José Aurelio Gay López (born 10 December 1965) 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 lea ...

who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

, currently a

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

. He was associated with

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

throughout his career, serving the club as both a player and manager. He amassed

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

totals of 180 matches and 27 goals over eight seasons, starting out at

Castilla Castile, Castille or Castilla may refer to: Places Spain *Castile (historical region), a vaguely defined historical region of Spain covering most of Castile and León, all of the Community of Madrid and most of Castilla–La Mancha *Kingdom of ...

. After starting working in that capacity in 2001, Gay went on to coach a host of clubs in the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

and

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: 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 ...

Playing career

Born in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, Gay began playing football with

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

, eventually progressing to the reserves, Castilla CF. While at the club he was a member of the Spain under-20 side that finished runners-up at the

1985 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1985 FIFA World Youth Championship was the fifth edition FIFA U-20 World Cup, FIFA World Youth Championship, was held in the Soviet Union (USSR) from 24 August to 7 September 1985. The tournament took place in ten venues within eight host citie ...

, starting in five of six games and appearing as a substitute in the other. After four seasons in the

, Gay moved up to

with

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

in summer 1988. He scored twice in 17 matches in his debut season, in which the

Catalans Catalans ( Catalan, French and Occitan: ''catalans''; ; ; or ) are a Romance ethnic group native to Catalonia, who speak Catalan. The current official category of "Catalans" is that of the citizens of Catalonia, a nationality and autono ...

were relegated, but eventually established himself in the starting XI, spending one season in the second tier and another in the first; in 1990–91, his last year, he was the team's second-highest league scorer with five goals – only behind German Wolfram Wuttke – as he helped them to narrowly retain their top-flight status. Gay signed for

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 football league system, Spanish league system. Zarag ...

on 4 July 1991. In consecutive seasons he helped the

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...

ese to the 1994

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

and the following year's

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

, although he was seriously injured during the latter campaign. He featured sparingly afterwards, and left the club in June 1996. Gay's final three seasons were spent at

Real Oviedo Real Oviedo ( Asturian: Real Uviéu) is a Spanish professional football club based in Oviedo, Asturias. Founded on 26 March 1926, the club plays in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system. The club plays at ...

and

CD Toledo Club Deportivo Toledo, S.A.D. is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Toledo, Spain, Toledo, in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. Founded in 1928 it plays in , holding home games at ''Estadio Salto del Cab ...

, totalling only 43 league appearances for both clubs and retiring in 1999 at age 33.

Coaching career

After his retirement, Gay managed numerous teams in both the second division and the

, starting at his last club Toledo.

Real Madrid C Real Madrid Club de Fútbol C, commonly known as Real Madrid C, is a Spanish association football team, and is Real Madrid's second reserve team. They play in , holding their home games at La Ciudad del Real Madrid in Valdebebas outside the cit ...

Pontevedra CF Pontevedra Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team in Pontevedra, in the autonomous community of Galicia. Founded on 16 October 1941 it currently plays in , holding home matches at '' Estadio Municipal de Pasarón'', with a capacity o ...

Real Jaén Real Jaén Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Jaén, Spain, Jaén, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1929 it plays in , holding home matches at ''Nuevo Estadio de La Vict ...

Lorca Deportiva CF Lorca Deportiva Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. was a Spanish football club in Lorca, in the autonomous community of Murcia. Founded in 2002 it was dissolved ten years later, they held their home matches at ''Estadio Francisco Artés Carrasco'', which ...

, CF Fuenlabrada and Deportivo Aragón followed; he took the reins of the latter's first team following the dismissal of

Marcelino García Toral Marcelino García Toral (; born 14 August 1965), known simply as Marcelino, is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. He is the current head coach of La Liga club Villarreal. In a ten-year senior car ...

on 12 December 2009. Gay's first game in charge of Zaragoza saw them lose 6–0 away against Real Madrid, a result that led to rumours that he would be replaced by

Víctor Muñoz Víctor Muñoz Manrique, (born 15 March 1957), known simply as Víctor as a player, is a Spanish retired football midfielder and manager. He spent most of his professional career with Barcelona, winning six titles and achieving La Liga totals ...

; the reports, however, proved to be unfounded and he was offered the job until June 2010. After bringing in several new players in the January

transfer window In association football, a transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club, club can add players to their squad who were previously under contract with another club. Such a Transfer (association football), transfer is comp ...

, the side's fortunes began to turn as he led them out of the relegation zone by mid-February, eventually finishing in 14th position with 41 points. In mid-November 2010, with Zaragoza ranking last in the league (eventually managing to avoid relegation), Gay was sacked. On 12 December 2012, after more than two years out of work, he replaced the fired

Fabri Fabri is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Anna Fabri (f. 1496), Swedish publisher and printer * Annibale Pio Fabri (1697–1760), Italian singer and composer * Cornelia Fabri (1869-1915), Italian mathematician * Emanuel Fab ...

at the helm of

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, Spain, Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spani ...

, lasting until March in a season that saw the

Cantabria Cantabria (, ; ) is an autonomous community and Provinces of Spain, province in northern Spain with Santander, Cantabria, Santander as its capital city. It is called a , a Nationalities and regions of Spain, historic community, in its current ...

ns relegated to the third division. Gay returned to Real Madrid C in November 2013. He led the team to a top-half finish, but they were relegated to

Tercera División Tercera División () was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Until 1977, it was the third tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segund ...

due to the fate of Castilla and disbanded in 2015. In August 2016, Gay ran training sessions for CD Palencia Balompié but did not manage the club in an official match. He signed a one-year deal with the option of a second at third-tier RCD Espanyol B in June 2019. Gay later worked in the

Bolivian Primera División The División de Fútbol Profesional is the top-flight professional football league in Bolivia. In 2017 it replaced the "Liga de Fútbol Profesional Boliviano" (; ). Since 1950, a total of 16 clubs have been crowned champions of the Bolivian foot ...

, with C.D. Vaca Díez (resigning shortly after being appointed due to his father's ill health) and

Club Deportivo Guabirá Club Deportivo Guabirá is a Bolivian professional football club from Montero, Santa Cruz, that currently plays in the Bolivian Primera División. Their home ground is the Estadio Gilberto Parada, which has a capacity of 13,000 spectators. Alt ...

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Zaragoza *

: 1993–94 Spain U20 *

FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members' men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when i ...

runner-up:

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

Manager

Pontevedra *

: 2003–04

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gay, Jose Aurelio 1965 births Living people 20th-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Madrid Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Real Madrid Castilla footballers RCD Espanyol footballers Real Zaragoza players Real Oviedo players CD Toledo players Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers Spanish football managers La Liga managers Segunda División managers Segunda División B managers Tercera División managers CD Toledo managers Real Madrid C managers Pontevedra CF managers Real Jaén managers Lorca Deportiva CF managers CF Fuenlabrada managers Deportivo Aragón managers Real Zaragoza managers Racing de Santander managers RCD Espanyol B managers C.D. Vaca Díez managers Club Deportivo Guabirá managers Spanish expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Bolivia Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Bolivia