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Resino to replace Herrera as Celta's coach

18:59, February 18, 2013

Abel Resino will replace Paco Herrera as the coach of struggling Spanish BBVA Primera Liga club Celta.

The decision was made on Monday in the wake of a dreadful run of form for Celta, which has seen them slip to third from bottom of the league table, placing the club in danger of a return back to the Spanish second division after just one season back in the top flight.

Saturday saw Celta capitulate 3-1 away to Getafe, a result which means they have taken just six points from their last 11 games and have suffered three consecutive defeats.

Herrera was strongly critical of the club's highly rated striker, Iago Aspes after Saturday's defeat, accusing Aspes of 'having his head in the clouds,' during the match in which all of the scoring had finished by halftime and where Celta never looked like recovering.

The decision is hard on 59-year-old Herrera, who was in his third season with the club and who last season led Celta to promotion after a lean period of five seasons in the Spanish second division.

He becomes the eighth coach to lose his job this season in the Primera Liga and the fourth in the past month following the departures of Domingos Palaciaos (Deportivo la Coruna), Joaquin Caparros, (Mallorca) and Juan Antonio Anquela (Granada).

His replacement, Abel Resines has a mixed record as a coach. Last season he took over at Granada in the second half of the campaign with the job of avoiding relegation, which he did on the last day of the season. However, the club decided not to renew his contract, deciding instead to employ Anquela.

Prior to Granada, Abel worked with Levante and Atletico Madrid with varying degrees of success, being sacked by Atletico following a heavy 4-0 Champions League defeat away to Chelsea.

Ironically Abel's debut as Celta coach will be in a home game against Granada, before his side travel to Sevilla and then entertain Real Madrid.

A brief look at the Primera Liga table following this weekend's round of matches implies that the next coach to feel the pressure is Zaragoza's Malono Jimenez, whose side have taken just two points from seven games and have the worst home record in the league.