That David Belenguer was going to be a great football manager, it was known since he was captain and emblem of Getafe. The confirmation is coming with Tondela, a Portuguese club of which he is 80% president and owner and who has saved, for the second consecutive year, the decline in the Portuguese Primeira Liga. He Tondela is managed by Belenguer and is backed by the Chinese consortium of businessman Jiang Lizhang (along with Granada, Parma and Chongqing Lifang).
Belenguer was appointed as its president just over a year ago. In that time, the Catalan has given time to clean up the club, give it a structure and give it an unthinkable competitive character. It is not easy at all with the club with the lowest budget in the category. “This year has been especially tough because of the Covid issue. We have made real balances so that football returned to Portugal and we could finish the season. It is a success to have been able to save ourselves again. There is a lot of work behind, although it also has something of a miracle, “says Belenguer.
In addition to being president of Tondela, he is one of the few executives who make up the Assembly of the Portuguese League. Another of his triumphs has been being able to survive the crisis without applying an ERTE: “I don't want to say that applying it is the easy way out, but from the beginning we tried to avoid it so that the people with the least resources in the club would not suffer: the employees. Fortunately it has been possible, although I don't know if we could have lasted another month. “
Tondela, led by the Spanish Natxo González, suffered until the end to save himself, although he had a spectacular start to the season: “The next challenge is that, to be able to stay in a quieter area. Natxo has done an excellent job. He is a great coach and we know that in Spain he has a great cartel. He has one more year left on his contract, we will try to retain him, although it will not be easy. He is a First Class coach. “