Manolo González's military service: "I didn't expect to even reach Segunda B"
The Espanyol coach managed Badalona for thirteen years, where he also worked as a bus driver.
BadalonaMayor Xavier García Albiol welcomed Manolo González to Badalona City Hall a few days ago. "He started from the bottom, taking on modest responsibilities in the city, reaching the highest level a professional can aspire to, and therefore deserves this recognition," the mayor stated during the tribute to the coach who has Espanyol in European qualification positions. "I spent thirteen years at CF Badalona," the Galician coach explained, visibly moved. He has spent almost half of his coaching career at the club, a period he combined for many years with his work at [unclear - possibly "other organization"]. bus driver at the company TUSGSALalso from Badalona.
His coaching career began in the youth ranks of Martinenc, when he was a teenager playing for the Guinardó club's youth academy. He was a fast, prolific winger who had to hang up his boots at 21 due to a serious knee injury – "I tore everything," he often says – sustained while dribbling past an opponent on the Montanyesa pitch, which was then a sand field. In 2005, after stints with the Sant Gabriel youth and junior teams, he arrived in Badalona to coach the youth team.
Gerard Moreno's footballing father
"He had more of a temper back then than he does now. He used to give us a hard time, but he was very tactful. I was the youngest on the team, because I went straight up to the youth A team, and I immediately realized that he had a gift with younger players. He helped Gerard Moreno a lot," explains Robert Simón, who was able to hug Manolo González during the match on Monday. The current Villarreal striker He signed for Badalona at fourteen, after Espanyol showed him the door. A step back to take three steps forward, guided by his "footballing father," as the player from Santa Perpetua de Mogoda describes him. At sixteen, after a relegation from the División de Honor to the Nacional, he seriously considered changing clubs. Offers were plentiful. Manolo advised him to stay another year: "If we don't get promoted, I'll release you myself, but you won't need to because everyone will want you." The footballer trusted the Galician's word implicitly, and he kept his promise, securing promotion at El Prat stadium on one of the days he remembers most fondly. That year, Gerard scored 41 goals in 34 matches and attracted the interest of Spain's biggest clubs. "Real Madrid came looking for him, but he had already committed to Villarreal," confirms Simón, who returned to his beloved club a few months ago.
During the seven years he was in charge of Badalona's youth team, Mariano Díaz also played under Manolo González, who in 2012 accepted the challenge of managing a first team: Muntanyesa. He did so well – achieving the club's best-ever league finish – that two years later he returned to the club to lead them in Segunda B (the third tier of Spanish football). For six non-consecutive seasons – with a stint at Ebro in between – he kept the club in the third division, and in 2020 he caused a sensation in the Copa del Rey. That was the first time his name was heard beyond the concrete stands of Catalan football stadiums.
The feat against Getafe
"It's one of the fondest memories of my career. The stadium was packed, and we were playing in my hometown against a top-flight opponent," Simón says. "And Mateu Lahoz was the referee! It's a shame he sent Manolo off after just fifteen minutes," adds striker Chema Moreno. "Tactically, he's a very good coach. He's always been aworker"And a true strategist, and in the locker room he didn't tell us to just go out and enjoy ourselves... No, no. He prepared the match to beat them and we caught them on the counter-attack, just as he had planned," says Ismael Moyano, the team's captain. Moreno, assisted by Simón, scored the first goal and Hugo Esteban, with a direct free kick, made it 2-0 against Getafe. In the next round, Badalona took Gran Canaria to extra time.
"On days like that, people see that there's a lot of talent even in the lower divisions. Look, Manolo has been coaching for over twenty years and only recently reached the top flight," Moreno reflects. In fact, he never expected it: "I started coaching because I enjoyed it. I never expected to even reach Segunda B." As he himself admitted the day the city recognized his career, his thirteen years of military service in Badalona played a significant role: "My experience here, along with my time at other smaller clubs, is what gave me all the knowledge that allowed me to reach the elite level and become the Espanyol manager."