José Manuel 'Manolo' Díaz Fernández (born 30 August 1968) is a Spanish professional football manager and former

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who is ...

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 ...

Coaching career

Born in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, Díaz began his managerial career at the ''Juvenil'' squad of

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

, leaving the club in 2006 after the arrival of the new president

Ramón Calderón José Ramón Calderón Ramos (born 26 May 1951) is a Spanish lawyer who is the former President of Real Madrid. He got his Law Degree in the University of Navarra, Spain in 1974 and he worked in London, England, as a lawyer, in 1975 and 1976. A ...

. He returned to Spain following a brief spell in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, being appointed at

CDA Navalcarnero Club Deportivo Artístico Navalcarnero is a football team based in Navalcarnero, in the autonomous community of Madrid, Spain. Founded in 1961, it plays in Segunda Federación – Group 1, holding home games at the 2,500-seat ''Estadio Mariano Go ...

in summer 2008. Díaz was named coach of

Real Madrid C Real Madrid Club de Fútbol C, commonly known as Real Madrid C, was a Spanish association football team that played in the Tercera División – Group 7. It was Real Madrid's second reserve team. They played their home games at La Ciudad del ...

a year later, after Florentino Pérez's return as president. In 2011–12 he led the team to second place in the

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of Se ...

, and despite losing in the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

, saw them achieve promotion to

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 ...

due to administrative relegations. On 19 November 2013, Díaz replaced the fired

Alberto Toril José Alberto Toril Rodríguez (born 7 July 1973) is a Spanish retired professional footballer who played as a central midfielder, who currently Manager for Liga F club Real Madrid Femenino. He was mainly associated to Real Madrid during his ...

at the helm of the B side. His first match in charge was four days later, a 0–0 home draw against

CD Numancia Club Deportivo Numancia de Soria, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club in Soria, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 9 April 1945, it plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games at ''Nuevo Estadio Los ...

. Later that year, he finally took the reserves from the bottom position in

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 ...

, having won 13 out of a possible 15 points and four consecutive wins. In July 2014, Díaz was appointed at SD Ponferradina in the second division. On 31 January 2016, after the sixth loss in seven matches, he was dismissed; the campaign eventually ended in relegation. Díaz returned to the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium on 24 June 2017, being appointed youth system coordinator. In late October 2018, as

Santiago Solari Santiago Hernán Solari Poggio (born 7 October 1976) is an Argentine professional football manager and former player who played as a left midfielder. He spent the better part of his 16-year professional career in Spain, amassing La Liga total ...

was named

Julen Lopetegui Julen Lopetegui Agote (; born 28 August 1966) is a Spanish former professional footballer, currently manager of Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers. A goalkeeper, he played 149 La Liga matches over nine seasons, representing Real Madrid ...

's successor in the first team, he replaced the former at Castilla. On 8 September 2021, following a short stint in the Spanish third tier with

Hércules CF Hércules de Alicante Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. () is a Spanish football team in Alicante, in the autonomous community of Valencian Community. Founded on 25 October 1922, it currently plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 3 and plays its hom ...

, Díaz was announced as head coach of

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is an Indian professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Indian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Organised by the All India Football Federat ...

side

East Bengal FC East Bengal Club, commonly referred to as East Bengal (), is an Indian professional multi-sport club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. It is best known for its professional men's football team that competes in the Indian Super League, the top fl ...

. He resigned at the end of the year due to a poor start to the season.

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Diaz, Manolo 1968 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Madrid Men's association football forwards Segunda División B players Tercera División players RSD Alcalá players Getafe CF footballers Spanish football managers Segunda División managers Segunda División B managers Tercera División managers Real Madrid C managers Real Madrid Castilla managers SD Ponferradina managers Hércules CF managers Indian Super League managers East Bengal Club managers Spanish expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in India Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Spanish expatriate sportspeople in India Real Madrid CF non-playing staff