By Simon Baskett
MADRID, May 8 - It takes a lot to get Sevilla
coach Juande Ramos to relax. Even when his side qualified for
their first European final it only drew only a brief smile.
The 51-year-old is a workaholic, a football addict and
consummate professional who rarely drops his guard and is an
expert at getting the best out of clubs with limited resources.
At the start of the season he was faced with the daunting
task of replacing outgoing coach Joaquin Caparros who had led a
young Sevilla side to an impressive sixth-place finish in the
Primera Liga.
To add to the difficulties, Ramos had managed Sevilla's
bitter city rivals Real Betis only three years before and was
greeted with understandable suspicion by the club's hardcore
fans.
Worse still, the club sold its two most influential players,
highly rated defender Sergio Ramos and Brazilian goal-machine
Julio Baptista, to Real Madrid before the start of the season.
It was hardly an auspicious start, but coach Ramos was
compensated with a handful of astute signings by the club's
highly respected sporting director "Monchi" Rodriguez.
A "little and large" strike force made up of Argentine
international Javier Saviola and the gangly former Tottenham
Hotspur target man Frederic Kanoute were brought in, together
with Brazilian forward Luis Fabiano.
Goalkeeper Andres Palop and Italian midfielder Enzo Marseca
also arrived while, like his predecessor Caparros, Ramos
continued to promote players from the club's fertile youth-team
network.
"This is the biggest and most exciting project I have taken
on and is the greatest challenge of my sporting career," Ramos
said when he took charge.
"This side, which is one of the five or six best teams in
Spain, is growing, is doing things well, and has a very bright
future."
Ramos has lived up to his predictions by constructing a team
with a fierce competitive spirit and no little skill.
MODEST TEAMS
Ramos built his reputation as a coach by squeezing the best
out of modest teams, first making his name when he steered
Logrones into the top flight in 1996.
Refining his skills during season-long spells with Barcelona
B and Lleida while they were in the second division, he went on
to take charge of unfashionable Madrid-based club Rayo Vallecano
in 1998.
He guided them to promotion to the Primera Liga in his first
season and helped them to secure an impressive ninth place on
their return to the top flight.
They were rewarded with a place in the UEFA Cup through the
Fair Play draw and proceeded to defy the pundits by making it to
the quarter-finals in their debut season in European
competition.
Only when they came up against Alaves, their equally modest
fellow countrymen, did they finally exit the tournament.
Ramos kept Rayo in the top flight before moving on to take
charge of Betis, but departed for Espanyol in 2002 after failing
to agree a contract renewal.
He lasted just five games at the Catalan club as it became
clear he did not see eye-to-eye with the board, but once again
Ramos showed himself to be an expert at making a silk purse out
of a sow's ear when he steered a limited Malaga side to a
comfortable mid-table finish in 2004.
Sevilla have yet to renew Ramos's contract, but UEFA Cup
success in the club's centenary season should be more than
enough to guarantee him a long-term future in Andalucia.