Jesús 'Txutxi' Aranguren Merino (26 December 1944 – 21 March 2011) was a Spanish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

defender and coach. His 13-year professional career was solely associated with

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club ( eu, Bilboko Athletic Kluba; es, Athletic Club de Bilbao), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao or just Athletic, is a professional Association football, football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Basque Country (autonomous com ...

, with which he played in nearly 400 official games, winning two

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footbal ...

trophies.

Playing career

Born in

Portugalete Portugalete is a town lying to the west of Bilbao in the province of Biscay in the Autonomous Community of Basque Country, northern Spain. The town has 45,766 inhabitants (2019 census) and is part of Bilbao's metropolitan area. It is located a ...

Biscay Biscay (; eu, Bizkaia ; es, Vizcaya ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao. B ...

, Aranguren joined Basque Country giants

's youth system at the age of 16, from neighbouring

Sestao Sport Club Sestao Sport Club was a Spanish football club based in Sestao, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded it 1916 it held home matches at ''Campo Municipal de las Llanas'', with a capacity of 8,900 seats. History Sestao managed to p ...

. On 18 November 1962, one month shy of his 18th birthday, he made his first-team – and

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

– debut, playing the entire 2–1 away win against

Córdoba CF Córdoba Club de Fútbol (), (from the 2020–21 season onwards competing under the umbrella of Unión Futbolística Cordobesa, S.A.D.) is a Spanish football club based in Córdoba, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1951 as ...

, and finished his first season with 18 matches. Aranguren would be an important defensive unit for Athletic in the following 11 campaigns, starting in 225 of the 229 games he appeared in the league and helping to win two

trophies. After no appearances in 1974–75 he retired from football, aged only 30; during his spell with the club he scored five

own goal An own goal, also called a self goal, is where a player performs actions that result in them or their team scoring a goal on themselves, often resulting in a point for the opposing team, such as when a football player kicks a ball into their own ...

s to another legendary teammate,

José Ángel Iribar José Ángel Iribar Kortajarena (born 1 March 1943), nicknamed ''El Chopo'' ("the Poplar"), is a Spanish retired football goalkeeper and manager. Having played almost exclusively for Athletic Bilbao, he appeared in more than 600 official game ...

.Aranguren, el terror de Iribar (Aranguren, Iribar's nightmare)

El País ''El País'' (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. ''El País'' is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . ''El Pa ...

, 1 May 2003 (in Spanish)

Coaching career

Aranguren started managing at his only club, being in charge of its youth teams first then the reserves. Subsequently, he spent nine seasons in the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

, starting with another local side,

Deportivo Alavés Deportivo Alavés, S.A.D. (; ''Sporting Alavés''), usually abbreviated to Alavés, is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the ...

, and achieving promotion in

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

with

CD Logroñés Club Deportivo Logroñés, S.A.D. was a Spanish football team based in Logroño, in the autonomous community of La Rioja. Founded in 1940, it last played in ''Regional Preferente de La Rioja''. Due to financial problems, since 2009 the club has ...

, a first-ever for the Riojans; also under his guidance, they managed to retain their status the following season. After one year with

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting (although in an international context this can lead to confusion with Sporting Clube de Portugal) is a Spanish football club from Gijón, P ...

, Aranguren managed Athletic Bilbao during fifteen games in the 1991–92 season, following the dismissal of his former club teammate

Iñaki Sáez José Ignacio "Iñaki" Sáez Ruiz (born 23 April 1943) is a Spanish former football player and manager. A defender, he spent the vast majority of his professional career with Athletic Bilbao, which he later also coached in various levels, a ...

. With six wins, two draws and seven losses, he eventually placed the team out of the relegation zone (14th position). In 1994, Aranguren returned to Alavés, winning promotion in his first year and staying with the team for a further two seasons,

the second ''The Second'' is the second studio album by Canadian-American rock band Steppenwolf, released in October 1968 on ABC Dunhill Records. The album contains one of Steppenwolf's most famous songs, " Magic Carpet Ride". The background of the origin ...

ending on 16 February 1997 following a 2–3 home loss against

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, S.A.D. (, ca, Reial Club Deportiu Mallorca , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or just Mallorca is a Spanish professional football club based in Palma on the island of Majorca in ...

. In the following years, he worked mainly with Alavés' B-team; however, on 29 April 2003, he replaced Mané at the helm of the main squad for the final seven games of the campaign, which ended in top-flight relegation.

Death

Aranguren retired from management in 2005, to care for his sick wife. On 21 March 2011, whilst accompanying her to a checkup in the Cruces Hospital in

Barakaldo Barakaldo ( es, Baracaldo; eu, Barakaldo ) is a municipality located in the Biscay province in the Basque Country. Located on the Left Bank of the Estuary of Bilbao, the city is part of Greater Bilbao, has a population at 100,881. Barakaldo ha ...

, he succumbed to a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

, dying at the age of 66.'Txutxi' Aranguren, un defensa total ('Txutxi' Aranguren, a complete defender)
El País, 22 March 2011 (in Spanish)

Honours

Player

Athletic Bilbao *

Copa del Generalísimo The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footbal ...

: 1969, 1972–73; Runner-up 1965–66, 1966–67

Manager

Alavés *

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Foot ...

: 1994–95

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aranguren, Txutxi 1944 births 2011 deaths People from Portugalete Sportspeople from Biscay Spanish footballers Footballers from the Basque Country (autonomous community) Association football defenders La Liga players Athletic Bilbao footballers Spain youth international footballers Spain amateur international footballers Spanish football managers La Liga managers Segunda División managers Segunda División B managers Athletic Bilbao B managers Deportivo Alavés managers Recreativo de Huelva managers Deportivo de La Coruña managers CD Logroñés managers Sporting de Gijón managers Athletic Bilbao managers Levante UD managers FC Cartagena managers