At approximately 9:00 p.m. this Monday, Malaga has made official the dismissal of José Alberto López as coach after a meeting that both parties have held in the afternoon and whose outcome has been the disassociation agreement mentioned above. Juan Francisco Funes, coach of Atlético Malagueño, a subsidiary of Tercera, will assume the position on an interim basis while a possible replacement is sought.
It seemed that Manolo Gaspar, the sports director, would maintain his support for the Asturian coach at the expense of what could happen in the next two consecutive visits of the team to Miranda de Ebro and Zaragoza. But events have taken a radical turn and the majority opinion of the fans, favorable to the departure of the Asturian coach, has been decisive. JAL had a contract with Malaga until 2023. It was a personal bet of the sports director who stated that he would do everything possible to defend the coach. But things have not turned out as expected.
Málaha was in 14th place with 31 points. A position similar to that of last season, but with a better squad and less trouble than his predecessor in charge, Sergio Pellicer, had.
The tremendous defeat conceded by Málaga last Saturday against Paco Jémez’s Ibiza (0-5) added salt to an open wound between the coach and the fansn detected from almost the same moment in which his signing was announced. His good work with Sporting and Mirandés were not enough guarantee for the Malaguista fans to give him the benefit of the doubt. If when the team won at La Rosaleda there were murmurs, the defeats against Amorebieta and Leganés, the tie against Sporting and the open-handed slap in the face by the Ibizans dictated sentence. As much as Gaspar tried to support him, the popular outcry was decisive: he had his thumb down.
José Alberto is the third coach that Málaga has dismissed since his return to Segunda in 2017-18. The previous ones were Juan Ramón Muñiz and Víctor Sánchez del Amo.