Fran Escribá was a consistent presence after Elche’s sale last year but after his sacking the owners – one of whom is a striker at the club – will have to show what their intentions are
Pissing off the boss is rarely a good plan and losing lots of football matches is even worse. Do both and it can only really end one way. It doesn’t matter if you’re a season ticket holder and possibly the most important coach your club has had in half a century, the man who took them up for the first time in 24 years and returned again as saviour six years later to keep them there, if you’ve taken charge of more games than anyone else, or even if you were in charge every time they finished above the relegation zone in primera since 1977, and Fran Escribá knew that. Which is why he told everyone he was going before they did.
Elche hadn’t yet announced Escribá’s sacking when Escribá announced Escribá’s sacking on Sunday evening. “Bragarnik informed me that I have been fired,” he said as he arrived in the press room at the Martínez Valero after their latest defeat, 3-0 at home against Betis. “I’m not going to analyse the game; doing so doesn’t make any sense now. This is a chance to say goodbye. I bid farewell to you lot and to the fans, who I love.”