unbearable as his current personal problems may be, they just so happen to coincide with his club’s most nerve wrecking situation in recent years.
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