José Ignacio 'Natxo' González Sáenz (born 29 July 1966) is a Spanish

football manager ''Football Manager'' (also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008) is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

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

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, who is currently in charge of

UD Logroñés Unión Deportiva Logroñés, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Logroño, in the autonomous community of La Rioja. Founded in 2009, it currently plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2, holding home matches at ''Estadio Las Gaunas ...

. After a brief playing career as an amateur, he began coaching and led Alavés to the

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 ...

in 2013, where he also led

Reus Reus () is the capital of Baix Camp, in the province of Tarragona, in Catalonia, Spain. The area has always been an important producer of wines and spirits, and gained continental importance at the time of the Phylloxera plague. Nowadays it is k ...

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...

Deportivo La Coruña ''Deportivo'' (Spanish, 'sporting') may refer to: * Deportivo de La Coruña, commonly known as simply Deportivo, a Spanish football club * Déportivo, a French rock band * Deportivo (Mexicable), an aerial lift station in Ecatepec, Mexico * Deport ...

and

Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...

. Abroad, he had brief spells in the top leagues of Portugal and Bolivia.

Football career

González finished his football career at the age of 20, after only playing amateur football. After starting out as a manager at the same level he took charge of

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 ...

' youth setup in 1994, being promoted to the B-team in 1997. In 2004, after a year in the club's board, González was appointed at

CF Reus Deportiu Club de Futbol Reus Deportiu, S.A.D. was a Spanish football team based in Reus, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1909, it last competed in the Segunda Division (while its B team competed in the Tercera Division) before foldi ...

, being promoted 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 ...

at the end of the 2004–05 campaign. In his only season in the third tier 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 ...

finished 17th, being relegated back 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 ...

in the last matchday. In June 2007, González signed with

UE Sant Andreu Unió Esportiva Sant Andreu () is a Spanish football team based in the city of Barcelona in the district of Sant Andreu, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1909, it plays in Tercera División RFEF – Group 5, holding home mat ...

, also in

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

and the fourth division. He achieved promotion at the first attempt and, four years later, was relieved of his duties due to financial problems. On 14 June 2012, after nearly a year away from club duty, González was appointed

' manager, being promoted to

at the end of the season. He renewed his contract on 7 June 2013, eventually appearing in his first professional match on 16 August, a 0–1 away defeat against

Girona FC Girona Futbol Club, S.A.D. is a professional football club based in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Founded on 23 July 1930, it plays in La Liga, to which they gained promotion in the 2022 Segunda División play-offs. Girona holds its home matches at ...

. González was sacked on 3 December 2013, with the club second from bottom in Segunda División. On 1 June of the following year he returned to Reus, now in the third level. On 8 June 2015, González renewed with Reus for a further year. During the 2015–16 campaign, he led the club to the round of 32 of

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 ...

, being knocked out by

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

, and also reached the promotion play-offs after Reus finished first in its group; in the play-offs, the club defeated

Racing de Santander Real Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D. (), also known as Racing de Santander () or simply Racing, is a football club based in Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system ...

in a 4–0 win on aggregate, and achieved promotion to the second level for the first time ever. González signed a two-year contract with fellow second tier club

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. Zaragoza holds its home games at La ...

on 11 June 2017. He later resigned on 11 June 2018, after failing to achieve promotion to

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 ...

losing 3–2 on aggregate to

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 ...

in the play-offs. On 15 June 2018, González was named

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña (), Deportivo or simply Dépor, is a professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. They currently p ...

manager, also in the second division. He was sacked the following 7 April, following a 0–2 home loss against

CF Rayo Majadahonda Club de Fútbol Rayo Majadahonda () is a Spanish football team based in Majadahonda, in the autonomous community of Madrid. Founded in 1976 it plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 1, holding home games at ''Estadio Cerro del Espino'', with ...

. González moved abroad for the first time when was appointed as manager of

C.D. Tondela Clube Desportivo de Tondela () is a Portuguese professional football club that plays in Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. They are based in the town of Tondela, located in Viseu District, and play in the Estádio João Cardoso ...

in the Portuguese

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

on 14 June 2019. He succeeded

Pepa Performance Evaluation Process Algebra (PEPA) is a stochastic process algebra designed for modelling computer and communication systems introduced by Jane Hillston in the 1990s. The language extends classical process algebras such as Milner's ...

in the role. After keeping the club in the top flight on the last day of the season with a win at

Moreirense FC Moreirense Futebol Clube is a Portuguese professional football club based in Moreira de Cónegos, Guimarães Municipality, in Minho. Founded on 1 November 1938, it plays in the Liga Portugal 2, holding home games at Parque de Jogos Comendador Joa ...

, he resigned a year early on 5 August 2020. On 12 December 2020, González was named manager of Bolivian club Bolívar. The following 23 May, after the club's elimination from the

2021 Copa Sudamericana The 2021 Copa CONMEBOL Sudamericana was the 20th edition of the CONMEBOL Sudamericana (also referred to as the ''Copa Sudamericana'', or pt, Copa Sul-Americana), South America's secondary club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. Starting ...

, he was sacked. On 27 January 2022, González was named manager of

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, ...

back in his home country. He was dismissed on 2 April, after only one win in ten matches.

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzalez, Natxo 1966 births Living people Footballers from Vitoria-Gasteiz Spanish footballers Association football midfielders Divisiones Regionales de Fútbol players Spanish football managers Segunda División managers Primeira Liga managers Bolivian Primera División managers CF Reus Deportiu managers UE Sant Andreu managers Deportivo Alavés managers Real Zaragoza managers Deportivo de La Coruña managers Málaga CF managers UD Logroñés managers C.D. Tondela managers Club Bolívar managers Spanish expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Portugal Expatriate football managers in Bolivia Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Bolivia