How Royston Drenthe relegated Hercules CF? – Spanish La Liga debate
Hércules Club de Fútbol returned to Spanish top flight after a hiatus of 13 years and have dropped out in the first year. The Alicante-based club were founded in 1922 and are veterans of 20 league campaigns in La Liga. Throughout their history, they have
been perennial mainstays in the Segunda Division, with forty years in the lower realms of Spanish football.
Before the start of the season, the club was expected to be the punching bags of the league. The club added experienced French marksman, David Trezeguet, to their ranks in a transfer coup. The legendary striker added depth and quality to the front-line as
the club braced themselves to match the quality of La Liga.
Royston Drenthe was acquired from Real Madrid on a loan deal. The Dutch full-back was not in the plans of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Defence-c38904
and midfield as they prepared for the onslaught from opposing sides.
Hercules started in brilliant fashion under Coach Esteban Vigo. They beat Barcelona in the opening rounds of the 2010/11 La Liga campaign and everyone took notice of the new boys. This was a team laden with experience in the highest competition
and had youthful exuberance to complement the aged yet experienced legs.
Players at Hercules CF were out there to prove a point to the rest of the teams; Herculanos are no punching bags, and can deliver a sucker punch of their own. A relaxed Barcelona side felt the jolt and now everyone was ready.
Everything went downhill for the newly-promoted team as the season progressed. Good performances on the pitch were downplayed by troubled news coming from the back office. Financial troubles beckoned and it was a downward spiral into deep abyss.
The club had paid good money to get the likes of Nelson Valdez, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Royston-Drenthe-c31824. These players commanded hefty wages and the club were having trouble paying them. The situation got worse as the club reached the winter break.
The outfit from Alicante were in a respectable 12th position by the end of December, and that is when everything started to go sour. Our Dutch international went on a one-man strike after Christmas. Drenthe announced he will neither play nor train
with the club until or unless the situation with his salary is resolved. The player said that he has not received 5 months worth of salary and stayed back in Rotterdam.
While talking to De Telegraaf, Drenthe said "I know that the people will probably think I'm a difficult character, but I'm not doing anything wrong here. I haven't been fully paid once since I left Madrid for Hercules. I've received 50 per cent of my monthly
wages on two occasions and didn't get paid at all in the other four months.”
The player eventually played in the next game against Mallorca and got the stick from the supporters. There had been murmurings of financial mismanagement but a scandal of this level had not been seen in the Spanish First Division.
The player officially ended his strike in early January but his actions had already done the damage. The woes of the team were brought into the open and the descent to relegation had started. The disgruntled wing-back had brought the game in disrepute and
the locker room was in shambles.
Coach Esteban Vigo was sacked on March 20 and was replaced by Serbian Miroslav Đukić. The continued to struggle at the bottom of the table. The Serb gave his best but could only muster an improvement of 1 spot and were relegated at 19th
position. Oh Royston!
Disclaimer: Views expressed here are the writer’s own and in no way represent bettor.com’s official editorial policy
Tags: