The Manager Carousel Begins

By: Jeremy | September 21st, 2009

On Friday, Basile had said in a press conference that if Boca stumbled again, he would resign. Nothing official, but reports are that he did that very thing after the loss to Godoy Cruz. Fooball manager Carlos Bianchi has thus far confirmed nothing, but ex-Newell’s coach Fernando Gamboa, who had a stint coaching in Boca’s lower division, has been approached by a director from Boca Juniors about whether he had already accepted the Chacarita job.

Which of course he had and he is set to be introduced today to try and turn around a newly promoted Chacarita Juniors side that, after five consecutive losses, already seems doomed to relegation at the end of next season. Ricardo Zielinski resigned shortly after the loss to Colon this weekend and the directors jumped on el Negro. In his first stint as a top flight manager, he led Newell’s to 31 points and a fifth place finish two seasons ago. I think it’s a good hire by Chaca, but I am not sure why Gamboa would accept it. I’ll say this, without having seen a single Chacarita match this season, he’ll definitely bring more of an attacking style to the team and their motivation will be way up. I enjoyed watching the team play during his season at Newell’s and I’m sure he’ll try and emulate that style of play again.

And last, Nestor Gorosito seems to be on his way out. River this season has been flat and frequently outplayed. Already out of the Copa Sudamericana and off to a dismal start in the league, he could be let go before I even post this. Word out of Nunez is that River tried to get Astrada and he turned them down and that now they are thinking of keeping Pipo’s assistant, Gustavo Zapata. It doesn’t make sense, and I am assuming is just a rumor, but nothing River does will surprise me. Short of hiring Diego as manager.

Which brings up the question is it the horses or is it the jockey, both at Boca and at River. (It’s definitely the horses at Chacarita) Is it a question of too much parity in the league, and soaring debt levels, making it harder for Boca and River to attract the top notch talent they used to? I think both groups of directors are probably asking themselves that right now. Are they as talented as they think or do they need to upgrade at several positions?