Francisco "Paco" Herrera Lorenzo (born 2 December 1953) 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 ...
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 ...
, and is 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 ...
.
His managerial career of over a quarter of a century was spent mostly in
Segunda División, where he led 13 clubs and won 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' ...
with
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 ...
and
Las Palmas
Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, on the Atlantic Ocean.
It is the capital (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife), the most populous city in the auto ...
.
Playing career
Born in
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
,
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 nort ...
, Herrera started playing professionally with
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, holdin ...
in his native region, appearing in two
Segunda División seasons with the team. In 1974, the 20-year-old signed for
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, ...
in
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' ...
,
suffering relegation in his second year.
After a two-season spell with
Levante UD, Herrera retired from football with
CD Badajoz in 1986 at the age of 32, having played mainly for the
Extremadura
Extremadura (; ext, Estremaúra; pt, Estremadura; Fala: ''Extremaúra'') is an autonomous community of Spain. Its capital city is Mérida, and its largest city is Badajoz. Located in the central-western part of the Iberian Peninsula, it ...
n in
Segunda División B, the new third level created in 1977.
Coaching career
Herrera was connected to his last club, Badajoz, for several years as a manager, first coaching its youth sides and later acting as assistant. He would manage the first team in 24 games in two separate second division campaigns (18 in
1992–93
Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...
and six in
1994–95).
During three seasons, Herrera then worked in the second level, with
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 ...
and
CP Mérida, the only complete one being
1998–99. He was sacked by the latter in late November 1999, following a 1–3 loss at former club Levante; the team eventually
ranked sixth, being however demoted due to financial irregularities.
After two seasons in division two, with
Albacete Balompié
Albacete Balompié is a Spanish football team based in Albacete, in the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha. Founded on 2 August 1940, it currently plays in Segunda División, the second tier of Spanish football, holding home matches ...
and
Polideportivo Ejido (finishing in
tenth and
13th position respectively), Herrera was appointed at
Recreativo de Huelva
Real Club Recreativo de Huelva, S.A.D. () is a Spanish football club based in Huelva, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 23 December 1889, 2 days before Christmas, they are the oldest football club in Spain, and currently play i ...
in the same tier, being fired on 9 November 2003 after a 0–2 home loss against
Andalusia
Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The t ...
neighbours
Córdoba CF – the team had collected seven draws in 11 matches (plus two wins and as many losses). In the summer of 2004, he joined countryman
Rafael Benítez
Rafael Benítez Maudes (born 16 April 1960) is a Spanish professional football manager and former player who most recently managed club Everton.
Benítez joined Real Madrid's coaching staff at the age of 26, going on to work as the under- ...
's coaching staff in
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
, working as both assistant manager and chief
scout for two years.
Herrera left England in June 2006 and returned to his country, serving as
director of football
A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The sport ...
at
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 s ...
for three seasons. He left the club in February 2009 to manage
CD Castellón
Club Deportivo Castellón, S.A.D. is a professional Spanish football team based in Castellón de la Plana, in the Valencian Community. Founded on 20 July 1922, it currently plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games at '' N ...
, replacing
Atlético Madrid-bound
Abel Resino for the final 21 games of
the campaign and leading the
Valencians
Valencians ( va, valencians) are the native people of the Valencian Community, in eastern Spain. Legally, Valencians are the inhabitants of the community. Since 2006, the Valencian people are officially recognised in the Valencian Statute of Au ...
to the seventh place in the second division.
On 4 February 2010, Herrera replaced
Juan Carlos Garrido
Juan Carlos Garrido Fernández (born 29 March 1969) is a Spanish football manager.
He managed Villarreal and Betis in La Liga before working for several years in the Arab world, winning the CAF Confederation Cup with Egypt's Al Ahly and Mo ...
at the helm of
Villarreal CF
Villarreal Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Vila-real Club de Futbol, S.A.D.), usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF or simply Villarreal, is a professional football club based in Villarreal, in the Castellón province of eastern Spain, ...
'
reserves, also in the second division, as Garrido had been promoted to the main squad following the sacking of
Ernesto Valverde
Ernesto Valverde Tejedor (born 9 February 1964) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a forward. He is the current manager of La Liga club Athletic Bilbao.
