Javier Clemente

Javier Clemente

Javier Clemente Lazaro
Personal information
Full name	Javier Clemente Lázaro
Date of birth	(1950-03-12) 12 March 1950
Place of birth	Barakaldo, Spain
Height	1.69 m (5 ft 6 1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Striker
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1968–1971	Athletic Bilbao	47	(6)
National team
1968	Spain U18	2	(0)
1969–1970	Spain U23	2	(1)
Teams managed
1975–1976	Getxo
1976–1978	Baskonia
1980–1981	Bilbao Athletic
1981–1986	Athletic Bilbao
1986–1989	Espanyol
1989–1990	Atlético Madrid
1990–1991	Athletic Bilbao
1991–1992	Espanyol
1992–1998	Spain
1998–1999	Betis
1999–2000	Real Sociedad
2000–2001	Marseille
2002	Tenerife
2002–2003	Espanyol
2005–2006	Athletic Bilbao
2006–2007	Serbia
2008	Murcia
2010	Valladolid
2010–2011	Cameroon
2012	Sporting Gijón
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

This name uses Spanish naming customs; the first or paternal family name is Clemente and the second or maternal family name is Lázaro.

Javier Clemente Lázaro, (born 12 March 1950 in Barakaldo) is a Spanish football manager. Nicknamed The Barakaldo blonde one for his place of origin; the veteran La Liga manager has spent most of his career at two clubs: Athletic Bilbao and RCD Espanyol. Between 1992 and 1998, he managed Spain and went 31 games unbeaten. After training Spain and especially recently, has largely been chosen to train teams in difficult situation, but most times finished in relegation or failing to qualify in the objective competition: Betis, Marseille, Tenerife, Athletic Bilbao, Serbia, Murcia, Valladolid, Cameroon and Sporting de Gijón.

Club career

Athletic Bilbao

As a player, Clemente made 47 La Liga appearances for Athletic Bilbao and scored six goals between 1968 and 1971. He was also a member of the Athletic team that won the Copa del Generalísimo in 1969, but his playing career was cut short because of injury. Clemente served his apprenticeship as a coach with Arenas Club de Getxo, CD Baskonia and then Bilbao Athletic, before becoming manager of Athletic Bilbao for the first time in 1981.

La Liga Champions

Clemente soon set about putting together one of the most successful Athletic Bilbao teams in the club's history. Veterans Dani and Andoni Goikoetxea were joined by young players from the cantera, such as Santiago Urkiaga, Miguel de Andrés, Ismael Urtubi, Estanislao Argote and Andoni Zubizarreta. In 1983 the club won La Liga and in 1984 they won a La Liga/Copa del Rey double. His first spell in charge of Athletic is also remembered for a bitter rivalry that developed between Athletic and FC Barcelona. It began when César Luis Menotti, then manager at Barcelona, criticising the Clemente style as authoritarian and his team as defensive and destructive. Clemente in turn dismissed Menotti as an aging hippy and womaniser. The row intensified after a La Liga match at the Camp Nou on 24 September 1983 when Goikoetxea tackled Diego Maradona from behind, leaving Maradona severely injured. Goikoetxea, whose hardman image came to personify Clemente's Athletic team, subsequently became known as the Butcher of Bilbao. On 5 July 1984, the two clubs met again in the Copa del Rey final and the game ended in a massive brawl between the two sets of players.

Return to Athletic

Clemente's first spell as manager of Athletic came to an end in 1986. However, he returned to manage the club on two further occasions in the 1990–91 and 2005–06 seasons. On both occasions, he failed to reproduce the success of his first spell and, despite helping Athletic avoid relegation in 2006, he was sacked after criticizing the club's transfer policy.

Espanyol

After leaving Athletic in 1986, Clemente was appointed manager of Espanyol. In first season in charge he guided the club to third in La Liga and qualification for the UEFA Cup. During the 1987–88 season, he guided Espanyol to the UEFA Cup final, beating both Milan and Internazionale on the way. In the final against Bayer Leverkusen, they won the home leg at the Sarriá 3–0. However, the return game saw Bayer also win 3–0 and the game went to penalties with Espanyol losing 3–2. Clemente ended his first spell in charge of Espanyol in 1989. After coaching Atlético Madrid to second place in La Liga during the 1989–90 season, he returned to Espanyol for the 1990–91 season. He returned to the club for a third time in 2002 and remained until 2003.

