Season Preview: Racing Santander

In day seven of our preview of La Liga, Spanishfootball.info editor and resident santanderino Jamie McGregor looks at the prospects for Cantabrian side Racing Santander. 

Last season Racing Santander made the headlines for events off the park rather than on it. The purchase of the club by Indian businessman Ali Syed and his crazy dancing in the presidential box during matches created an interest in the Cantabrian club that wasn’t there before. However, there were those who warned Racing fans about Mr Syed and his dodgy background. Those people have been proved right as the club has lost its manager, players have complained about not being paid and the regional government is now looking for a new investor to buy out Syed.

When Ali Syed arrived at Racing mid-way through last season things didn’t start too badly. He quickly sacked the unpopular Miguel Ángel Portugal, replacing him with the much more popular Marcelino. He was also responsible for bringing the one player who ultimately helped save the club from the drop, Giovani dos Santos. The little Mexican arrived on loan from Tottenham Hotspur and added some much-needed creativity to the Racing attack as well as scoring 5 goals. So Racing stayed up. Happy days, right? Wrong. No sooner had the season ended than the players were protesting they hadn’t been paid for months. There was even talk of them reporting the club to the Spanish Football Federation which could have resulted in relegation to Segunda B. It soon became apparent Ali Syed wasn’t really interested in Racing and there were even reports he had invited foreign businessmen to a home match against Real Madrid in a bid to sell the club.

Fed up with the uncertainty, coach Marcelino left to take up the managerial position at Sevilla. Marcelino apologised to the fans when leaving, blaming Syed for his departure. Following him out the door were first team regulars Lacen (Getafe), Rosenberg (Weder Bremen) and Pinillos (free transfer) while Giovani and Henrique’s load deals finished.

For a while it seemed no-one, including a new manager, was coming in to replace those leaving. Then, Héctor Cúper arrived. The former Valencia and Inter coach had disappeared off the radar for a while but is as good a manager as Racing could hope to attract in their current predicament. Cúper is joined by four new players as Bedia and Sarmiento (both from Salamanca) as well as Picón (Pontevedra) and Acosta (Sevilla) come in. The pre-season hasn’t been the most convincing with two defeats and a draw from their three games in Germany. However, they did beat the mighty Kuwaiti side Al Jahra 6-0 upon their return to Spain.

So what are the club’s prospects for the coming season? If they don’t sign anybody creative before the start of the season then they will almost certainly struggle. Players such as Kennedy and Munitis provide good experience but they need someone with the energy and creativity of Giovani. One player who could provide that is youngster Luque. A product of the youth system, Luque put in several encouraging performances near the end of last season, leading to the inevitable comparisons with Canales, but he can’t be expected to carry the burden by himself. In addition, Racing desperately need a goalscorer. Last season the Cantabrian club only scored 41 goals and since then they’ve lost Rosenberg, their main striker. Cúper must find someone who can score the goals to keep them out of the bottom half. The club have been linked with Almería’s Ulloa but perhaps a better option could be a loan move ala Levante with Caicedo last season.

In conclusion, Racing are looking at a difficult season in Primera. Survival has to be their main priority. Don’t be surprised to see them fighting with three of four other clubs to avoid the dreaded drop to Segunda. Similarly, don’t be surprised if Ali Syed is making more headlines off the pitch than the players on it.

If you want to read a little more about Racing’s new manager click here.

Tags: Ali Syed, Giovani Dos Santos, Racing Santander