Sevilla dismiss Jimenez

Sevilla dismiss Jimenez
(PA) Wednesday 24 March 2010
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Sevilla have fired coach Manolo Jimenez following their 1-1 Primera Division draw with Xerez on Tuesday.

Xerez, the bottom club in La Liga, netted an injury-time equaliser at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan stadium to leave Sevilla without a win in their last seven competitive matches. During that run Sevilla were knocked out of the UEFA Champions League by CSKA Moscow 3-2 on aggregate after losing the second leg of their last 16 tie 2-1 at home.

The draw with Andalusian rivals Xerez leaves Sevilla in fifth place in La Liga, a point behind fourth-placed Real Mallorca, who play Racing Santander today.

A statement posted on the Sevilla website last night read: "The Sevilla board have this evening dismissed Manolo Jimenez. Wednesday's training will be led by Ramon Tejada, pending the board making a definitive decision about the future coach of the team."

Jimenez has also led Sevilla to the final of the Copa del Rey, where they will face Atletico Madrid, but that was not enough to save him. Club president Jose Maria Del Nido came out in support of Jimenez following last week's Champions League exit, when sections of the Sevilla support called for the coach's head after the second leg.

Del Nido said: "He will continue until the end of the season because he has a contract and because he has our trust. There is no debate about him amongst the board."

However, a 2-0 defeat at struggling Espanyol at the weekend left Jimenez under more pressure, and tonight's draw against a Xerez side that were eight points adrift of safety proved the final straw.

Jimenez had been a long-serving coach of the club's reserve side, Sevilla Atletico, when he was promoted to take charge of the first team in October 2007 following the resignation of Juande Ramos. The Seville-born 46-year-old, a former Spain international who spent 14 years at the club during his playing days, inherited a side that had won five trophies in two years under Ramos - two UEFA Cups, the Copa del Rey, the European Super Cup and the Spanish Supercopa.

Prior to that, Sevilla had picked up only four pieces of major silverware in their history, with the most recent being the Copa del Rey crown they won back in 1948. In his first season in charge, Jimenez led Sevilla to a fifth-place finish in La Liga, and last year he guided them to third spot and a return to the Champions League.

In Europe this season, Sevilla cruised through the group stages of the Champions League, picking up 13 points from their six Group G matches to finish four points clear of second-placed Stuttgart. Sevilla then recorded a promising 1-1 draw away to CSKA in the first leg of their last-16 tie, but with the chance to make it through to the quarter-finals for the first time in their history, they slumped to defeat in the return meeting at home.

Tejada, the man who will take charge of training following Jimenez's departure, is the coach of Sevilla Atletico. Sevilla are away to Villarreal this weekend.