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ARSENIO IGLESIAS PARDO
Date of Birth: December 24, 1930
Time at Depor (coach): 1971-73, 1982-85, 1987-1994
Clubs as a player: Albacete (1965-1966), Real Oviedo (1963-1965), Granada (1958-1961), Sevilla (1957-1958), Deportivo (1951-1957)
Clubs as a coach: Real Madrid (1995-1996), Deportivo (1987-1994), Deportivo (1982-1985), Elche (1981-1982), Almería (1980-1981), Real Burgos (1978-1979), Zaragoza (1977-1978), Hércules (1973-1977), Deportivo (1971-1973), Deportivo B (1967-1971)
Titles conquered: Copa Del Rey (1995)
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 ARSENIO IGLESIAS is a legendary figure in Deportivo, one of those who have been rarely seen in football. He started his professional career as a player in Depor during the 50's, after his retirement he coached the Galician club in several occasions. Arsenio was the trainer of the squad during the first golden era, the one of Superdepor and the first Copa del Rey title.
Arsenio was born in Arteixo (La Coruña) in 1930, he was part of a big family of nine brothers. Arsenio played in his early years in Penouqueira, Ciudad Jardín and Bergantiños. Then he arrived to Fabril (Deportivo B) and later the legendary ex-player and coach Chacho called him to the first squad. His debut occurred on October 28th, 1951 in the mythic Les Corts against the powerful Barcelona, the Galicians suffered a 1-6 defeat, despite of the result he showed his skills and participated in the goal of his squad. Seven days later, Arsenio appeared once again in the lineup, this time it was for the visit of RCD Espanyol to Riazor, Depor won the match and Arsenio scored one of Depor's goals.
The 21-year-old boy gave good sensations and continued to be in the line-ups of the Galician squad. The 50's were the first golden era of Deportivo and Arsenio took advantage of the occasion to demonstrate the great player that he was, he helped to achieve the first Teresa Herrera for Deportivo alone with other figures like Pahiño.
But the good times ended soon. The season 1956/1957 was very disappointing and Depor ended 15th in a Liga that was composed by 16 clubs. With the relegation to Segunda as a consequence, Depor had to sell its best assets and Arsenio Iglesias was part of it. But his legacy continued to be important, until the season 2006/07 Arsenio is the 24th man in the list of Depor's players with more minutes in Primera (12,907). He also occupies the 15th spot in the list of Deportivo's historic scorers with 32 goals.
 He continued his career in Sevilla, Granada, Real Oviedo and Albacete. But the things weren't the same as he admitted it a few years later: "They (Deportivo) had to sell me. I wasn't the same and never enjoyed the pleasure of controlling the ball anymore." His best moment after leaving Depor is the goal that he scored with Real Oviedo in the last matchday of the season. It was against Athletic Bilbao in La Catedral. The goal saved Oviedo from the relegation to Segunda.
He ended his career as a player in 1966 and thanks to the advice of his friend Heriberto Herrera, he decided to start coaching. In 1967 he received an invitation to train Fabril, he accepted and maintained a double roll in the squad: training the youngsters and as the main assistance of the first coach, Cheché Martín. A big change in his life occurred on January 2nd, 1971. He received a call telling him that he was the new coach of the first team. At that time Depor was playing in Segunda.
Altough that it was his first serious experience as a coach, Arsenio did a good job and achieved the promotion to Primera. The following campaign (1971/1972) was also very positive. The club ended 14th and maintained its place in Primera, breaking the old legend of the "ascensor" (a club that one year goes up to Primera, and that in the following one goes down to Segunda).
But he couldn't fulfill the job in the following season. Depor sold his best player (Manolete) and as consequence, the team suffered all over the campaign and ended in the 17th spot in the table. It was the first and only time in his career that Arsenio Iglesias suffered the torment of been relegated as a coach.
He said goodbye to Deportivo and took command of a little team in Alicante: Hércules. The club was playing in Segunda, thanks to Arsenio's work the team won a surprising promotion to Primera, everybody though that the miracle will disappear in the next season, but Hércules surprised one more time and ended 5th in the table missing the UEFA cup by the goal-average. In the following campaign he repeated the results and Hércules ended 6th in la liga, but he was tired of the pressure from the fans and announced his exit from Alicante after the club ended 12th in the season 1976/1977. Since then, Hércules started to fall and nobody has bee able to repeat Arsenio's results with the team.
Arsenio Iglesias took the command of Zaragoza for the 1977/1978 campaign. Los Maños were playing in Segunda and for the third time in his career, the Galician coach won a promotion to Primera. He didn't want to continue and preferred to coach Real Burgos, a club that at that time was in Primera. The main mission for the season 1978/1979 was to maintain its place in Primera and he fulfilled the job with merits: Burgos ended 13th that year.
 But the Galician coach didn't continue and instead he chose to train Almería in its Primera campaign (1980-1981). For the first time in his career, Arsenio didn't end the season as a coach, several internal disputes caused his exit from the job. In the following season he trained Elche in Segunda and missed the promotion to Primera by inches.
