‘Martino was on Villarreal’s agenda’

Villarreal President Fernando Roig says that Tata Martino was considered for the Yellow Submarine before Marcelino Garcia Toral’s appointment earlier this year.

Martino this summer replaced Tito Vilanova as Coach at Barcelona, but months before that, was considered to take over at El Madrigal in early 2013, before they opted for Marcelino.

Under the 48-year-old, the club have since returned to La Liga and have started the season with three wins from three.

“I do not understand technical issues, but with Marcelino we are playing well, as we did with [Manuel] Pellegrini,” commented Roig to Radio 9 this week.

“We are happy with him, and so is Marcelino and his team are happy as are the club, they are exceeding expectations. So what is normal and logical is for him to continue with us.

“[Vice-President Jose Manuel] Llaneza and I wanted another Cocah, but it was my son [CEO Fernando Roig] that won out. It was he who came in hard for Marcelino.

“Who else was in our minds? Tata Martino was on the agenda, but now he is the Coach of another team and we won’t go into further assessments.”

Tags Marcelino Martino Roig
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