Athletic Bilbao faced difficult hours this Sunday despite a 1-0 victory against Elche in San Mamés. Lhe victory did not prevent the Bilbao board from deciding the dismissal of Gaizka Garitano as coach of the first team and announce late at night a start in agreement with Marcelino García Toral to be his substitute on the bench.
The decision on the departure of Gaizka Garitano had already been planning on Ibaigane for some time despite the achievements made by the deriotarra in his time as head of the first team after taking the reins from the subsidiary, Bilbao Athletic. Garitano resurrected a team that In the 18/19 season he was in relegation places and he finally stayed out of Europe on the last day and last season led him to reach the final of the Copa de Rey which has yet to be played against Real Sociedad. In fact, Garitano leaves the team in ninth position in the Santander League with 21 points in the classification, just 6 from the access positions to European competitions.
There have been several reasons that have motivated the departure of Gaizka Garitano as Athletic coach. One of the causes has been the game of the team that has not been able to accept part of the board of the president Aitor Elizegi, Garitano's great supporter and who finally failed to retain him on the bench.
Another of the reasons that could have led to Garitano's removal could have been the statements from the coach himself in which he stated that there was no quality to win several games in a row. Derio's own coach already left his future up in the air at the press conference after yesterday's game against Elche with the phrase “Whether I am or not, I always want Athletic to win.”
Garitano's dismissal may also be due to the Institutional crisis that exists in Ibaigane after the accounts and the project of the animation stand were not approved in the last Assembly of the club. Whatever the trigger for Garitano's departure, the only certainty is that Derio's coach will not be able to guide Athletic to their first major title since 1984 despite leading the 'lions' to a new Copa del Rey final.