Pumas sack coach Bruno Marioni, replace him with Michel

Pumas have parted ways with Coach Bruno Marioni after a disappointing short spell marred by a couple of disciplinary actions and have signed Spanish coach Michel as their new head coach. Michel, a legend in Real Madrid and a very important player with the Spanish National team in the 80’s and 90’s, has coached a number of teams in Europe, albeit with not a lot of success, having avoided relegation with Getafe as his biggest accomplishment along with two league titles with Olympiacos in the lesser Greek League.

Rumors about the end of Marioni’s tenure spread like wildfire after Pumas named Jesus Ramirez (coach who won the U-17 World Cup in 2005) as their new sports director. Ramirez is supposedly set to make all the sporting decisions, while president Rodrigo Ares de Parga (enemy no. 1 according to fans) will make just the financial ones. Ramirez never talked about Marioni’s continuity and instead said that a lot of things were being studied, which let to a lot of rumors about Pumas already looking for a replacement.

Marioni’s short tenure didn’t live up to expectations, despite defeating América in what was without question Pumas’ highlight of the season. Marioni saw late season failure on and off the field, with problems that included fights with a fan after the team’s defeat to FC Juarez in the Copa MX Semifinal and against Xolos during a late season league game.

Still, the news of Michel are a little underwhelming as he hasn’t had much success in Europe and will come to a new league with an underwhelming squad. However, fans for the most part wanted a new change, and Michel has more and better experience than Marioni.

Michel retired from his playing career in Celaya along with his old teammate, Pumas and Mexico legend Hugo Sanchez.