Quique Sanchez Flores has criticised Getafe and the running of the club after being sacked from his third spell with the club, claiming he was not free to choose the line-up and that the club was being influenced by social media.
The veteran Spanish manager was removed from his job two weeks ago, with Getafe, on the edge of the relegation zone and with seven games remaining. In an interview with Relevo, Sanchez Flores said he had never felt as bad as he had this year, admitting he had lost control and influence in the dressing room.
“No, this terrible feeling this year, I’ve never had it before. Having to change training sessions to ensure people pay attention, for them to behave in a certain way… You know it’s difficult to manage a changing room, but having to keep changing so many things to make it work means that you’re not on the right track.”
Later in the interview, he was scathing in his criticism. Without naming Getafe President Angel Torres, Sanchez Flores made several pointed statements. Previously Torres had claimed that the reason for Getafe’s struggles last season were down to mismanagement of the squad, rather than poor recruitment.
“There was an internal message that has been maintained externally, although it has not been explicitly said in those words. They said that the squad was being used badly, that the team was ready for more… It was a tremendous lack of humility. We should have been smarter and gotten rid of that narrative.”
The implied meaning was that Getafe were ready to be competing in the top half of the table, or even for Europe.
“I cannot do what Bordalas did, who in the second game did not play any of the signings. They have already been telling me that I was not getting the most out of the wonderful signings that had been made. If I did what Bordalas did, I know that the next day I’ll be out. It would be taken as an attack on the club. It is a move that I could not even consider.”
He then went on to claim that on social media, the public opinion was being influenced against him.
“I remember when we came from beating Elche, and then we played at home against Cadiz, who had gone seven games without losing. At 0-0, with 10 minutes to go, there was an expression of discontent from the crowd against the team and me.”
“I thought it was unreasonable, more like a movement that was driven from another place. Today we all have another channel, which is social networks, they create trends and opinions. I know that a channel has been generated out there and I knew that it was going to be more difficult to return to normality.”
While again not naming Getafe, he did draw a cutting comparison, saying it was not something that ‘serious clubs’ were doing.
“The point of view I have is that I don’t see Madrid making moves through social networks. I don’t see serious teams like that, or Florentino Perez paying attention to the networks. If that were the case, they would have already brought Mbappe, Ramos would have stayed…”
“They are part of our society but they should not be the defining element or the channel that takes decisions. They have a lot of opinion and very little information. From the walls inwards, the clubs have a terrifying fear of the opinion of the people. In a few years the clubs will continue, social media will not be able to have that kind of influence, because otherwise it would be a social group that would run an entity.”
Sanchez Flores has generally being regarded well in Spanish football, and enjoys a good relationship with fans at Valencia and Atletico Madrid – which speaks to his amiable character. Rarely does he burn bridges or speak out of turn. However these statements show that he felt mistreated beyond anything he had experienced before, despite having worked with Torres twice previously.
