Last week Cris Coleman witnessed the rigmarole of a Spanish presidential electoral circus at Real Sociedad and was quite impressed by what he observed. Yet he must have been wary that a new President at Spanish club comes with strings attached. He did offer his resignation at the time to the club’s directors but was somehow persuaded to stay. And now it seems that the Fulham manager would be holding the reigns at the Basque side for now even under a new president.
Sky Sports reports that Cris Coleman has agreed terms with Sociedad’s new President Inaki Badiola although the aims have significantly changed. When Coleman took charge of the club in the summer, the then president Maria de la Pena embarked on a long term project for the San Sebastian side just relegated from La Liga. But now Coleman’s first and foremost objective is to lead la Real by the hand from the Segunda division to the Spanish first season a the end of the season.
But Coleman’s hands will be tied. President Badiola has already made it clear that it will be he and not coach Koleman who will have the final say in which players to sign in January in order to boost the strength of the club. Coleman is of course not eager to comment on this particular aspect of the deal but he appears optimistic about the new regime.
Coleman says:
When Maria [de la Pena, former president] stepped down, I offered my resignation to the directors, who said it was more important I stay and worked with the players at least until January 3 when there will be a new president – no problem. The new president has come in and he’s told me it’s important that I stay, and the players have asked me to stay. So what was the most important thing – my ego or the club? I think the club is a little bit more important than that. Of course it’s difficult for me because it is a different programme and I don’t want to look like a hypocrite, which maybe I do. But the most important thing is the club. I’ll stay as long as the club need me to stay.
So I all likelihood, Coleman will stay at Sociedad till the end of the season but there is no guarantee after that.