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JAVIER IRURETAGOYENA AMIANO "IRURETA"
Date of Birth: April 1, 1948
Time at Depor: 1998 - 2005
Titles conquered: La Liga (1999-2000), Copa Del Rey (2002), Spain's Supercup (2000, 2002)
Clubs Trained: Deportivo La Coruña (1998-2005), Celta de Vigo (1997-1998), Real Sociedad (1995-1997), Athlétic de Bilbao (1994-1995), Racing de Santander (1993-1994), Real Oviedo (1989-1993), Logroñés (1988-1989), Sestao (1984-1988)
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 As a player, JAVIER IRURETA was a classy midfielder who graduated from the Atlético de Madrid youth academy and made his debut in Spanish football at the age of nineteen in the season 1967/1968. During his eight years at the club he won two Liga titles (in 1970 and 1973) and one Intercontinental Cup. Irureta was an important midfield player at Atlético during those years and scored none less than forty-eight Liga goals for them, including twelve during the season 1970/1971. It earned him playing a total of six matches for Spain those years as he made his debut aged twenty-four during a 2-0 win against Uruguay. Three years later he moved back to his region of birth: the Basque country. He played five seasons at his beloved Athlétic de Bilbao before he finished his career as a player.
The crown on his coaching career, which he started in 1984 at little Sestao, came in 2000 when Deportivo were crowned champions for the first time in their history. But before winning the Liga he already had been successful at managing smaller clubs. After four years at Sestao he was signed by Logroñés in 1988, then a second division team, and was sacked halfway through the season with the team hovering just above the relegation zone. But one season later, while at Oviedo, Irureta kept the team in the Primera Divisióin and even achieved their first victory at Barcelona's Nou Camp. The team went on to finish fourth and qualified for Europe and while enjoyed one of his longest spell as a manager at this club. He stayed at Oviedo for four seasons and was adored by their fans.
Irureta then considered his time at the club was up and moved to neighbouring Racing de Santander, who he led to eighth in the Liga in their first season back in the top division. Deportivo fans will always remember the moment Irureta brought an ultra-defensive (8-1-1) Santander team to Riazor, but the visitors lost out to an injury time free-kick converted by Bebeto. The season after it he went back home to coach Athlétic de Bilbao, but was sacked after finishing eight. He was then contacted by neighbours Real Sociedad, where he stayed for two years before moving on to Celta Vigo in 1997. At a certain moment there Irureta said that "Celta are playing the best football in the country. It is dream football". These sentiments were corroborated by the media.
 In 1998 the focus of Deportivo president Lendoiro was on him during the search for a new coach. Lendoiro eventually enticed him to Riazor with a good contract and Irureta would repay him with several trophies. Since his arrival in La Coruña the media again labelled him "defensive" and "not ambitious enough". But he brought Deportivo back into Europe in his first season at the club (1998/1999). The next season, Deportivo won their first Liga title in almost 100 years of history, and their second Supercopa, and Irureta silenced most of his critics. The championship made Deportivo qualify for the Champions League, in which Deportivo made its name in Europe.
Irureta has been, by far, the most successful coach ever of Deportivo. He won four domestic trophies (one Liga, one Copa del Rey and two Supercopas), finished sixth in 1999 but always among the first three in the years 2000-2004. Deportivo secured their first ever win at Barcelona under his lead and in 2004 won a Liga match at Real Madrid for the first time in several decades. During his years Superdepor were transformed into Eurodepor as he played five consecutive seasons of Champions League football with the club. Deportivo surprised Europe with quality football and, among others, achieved wins at Manchester United, Arsenal, Milan, Juventus and Bayern Munich. The highlight most have been winning 4-0 against AC Milan in April, 2004 and qualification for the Semi Finals that season.
At the end of 2004 it was a good moment for Spanish sportspaper AS to have him looking back to his time at the club. This is what he said about those remarkable seasons at Deportivo:
1998/1999: “WE RETURNED INTO EUROPE”
“Maybe the best memory I have of this season, my first at Deportivo, was the match at Santander at the end of May. There we mathematically qualified to play UEFA Cup football the season after it, meaning we returned into Europe after having been a year out. The weeks after it we played the Semi-Final of the Copa del Rey against Atlético de Madrid. We played well at the Calderón and with the 0-0 score we had all the options of getting into the final. But things went wrong in the return match in what could have been our first success. I remember vividly we lost 0-1 thanks to a free-kick of Serena. I really thought we could get into the final but this door remained shut to us. But overall it was a good start for me at the club. When I signed in 1998 it was for two seasons. And the first thing I wanted was to survive both of them. After it another five years came but I couldn’t have imagined it at that moment. Spanish football is very demanding to the coaches, but luckily Lendoiro is there”.
