Why is there finally a glimmer of hope for fallen giants Valencia?

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It wasn’t so long ago that Valencia were the main challengers to the duopoly of Spanish football that is Barcelona and Real Madrid. They were champions of Spain as recently as 2002 and 2004, and have been European constants in subsequent years, regularly featuring in the Champions League and Europa League. However, in recent seasons the club has experienced a drastic downturn in fortune.

Many of Valencia’s woes can be attributed to owner Peter Lim. Since the Singaporean took control in 2014, the club has sold its best players season upon season and the recruitment has been disappointing, to say the least. From Jeremy Mathieu and Juan Bernat in 2014, Nicolas Otamendi in 2015 to the likes of Paco Alcacer, Andre Gomes and Shkodran Mustafi in the summer of 2016, the club has become somewhat of a feeder team to Europe’s biggest club sides. The focus of the owner is seemingly to run the club like a business, having saved the club from the brink of bankruptcy in 2014, the club’s financial situation seems to remain the centre of Lim’s attention with results on the pitch taking a hit as a result. Another criticism of the owner is that he has allowed off-field friendships and relationships to become intertwined with the club. A number of the club’s signings happen to be clients of Portuguese super-agent and close friend of Lim, Jorge Mendes. Lim is also a 50% stakeholder in Salford FC alongside the likes of Phil and Gary Neville. Lim hired Phil as a coach and then proceeded to hire Gary as manager in 2015 following the dismissal of Nuno Espirito Santos.

Neville’s dismal display as manager encapsulates Valencia’s fortunes within the past few seasons. Yet, Neville isn’t even the worst manager that Valencia have had in recent years. Successors Pako Ayesteran and Cesare Prandelli both have significantly lower win percentages than Neville. The constant managerial turnover has meant a lack of stability at the club, contributing to poor performances on the pitch. Valencia’s fan base is notoriously demanding and is considered to be the most impatient in Spain, the volatile atmosphere they create has served to only accelerate the process of managerial turnover at the club.

One constant has remained at the club throughout these rocky years, recurring caretaker manager and former player, Voro. The Valencia native was given the job on a slightly more permanent basis following the club’s decision to part company with Cesare Prandelli, as this time he was handed the job until the end of the season. His latest spell as manager follows a succession of stints as caretaker manager, in which he has achieved relative success each time he is called up to be the main man. With the club in turmoil and facing a relegation battle, Voro’s task seemed an incredibly difficult one.

Things didn’t get off to a good start with a 3-3 draw with fellow relegation candidates Osasuna and a 6-2, on aggregate, thrashing at the hands of Celta Vigo in the Copa Del Rey. It looked as if more of the same was on the horizon for Valencia, with relegation looking a real possibility.

However, results have suddenly taken a sharp turn in the opposite direction with an impressive 2-1 win at home against Espanyol followed by a shock, yet fully deserved, 2-0 win away to high flyers Villarreal, keeping their first clean sheet of the season in the process. It’s not only the results that have caught the eye of spectators around the league, it’s the quality of the performances also. Although it’s only two games there has been a marked improvement in Valencia’s performances, one factor in this has been the introduction of young Valencian midfielder Carlos Soler. A product of the Valencia youth academy, Soler capped his recent impressive displays by grabbing the opening goal in the victory over Villarreal.

The introduction of Carlos Soler, coinciding with the more permanent appointment of Voro, could signify the way forward for Valencia. A back to basics approach almost. A manager from Valencia (and who actually speaks Spanish) that knows the club inside out, coupled with a core of young, hungry players from Valencia like Soler, Jose Luis Gaya and Santi Mina, who actually want to play for the club and have the its best interests at heart, as opposed to a group of players shipped in purely because they’re the clients of Jorge Mendes, might be able to reverse the club’s fortunes and drag them from their current state of turmoil.

Valencia have now started to edge away from the relegation zone in La Liga, and although the problems remain, there seems to be a glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel they were heading down. That glimmer of hope comes in the form of a crop of young talent and a manager formed right there in Valencia. Could it be that after years of mismanagement from the top, the solution was right there under the club’s nose?

No more big-name foreign managers and mercenary players, there to simply collect a pay-check. The way forward is a Valencian way. The club needs to embrace the local talent and bring the homegrown feeling back to the Mestalla. Not only will it help to reconnect the fans with the club, it could also help to repair the fractured relationship between the board and the fans if they can see that the club are making a concerted effort to promote from within.

Not to mention the positive financial implications as well. As long as the club don’t jump to sell their young stars at the first chance they get, this strategy seems to be one that could help Valencia to go some way in returning to past glories. Don’t get too excited just yet, there is a long way to go and the club is still undoubtedly in a bad place at the moment, but Voro could just have planted a few seeds of hope at Valencia.