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 lea ...

who played as a forward, and 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 ...

. 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 *Alexandria Sporting Club, a sports club from Alexandria, Egypt *BFA Sporting, a football club from Beirut, Lebanon *Real Sporti ...

, but also managed other

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 ...

sides such as Celta, Real Burgos and Espanyol.

Playing career

Born in

Gijón Gijón () or () is a city and municipality in north-western Spain. It is the largest city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality by population in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Asturias. It is located on the coa ...

Asturias Asturias (; ; ) officially the Principality of Asturias, is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensive with the provinces of Spain, province of Asturias and contains some of the territory t ...

, 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 is a Spanish professional association football, football club from Gijón, Principality of Asturias. Founded on 1 July 1905, it plays in the ...

during the 1962–63 season, in the

Copa del Generalísimo 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 Spanish f ...

. In 1967, he moved to fellow

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 ...

side

RC Celta de Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta Vigo, 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), the club was fou ...

, helping in their promotion to

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

. 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 historical List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Sabadell ( Catalonia) Founded in 1903, its first men's team plays in the . Its first CE Sabadell (women), women's tea ...

. He moved 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 ...

side

Real Avilés CF Real may refer to: Currencies * Argentine real * Brazilian real (R$) * Central American Republic real * Mexican real * Portuguese real * Spanish real * Spanish colonial real Nature and science * Reality, the state of things as they exist, ...

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 association football, football player and manager (association football), manager. A midfielder, he played 57 matches for the Yugoslavia nation ...

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 FC, 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 C. The team traditionally play in vertical black and white stripes. Hi ...

. 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 was 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 RCD Espanyol, is a Spanish professional sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The club competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spa ...

. Novoa was dismissed by 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 ...

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 (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 ...

side

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

midway through the 1996–97 campaign, replacing sacked Pepe Cayuela. 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 men's footballers Men's association football forwards La Liga players Segunda División players Sporting de Gijón players RC Celta de Vigo players Real Avilés Industrial CF footballers Spanish football managers La Liga managers Segunda División managers Segunda División B managers Sporting Atlético managers Sporting de Gijón managers RC Celta de Vigo managers Real Burgos CF managers RCD Espanyol managers Málaga CF managers 20th-century Spanish sportsmen