José Manuel Díaz Novoa (born 1 January 1944), known as Novoa, is a Spanish retired

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

, and a

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

. Novoa spent the most of his playing and managerial career linked with

Sporting Gijón Sporting may refer to: *Sport, recreational games and play *Sporting (neighborhood), in Alexandria, Egypt Sports clubs *AC Sporting, a football club from Beirut, Lebanon *Alexandria Sporting Club, a sports club from Alexandria, Egypt *Real Sportin ...

, but also managed other

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 ...

sides such as

Celta Celta is Galician, Portuguese and Spanish for the Celts. It may also refer to: * Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (CELTA), an English teaching certificate * Celta (train), an international train service connecting Vigo and Port ...

, Real Burgos and

Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

Playing career

Born in

Gijón Gijón () or () is a city and municipality in north-western Spain. It is the largest city and municipality by population in the autonomous community of Asturias. It is located on the coast of the Cantabrian Sea in the Bay of Biscay, in the cent ...

Asturias Asturias (, ; ast, Asturies ), officially the Principality of Asturias ( es, Principado de Asturias; ast, Principáu d'Asturies; Galician-Asturian: ''Principao d'Asturias''), is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in nor ...

, Novoa made his professional debut with hometown side

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 ...

during the 1962–63 season, in the

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 ...

. In 1967, he moved to fellow

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

side

RC Celta de Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta de Vigo or simply Celta, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues), ...

, helping in their promotion to

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

. Novoa made his debut in the top tier of Spanish football on 21 September 1969, playing the last 21 minutes in a 1–1 home draw against

CE Sabadell FC Centre d'Esports Sabadell Futbol Club, S.A.D. () is a Spanish football team based in Sabadell, a city in the province of Barcelona in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1903, it plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 2, holdi ...

. He moved to

Tercera División Tercera División ( en, Third Division) was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segunda División'', and the semi-professional ''Segunda Di ...

side

Real Avilés CF Real Avilés Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team based in Avilés, in the autonomous community of Asturias. Founded in 1903 it plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 1, holding home matches at Estadio Román Suárez Puerta, with an app ...

in the following year, but retired in 1971 at the age of just 27 after a severe

knee In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...

injury.

Managerial career

After retiring Novoa started working as a coach, being named manager of first club Sporting's B-team in 1963. For the 1979–80 season, he was named in charge of the first team. Novoa left in June 1980, but returned to the ''Rojiblancos'' in March 1982, replacing

Vicente Miera Vicente Miera Campos (born 10 May 1940) is a Spanish retired football player and manager. A former football defender, he appeared in 139 La Liga games over ten seasons and scored two goals, mainly at the service of Real Madrid. Later, he embark ...

. After the first team appointed

Vujadin Boškov Vujadin Boškov ( sr-cyr, Вујадин Бошков, ; 16 May 1931 – 27 April 2014) was a Serbian footballer and manager. A midfielder, he played 57 matches for the Yugoslav national team. He experienced his greatest success as a coach in 1 ...

as manager, he moved down to manage the reserves for a second spell. Novoa return to the reins of the first team in 1984, as Boškov left for

Ascoli Calcio Ascoli Calcio 1898 F.C., commonly referred to as Ascoli, is an Italian football club based in Ascoli Piceno, Marche. The club was formed in 1898 and currently plays in Serie B. The team traditionally play in vertical black and white stripes. H ...

. In April 1988, after the club decided not to renew his contract, he accepted an offer of another club he represented as a player, Celta. Novoa was sacked by Celta in December 1989, and was appointed manager of another top tier club,

Real Burgos CF Real Burgos Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team based in Burgos, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded in 1983, it ceased to compete in 1996 and returned in 2011, holding home games at ''Complejo Deportivo San Amaro'', ...

, the following July. He left the club in 1992 for fellow league team

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

. Novoa was dismissed by the

Catalans Catalans (Catalan language, Catalan, French language, French and Occitan language, Occitan: ''catalans''; es, catalanes, Italian language, Italian: ''catalani'', sc, cadelanos) are a Romance languages, Romance ethnic group native to Cataloni ...

in May 1993, with his side subsequently suffering relegation. He only returned to coaching duties in January 1996, taking over Sporting for a third spell. Novoa was named in charge of

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 ...

side

Málaga CF Málaga Club de Fútbol (, ''Málaga Football Club''), or simply Málaga, is a association football, football club based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, that competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, ...

midway through the 1996–97 campaign, replacing sacked

Pepe Cayuela José "Pepe" Cayuela Ruiz (born 8 October 1950) is a Spanish Association football, football Coach (sport), manager. Managerial career Born in Fuengirola, Province of Málaga, Málaga, Andalusia, Cayuela made his managerial debut with CD San Fél ...

. He left the club in May 1997, and eventually returned to Sporting in December; with the club seriously threatened with relegation, he left the following March. Novoa subsequently coached the Asturias autonomous team from 2000 to 2002 before retiring. He ended his career as the manager who was in charge of Sporting the most times, with a total of 371 games; 230 of them in the main category.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Novoa 1944 births Living people Footballers from Gijón Spanish footballers Association football forwards La Liga players Segunda División players Sporting de Gijón players RC Celta de Vigo players Real Avilés CF footballers Spanish football managers La Liga managers Segunda División managers Segunda División B managers Sporting de Gijón managers RC Celta de Vigo managers Real Burgos CF managers RCD Espanyol managers Málaga CF managers