Y2K.
Roy Makaay. Djalminha. Mauro Silva. Noureddine Naybet.
These names are legendary at Deportivo. The very epitome of Super Depor. They played a huge role in making the magic that was the 1999/2000 season. The season that Deportivo won their one and only Spanish league title.
The season was extraordinary. The league was immensely competitive. Deportivo finished as champions despite losing a huge 11 games. Their points tally a mere 69 points, with Barcelona five points behind and suffering 12 losses. It was Real Zaragoza who lost the fewest games, losing 7 times and finishing 4th due to a massive 15 draws. Zaragoza would miss out on the Champions league as 5th place Real Madrid went on to win the trophy. The table was so congested that Betis would finish 18th on 42 points, only 27 behind the champions. In 19th and 20th were Atletico Madrid and Sevilla. A truly extraordinary season.
Deportivo’s star man that season was Roy Makaay. He struck 22 league goals after signing from Tenerife in the summer. This was his coming out party, showing that his brand of powerful finishing could be as effective as it was spectacular. He would not be the Pichichi as this season’s unpredictability extended to the scoring ranks. Salva netted 27 goals for Racing Santander, Hasselbaink 24 for relegated Atletico and Catanha 24 for Malaga. Makaay slotted in at fourth.
Our attempts to win a second championship had a rocky patch. Victory over Eibar followed by a tough loss at Atletico.
There then came a patch of three draws in four games including a crazy 4-4 Champions league draw at home to Liverpool which would be matched by an equally crazy 4-4 draw at Anfield.
From there our form really picked up and the goals started to flow into a nice run of wins across all competitions. Bayer halted the run with 2-2 Champions league draw and then Valencia pulled off a 3-2 win at the Mestella.
Our bounce back was an 8-0 savaging of Lugo. The team would not lose going into the winter break and pull out a fine 2-0 win at Real Madrid. This meant that at the halfway stage three of the toughest away fixtures of the league season were completed.
The first league game post Christmas was the challenge of Barcelona. Another win pushing the team to the top of the table.
January and February in La Liga is always hectic. The Spanish schedule squeezes in as much of the cup competition as possible, so we played out 5th round, quarter final and semi final ties as well as the league fixtures before the Champions League restarted in early February against Roma. In the league key fixtures were a solid 2-0 home win with Sevilla but a slightly disappointing 1-1 home draw with Atletico. Atletico are probably my toughest opponents, I scraped past them in a high scoring cup semi final but the first leg win is my only victory in five games. The other four have been defeats.
The title was looking a string possibility until Bilbao pulled off a 1-0 win. The response was to crack in 12 goals in three games, the last of which was 4-0 win against Valencia.
Bayern Munich would end the Champions league adventure. A 2-1 home win would not be enough as Joshua Kimmich scored in the 85th minute to turn the tie around. A 3-1 win and 4-3 aggregate victory for Bayern. We will be back, but the priority this season was always to win the league.
Another flurry of victories would seal the Championship. Two losses against Barcelona and Sevilla were part of a post title season exemplified by a 6-4 home win against Levante. The 10 goals conceded during the final four league goals ruined the defensive record but a 100 plus goal attack meant that we always had the firepower required to be champions.
The grand finale of the season was a Copa del Rey final with Barcelona at Atleticos Metropolitano. A ground where my Depor had only ever tasted defeat. Barcelona are always difficult opponents but they are a team who I feel we can get a good result against. This was more than a good result, we had saved the best for last. The front pair Augustin and Almada did all the damage. Augustin grabbed a hat trick, Alamada a brace. Barcelona crushed. The double delivered. Super.
The key to the season would be work done in the transfer market. The board are now notoriously tight with money. My policy is still very simple. Buy low. Sell high. Hopefully draw out some very fine performances in between times. We raised an easy £4 million selling Uzoho to Norwich. Uzoho is a decent young goalkeeper but would not be anymore than a back up.
The signings started with a couple of free players who I felt we might be able to sell on for profits in Edwards and Ekkelkamp. I then picked up Bryan Mbeumo from Troyes as an alternative out wide. The best purchase was Jean Kevin Augustin who was transfer listed by RB Leipzig.
Before the window closed two central defenders were added. Rodrigo Borges looked under valued with potential and was added. The more important signing was Luis Abram whose attributes suggested that he could play on the first team but was low cost. Both signings were needed as Arsenal came in for Domingo Duarte at £11 million. Duarte could not be convinced to stay but the profit for us was a little under £9 million.
Pape Cheikh Diop was available for £1.5 million to add to the option in central midfield. He would make the best XI for the Spanish league, as would eight other Depor players, with three as substitutes.
Before the January window opened I was able to negotiate with the board to make more money available. This enabled me to put together deals for Sergio Gomez, Federico Valverde and Lucas Robertone. At this stage Paris St Germain had registered their interest in Ruben Pardo. I knew I would need a central midfielder to replace him. Gomez has the ability to play on the left and in central midfield. Robertone can play central midfield with Valverde converting into central defence.
Pardo was sold for £25 million. At the time of being sold he had 8 goals and 9 assists, a great contribution but the profit on the deal was £23 million, as he cost only £1.9 million.
As the window moved on Benfica came calling for Diego Rolan. Rolan had been effective up front but Almada had supplanted him as the key player. I decided to accept the £23 million and shift Augustin up front alongside Almada. It was the making of the team and the player. Augustin went on to score 20 goals in all competition while Almada scored 27 in the league and 41 in all competitions.
Almada would scoop up multiple awards, as would Pellegrini once again. Pellegrini won the European Golden boy award, making it two years in a row that Deportivo players had won the award. Last year Pelayo Morilla won the award, before Arsenal jumped in. Pellegrini also added the World U21 Player of the Year and Argentinian Player of the year. Come the end of the season Almada would win Spanish League top scorer and Spanish League Young Player of the Year.
After a terrific season I would expect sponsorship to increase and a larger transfer budget, but no, once again the sponsorship deals remained low and the budget was just £25 million. This was greatly impact by my having to offer new contracts to almost every player in the squad as their values had now exceeded their release clauses and also I had done some pre-contract business in January that I expected to have a huge impact on the next season.
The club was extremely healthy financially, despite all of the new contracts the wage bill was still fairly low and the club was flushed with Champions League money on top of the transfer profits I continued to generate.
With that the board took an eminently sensible decision. The continuous development of facilities carried on but they decided to pull the plug on the stadium expansion. Instead investing in the building of new stadium entirely.
A new site is being located but this certainly gives me a target, beyond just adding a further league title and bringing a first Champions League success. To stay at the club at least until the stadium is built.
NOTE – In the summer prior to the start of this season England offered me the job as manager. I took it. Qualifying has been standard fare so far. When things get more interesting I will include them in my season write ups.
