Javier_Irureta

Javier Irureta

Javier Iruretagoyena Amiano (born April 1, 1948 in Irún, Guipúzcoa), also referred to as Javier Irureta, is a Spanish football manager and former player.

Irureta had a distinguished playing career as a forward with both Atlético Madrid and Athletic Bilbao. Along with Adelardo, Luis Aragonés and José Eulogio Gárate, he was a prominent member of the successful Atlético team of the early 1970s.

As a manager he coached several La Liga clubs, most notably Deportivo de La Coruña. He is the only person to have coached both the two major Galician (Deportivo de La Coruña and Celta de Vigo) and Basque (Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad) sides.

Playing career

Atlético Madrid

As a player Irureta made his senior debut for his local team, Real Unión in 1965. In 1967 he helped them reach the Segunda División play-offs before joining Atlético Madrid later that year. During his time at Atlético he was part of a team that won two league titles and a domestic cup. They also reached the European Cup final in 1974. After the winners, Bayern Munich, declined to participate in the Intercontinental Cup Atlético, as runners-up, were invited instead. Their opponents were Club Atlético Independiente of Argentina and, after losing the away leg 1-0, they won the return leg 2-0 with Irureta scoring one of the goals.

Athletic Bilbao

After eight seasons at Atlético, Irureta returned to the Basque Country and signed for Athletic Bilbao. The highlight of his career there was winning two runners-up medals in 1977 - Spanish and UEFA Cups. Among his teammates were the veteran José Ángel Iribar and an emerging José Ramón Alexanko. Irureta returned to Athletic as coach during the 1994/95 season.

International career

Irureta also won 6 caps for Spain between 1972 and 1975. However this was not a successful era for Spain and he never played in a major tournament. Towards the end of his playing career Irureta also played one game for the Euskadi XI.

Coaching career

Deportivo de La Coruña

As a coach, Irureta led Real Oviedo to a sixth-place finish in the league, with UEFA Cup qualification. He repeated the feat with Celta (where he was awarded Manager Of the Year titles by both Don Balón and El País) in 1998. However, his greatest successes came with Deportivo La Coruña, between 1999 and 2005 (in 2000, Don Balón bestowed upon him a second coaching award). In 2000 he led Deportivo to their first ever league title. They were also runners-up in 2001 and 2002 and finished third in 2003 and 2004, while also achieving UEFA Champions League quarterfinals in 2001 and 2002 and the semifinalis in 2004. In 2002 they also won the domestic cup, beating Real Madrid at the Bernabéu.

Real Betis

Irureta quit as coach of Real Betis after the club's poor start to 2005-06, stepping down on December 22, 2006, after just seven months in charge. Irureta, who had a one-year contract, stated: "My contract has been rescinded by mutual agreement but I made the first move. We could have continued like this for much longer but it wasn't good".

Later career

In October 2007, Irureta put his name forward to be the new coach of English side Bolton Wanderers, but lost out in the running to Gary Megson, and was also touted by December as possible replacement for Real Sociedad's Chris Coleman.

Eventually, he took over at Real Zaragoza, replacing Víctor Fernández. However, on March 3, 2008, he resigned, arguing that never, as a manager, had he lost 4 games in a row, and that he did not feel up to the task of stopping the side's slump into the relegation zone. He was quickly replaced by former Zaragoza goalkeeper Manolo Villanova, who at the time coached Sociedad Deportiva Huesca.