Finally, Arsenio Iglesias returned to Deportivo for the season 1982/1983. The season was brilliant, but as it happened with Elche, Arsenio missed the promotion to Primera in the last game of the season. The 1-2 home defeat against Rayo Vallecano aborted the promotion and it was the biggest hit that Arsenio received in his career (even more stronger that la liga championship missed with the Djukic’s penalty).
Arsenio continued two more seasons as Depor's coach, but nothing was the same. Deportivo didn't enjoy a good performance and he abandoned the club. The Galician coach returned in 1987 and saved the squad from the relegation to Segunda B. The club was near to the abysm but a last minute goal against Racing Santander saved the situation.
It was the point of inflection in Deportivo, during the followign campaign Augusto César Lendoiro arrived to the club and the situation changed for good. The team reached the semifinals in Copa del Rey and the promotion to Primera was closer than ever. After missing the goal for a couple of seasons, Arsenio finally achieved the desired promotion in 1991. This time it was in a dramatic game against Murcia that included a fire in the stadium. But Arsenio was tired; he announced during the press conferance after the game that he was leaving the club.
But his retirement from Depor only lasted ten months. Marco Antonio Boronat wasn't able to maintain the good results in the squad, and Arsenio Iglesias returned to save the situation in the promotion series against Betis. One year later the legend of Super Depor was born. Under his command, Depor passed from been a candidate to Segunda to be a competitor for la Liga title. A situation that generated his nickme "Bruxo de Arteixo"
Arsenio was the man to coach the legendary team Super Depor, seven years of the sweetest Depor history. Ruled by the new president Lendoiro, a new style of managing came to Deportivo. In Lendoiro's words, the club needed tree years to reach Primera, three years to play in Europe and three years to win titles. The first step was building a squad: In the season 91-92 Depor started to sign veteran players that would be fundamental for the future: Claudio, Ribera and Liaño.
The club signed for the season 92-93 two Brazilian players that would change Depor's history: Mauro Silva and Bebeto. In this ambitious project, Arsenio Iglesias was starting to be know as "The Magician". Thanks to him, the team started to bright in the individual field: the goalkeeper Liaño won the Zamora trophy and Bebeto was the maximum scorer in the Liga that season. Claudio, Nando, Aldana and Fran were called up to play in Spain's national team.
 Arsenio was very modest and always knew the possibilities of his team. The following seasons Depor reached the first place in the Liga several times and it was part of the inexperience not archieving anything bigger. Deportivo became very famous and friendly team for every Spanish football supporter. People was astonished of how Super Depor, from a small city, could challenge the big ones. It was only matter of time that the team would turn to be scary for bigger teams’ aspirations. Arsenio was often angry about this fact, declaring that he wasn't a magician or a fox. He just justified his work saying that “you needed to be a bit crazy to be a football coach.” As a very humble person, he always tried to teach his players to keep realistic in front of that great Super Depor spirit from the fans. He often said that he never needed sucess and recognition.
After reaching the UEFA spot, the Liga title was the next objective. In the 93-94 season, Djuckic failed that famous penalty, that enriched Depor's empathy in Spain and let everyone know that this team was able to do something big. Arsenio wanted to win the Liga that year, but after the last match he declared he was demolished and they needed to continue foward. The prize arrived next season with the Copa del Rey. Arsenio archieved a mayor event in Galicia: The first title won by a Galician team.
That Copa del Rey final against Valencia showed the deep convictions from The Fox: His bigger achievement till that day was bringing Depor to Primera. The coincidence of a big incidence in both occasions (A big fire in the first one, and the suspension due to heavy rain in the second one) made Arsenio believe that they would win that trophy. Depor won that day, and it was the also his goodbye from the club. He wanted to leave with this good experience.
His last experience in a Primera club was at Real Madrid. The call from the most laureate club in the world was the recognition to Arsenio Iglesias career. He couldn’t say no, even if he was retired: Someone was jelous of that Super Depor. The mighty Real Madrid wanted to have the coach that made that dream come true. Arsenio only went to try to save their horrible end of the season, objective that he didn't archive. In this small period, he showed the big difference between previous coaches and him. He finished tired of the players, club and journalist that couldn't respect or even laugh with his ironic and black humour.
 Arsenio Iglesias went back to A Coruña to work for the city's football youth schools. His career has been recognised with several awards, and he even has one statue in A Coruña and one street and football field named after him.
In December of 2005 he is called up to coach the Selección Gallega (Galicia's national team) with his young friend Fernando Vázquez. It was the first chapter in the promising like of the selección Gallega and who better than this ‘old fox’ to command the squad? Maybe the most unforgettable moment occurred on September 3rd, 2006. That day the club gave a deserved tribute to the legend of Super Depor and Arsenio was invited to direct his immortal squad. His picture with Bebeto is probably one of the most priceless moment in the history of the club.
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