 1999/2000: “THE YEAR OF OUR GREAT TITLE, THE NICEST SEASON”
“That summer players like Roy Makaay, Víctor Sánchez, César Martín and Jokanovic arrived…. But at certain moments I assumed they would fire me, especially after losing against newly-promoted Numancia. We lost that match 1-0 and near the end a goal of Songo’o was cancelled which seemed to be legal. I felt our performances were irregular and our dynamic wasn’t good and I didn’t think I would be permitted to stay at the club. But I am still coach of Deportivo today, thanks to Lendoiro. He always was close with us and cheers us up. He knows about football and how it’s to win or lose. That’s something positive for the work of the team. But that season became our nicest one, especially because we won the Liga title for the first time in the history of the club. Besides, we qualified for the first time for the Champions League. The fundament of our team was good and the players knew it. In this way we could offer our supporters the revivification of that the Liga in 1994 which was lost because of Djukic missing that penalty. It was a way to compensate that sad loss, that bad memory. We had to cope with a big squad and I think we had forty players during the pre-season. That made all complicated, but we always ended up well. To win the Liga was, without a doubt, an important success”.
2000/2001: “I REMEMBER OUR COMEBACK AGAINST PSG”
“That was a season full of joy and sad events. There was that deception against Leeds United, the awful injury of Manuel Pablo, the win against PSG… That year we grew in the Champions League and I always will remember our comeback against PSG. We adapted well to the Champions League and started to get used to playing in two or three competitions. We had confidence and did pretty well that campaign. The rivalling teams suffered problems, but we were good positioned at the end of the Liga season and survived two groups in the Champions League. The sad thing was we were eliminated against Leeds United”.
2001/2002: “THE BEST THING WAS OUR COPA WIN AT THE BERNABÉU”
That year Diego (Tristán) became pichichi of the Liga, I had a row with Djalminha during a training session, we won at Old Trafford, at Highbury and the centenariazo. Without a doubt the centenariazo was the most symbolic one of all what happened. The rest are simply anecdotes. Positive and negative things happened, but the centenariazo reaffirmed us and we stayed at the top of Spanish football. And above all it gave more prestige to the club, to the players and to all who formed part of it.
2002/2003: “OUR NIGHT IN MUNICH WAS THE ONE OF MAKAAY”
“There were two vital events that season in the formation process of the team. Makaay won the Golden Boot and gave the club a title it never had won before. The team fully supported him and in the end we all celebrated it. Our night in Munich was the one of Makaay and the passes of Valerón. No other Spanish team had won in Munich before and it hasn’t happened since. Unfortunately Valerón suffered a serious injury after it. Another important thing was our move to the Ciudad Deportiva at Abegondo. It’s a big step forward having all the teams of the club training there. It’s something positive which will deliver its fruits in the future. Until then we trained at different pitches and we didn’t have the structure of a big team wanting to consolidate itself in the elite of football”.
2003/2004: “THE 4-0 AGAINST MILAN I WILL NEVER FORGET”
“A 0-5 win at Balaídos and our excellent performances in Europe. I will never forget the 4-0 win against Milan because it’s rare to see a team winning with these numbers against holders of the Champions League. Besides, we came back from the 4-1 score of the first match won by them. And they were leading the Italian league with a distance… It was an incredible night and it always will be remembered by the people who were involved. It was our golden medal after several years of good football in Europe. Of course the deception against Porto, who were crowned champions that season, came after it. But I prefer to keep the taste of that night against Milan in my mouth”.
THANK YOU JABO!
By the season 2004/2005 Deportivo was facing big financial troubles, the departure of players like Makaay and Naybet secured the near future of the club, but at the same complicated the liga hopes of the Galicians. Depor ended 7th in the table (the worst result ever of Irureta during his career in La Coruña). This was understood like the end of a cycle and the Basque coach confirmed the situation when he announced his exit just a few days after the tournament ended. However president Lendoiro left a door open for the future; after all, he has been the most succesfful coach in the club's history .
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