Over ten seasons, he amassed La Liga totals of 264 games and 68 ...
. In
2010–11
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...
he continued working in level two, with
RC Celta de Vigo, leading them to the
promotion play-offs
Promotion may refer to:
Marketing
* Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...
where they lost in the semi-finals against
Granada CF
Granada Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. (), known simply as Granada, is a Spanish football club based in the city of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, that plays in the Segunda División, after being relegated from La Liga in the 2021 ...
, on
penalties.
Herrera was also in charge as the
Galicians
Galicians ( gl, galegos, es, gallegos, link=no) are a Celtic-Romance ethnic group from Spain that is closely related to the Portuguese people and has its historic homeland is Galicia, in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula. Two Romance la ...
returned to the top flight at the end of the
2011–12 season, as runners-up. He was relieved of his duties on 18 February 2013 after a 1–3 away loss against
Getafe CF, however, with the club ranking third from bottom but
eventually saved.
Herrera was appointed at
UD Las Palmas
Unión Deportiva Las Palmas, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Las Palmas, on the island of Gran Canaria in the autonomous community of Canary Islands. Founded on 22 August 1949, it plays in Segunda División, holding home games at t ...
in the second division, on 3 July 2014. He achieved promotion in
his first season, with the team returning to
the top tier after 13 years.
On 19 October 2015, after a 0–4 defeat at
Getafe CF that left the
Canarians
Canary Islanders, or Canarians ( es, canarios), are a Romance people and ethnic group. They reside on the Canary Islands, an autonomous community of Spain near the coast of northwest Africa, and descend from a mixture of European settlers and ab ...
ranking second from the bottom, Herrera was sacked and replaced by
Quique Setién
Enrique "Quique" Setién Solar (; born 27 September 1958) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a central midfielder. He is the current manager of La Liga club Villarreal.
As a player, he was nicknamed ''El Maestro'', an ...
. On 7 June of the following year, he was named
Real Valladolid
Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid () or Valladolid, is a professional football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish league system.
The club c ...
manager.
On 15 June 2017, Herrera was hired as Sporting de Gijón coach after agreeing to a two-year contract. He was sacked on 12 December, after a streak of six matches without wins in the second level.
Herrera returned to active on 31 May 2018, being appointed at
Aris Thessaloniki F.C.
Aris FC ( el, ΠΑΕ Άρης), commonly known as Aris Thessaloniki FC, AFC or simply Aris, is a Greek professional football club based in the city of Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece. Created in 1914 as ''Aris Thessaloniki Football Club'', t ...
from the
Superleague Greece. On 5 November, after four consecutive league defeats, his contract was terminated by mutual consent.
On 16 November 2018, Herrera returned to Las Palmas after three years, replacing sacked
Manolo Jiménez. On 4 March 2019, he was himself dismissed after only winning three of 14 league games.
On 6 July 2019, Herrera joined the coaching staff at
Birmingham City
Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Sin ...
, becoming assistant head coach to
Pep Clotet
Josep Clotet Ruiz (born 28 April 1977) is a Spanish football coach, currently in charge of Italian Serie B club Brescia.
As well as working as assistant at several clubs, he managed Cornellà, Figueres, Espanyol B, Halmstad, Málaga B, Oxfor ...
.
Managerial statistics
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Herrera, Paco
1953 births
Living people
Footballers from Barcelona
Spanish footballers
Catalonia international footballers
Association football midfielders
La Liga players
Segunda División players
Segunda División B players
CF Damm players
CE Sabadell FC footballers
Sporting de Gijón players
Levante UD footballers
CD Badajoz players
Spanish football managers
La Liga managers
Segunda División managers
CD Badajoz managers
CD Numancia managers
CP Mérida managers
Albacete Balompié managers
Polideportivo Ejido managers
Recreativo de Huelva managers
CD Castellón managers
Villarreal CF B managers
RC Celta de Vigo managers
Real Zaragoza managers
UD Las Palmas managers
Real Valladolid managers
Sporting de Gijón managers
Super League Greece managers
Aris Thessaloniki F.C. managers
Spanish expatriate football managers
Expatriate football managers in Greece
Liverpool F.C. non-playing staff
Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England
Birmingham City F.C. non-playing staff