La Liga and Ligue 1

Clemente has also managed several other La Liga clubs and, during the 2000–01 season, he also had a spell in charge of Marseille. During the 1998–99 season, he managed Real Betis and became embroiled in more controversy when he spat at a fan^{[citation needed]} and implied Andalusia was another country. He has also managed Real Sociedad, Tenerife and Real Murcia.

Real Valladolid

On 6 April 2010, Clemente replaced Onésimo Sánchez as Real Valladolid's coach in the hopes that his veteran experience might be able to bring Valladolid out from relegation posts and keep them in Primera. Clemente led his side to a number of victories but ultimately the damage had been done and, despite being much improved under their new coach, Real Valladolid were relegated on 16 May 2010.

Sporting de Gijón

On 13 February 2012, Clemente signed as the new manager of Sporting de Gijón until the end of the current season.

International career

Spain

In 1992, Clemente was appointed manager of Spain. His first game in charge was a 1–0 victory over England on 9 September 1992. He was manager of Spain during both the 1994 and 1998 World Cups and during Euro 1996. Despite leading the team to a 31 game unbeaten run, he was criticised for choosing too many Basque players and for dropping Josep Guardiola. Spain went into the 1998 World Cup as one of the favourites but were eliminated in the first round after losing to Nigeria in their opening match and drawing 0–0 with Paraguay. After 62 games in charge, he was sacked after a 3–2 defeat to Cyprus on 5 September 1998.

Serbia

Clemente became manager of the Serbian national team on 21 July 2006, the post to which he was brought on initiative from FA president Zvezdan Terzić. According to Serbian press, Clemente's salary was €30,000 per month on a two-year contract worth €720,000 in total. Also, he was eligible for a €400,000 bonus had Serbia qualified for UEFA Euro 2008, and an additional €150,000 bonus for every round passed at the tournament. In an interview he gave to the Serbian daily newspaper Politika, Clemente claimed that €30,000 a month is the smallest salary he has earned in the last 20 years. He took Risto Vidaković and Simo Krunić as his assistants.

Taking over the team, which had performed poorly at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Clemente made his debut as Serbian manager on 16 August 2006 with a 1–3 away victory in a friendly against Czech Republic. Following the separation of Montenegro, the match was the team's first under the name Serbia. New players introduced into the squad were Marko Pantelić, Danko Lazović, Vladimir Stojković, Aleksandar Trišović, etc. while previous mainstays such as Savo Milošević, Mateja Kežman, Predrag Đorđević, Albert Nađ, and Dragoslav Jevrić were dropped from the squad.

UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Group A started brightly with three home wins against Azerbaijan, Belgium and Armenia and a draw in Poland from the first four matches. However, things started to go wrong with a 2–1 defeat at Kazakhstan in March 2007. In addition to losing the match, striker Nikola Žigić elbowed a Kazakhstani player and was sent off.

Serbia managed to earn a hard fought 1–1 draw against group favourites Portugal at home and won 0–2 at Finland, which raised hopes. After this, however, came setbacks – first a 3–2 loss at Belgium due to careless defensive mistakes by Mladen Krstajić, followed by a goalless draw at home versus Finland in front of only 15,000 supporters. The away match at Portugal was essentially a must win for Serbia, but they could only draw 1–1 thanks to a late goal by Branislav Ivanović.

The match at Armenia a month later, which was an absolute must win, brought another poor outing as Serbia failed to break down the defensive Armenian team, resulting in a goalless draw. Now all but out of the running for the qualifying positions, Clemente cited the players' mental approach as the reason for poor results. Four days later, the same team destroyed Azerbaijan 1–6, but it was too little, too late.

Following the failure to qualify, Clemente was released from his contract on 6 December 2007.

Cameroon

On 17 August 2010, Clemente was named as the new coach of Cameroon. He took over from Paul Le Guen, who stepped down after Cameroon lost all of their group matches at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Clemente made his debut as Cameroon manager on 4 September 2010 with a 1–3 away victory in the first match of the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualification against Mauritius. However, Cameroon finished second behind Senegal, failing to qualify. He consequently was sacked by the Cameroon Football Association on 25 October 2011.

Honours

Player

Athletic Bilbao

• Copa del Rey (1): 1969

Manager

Athletic Bilbao

• La Liga (2): 1982–83, 1983–84
• Copa del Rey (1): 1983–84
• Supercopa de España (1): 1984*

(* Won Copa del Rey and La Liga)

Spain U21

• European Football Championship: Runners-up 1996

External links

• BDFutbol player profile
• BDFutbol coach profile
• National team coach data (Spanish)
• Athletic Bilbao profile